Hi guys,
Hope this is the right forum for this. Anyways, up until a few months ago, my '94 Geo Prizm had been pulling to the left. Nothing major, just a slight annoyance. A few months ago, I get new tires on it and the pulling goes away. Before I left, the employees also mentioned that I should get my wheel alignment done. Fast forward to present day (~5,000 miles later) and I just finished getting my wheels aligned and my tires rotated (I would have done my wheel alignment sooner but I live out in the boonies so my options were limited). After getting my wheels aligned and my tires rotated, the car is pulling to the left again. Is this normal? Anything to be alarmed about? I got my wheel alignment done right before I got my tires rotated and as I was driving over from the wheel alignment place to the tire rotation place, I don't think that the car was pulling to the left although I can't remember exactly. Pretty sure the car wasn't though. So yea...should I be worried?
My second question is that sometimes when I turn, I hear a clicking sound. It's only just one click and it's usually when I'm making a big turn (having to make multiple rotations on the wheel). It sounds like the clicking is coming from the steering column (definitely coming from within the car). I've heard that a clicking sound can indicate a CV joint going bad but isn't that sound usually coming from outside? Anyways, anyone know what it might be?
Thank you!
First, check the tire pressures. Low air will make a car pull toward the soggy tire.
Maybe the tie rods or ball joints are shot. Some times a shop will just flake and not notice. Jack the front up and wiggle the wheel up and down, left and right. There should be no movement. Wobbles indicate worn out components. Alignments don't hold on warn items.
Clicking? Might be the rag joint between the column and rack. If the tie rods got banged hard enough, it could be deteriorating. Does the steering feel tight, or do you saw back and forth to keep it straight?
wbjones
UltimaDork
7/31/14 6:24 a.m.
lots of times noises sound like they're coming from one place, when actually they're coming from somewhere else
one suggestion, find an empty parking lot, drive around in circles (figure 8 works well) and slowly increase speed a little/or decrease radius of the circle … listen for the clicking … if you start to hear it more than the one click, you can be pretty sure it's a CV joint
by using the figure 8, you can often isolate which side is going bad
I get a very similar clicking sound from the steering column in my 05 town and country, In mmy case its the turn signal stalk having gotten worn out and doesnt reset itself when the steering wheel is turned it just clicks as you turn the wheel and you have to manually turn off the turn signal.
We are assuming this pull is while driving and not braking.
Since you experienced pull/ no pull during tire rotations I would look for a bad tire.
As to the click, you ill need to narrow it down to just when the click happens.
Does it only happen when going full lock ?
