2005 Civic pulls left on acceleration...why?

It brakes straight, but there is a definite tendency to the left and I
don't mean just on hard acceleration. Is this alignment or something else?
Tire or dragging brakes?

 

Start by letting the car sit overnight and checking the air pressure in all
four tires. If off, record here and fill to proper pressure.

The air pressure spec is likely printed on the door jam or the interior of
the glove compartment.

Next check for uneven tire wear.

Have you hit anything hard lately, like potholes or curbs?

One can google on this topic (the pulling; what to look for with tire wear),
too, for some ideas. Could be several causes.

Keep checking back. Others will likely make suggestions, too. This is just a
start.

 

Start by letting the car sit overnight and checking the air pressure in all
four tires. If off, record here and fill to proper pressure.

The air pressure spec is likely printed on the door jam or the interior of
the glove compartment.

Next check for uneven tire wear.

Have you hit anything hard lately, like potholes or curbs?

One can google on this topic (the pulling; what to look for with tire wear),
too, for some ideas. Could be several causes.

Keep checking back. Others will likely make suggestions, too. This is just a
start.

 

It brakes straight, but there is a definite tendency to the left and I
don't mean just on hard acceleration. Is this alignment or something
else?
Tire or dragging brakes?

It is called TORQUE STEER - plain and simple - if you are experiencing
quite a bit of it - you are IMHO accelerating much too hard - but some
like to emulate jack rabbits - cost will show up in clutch and or
tranny - good for mechanics though.

You say you experience it all levels of acceleration - your tires could
be overinflated - that will transmit more TS back to you. Tire
inflation was the cause of a VW Van of mine steering left up over the
crown - not even the dealer could spot it - course I had OEM Dunlops on
the beast - real trash tires like most OEM's. So check the TP.

 

It brakes straight, but there is a definite tendency to the left and I
don't mean just on hard acceleration. Is this alignment or something
else?
Tire or dragging brakes?

It is called TORQUE STEER - plain and simple - if you are experiencing
quite a bit of it - you are IMHO accelerating much too hard - but some
like to emulate jack rabbits - cost will show up in clutch and or
tranny - good for mechanics though.

You say you experience it all levels of acceleration - your tires could
be overinflated - that will transmit more TS back to you. Tire
inflation was the cause of a VW Van of mine steering left up over the
crown - not even the dealer could spot it - course I had OEM Dunlops on
the beast - real trash tires like most OEM's. So check the TP.

 

Tire pressure is correct. The dealer just put new brakes, rotors, drums,
and tires on the vehicle. If it's torque steer, it never did this before.

 

Tire pressure is correct. The dealer just put new brakes, rotors, drums,
and tires on the vehicle. If it's torque steer, it never did this before.

 

Why were new rotors and drums installed?

How many miles are on this car?

If you have the time and motivation, you can switch right and left tires and
see if the pulling switches sides or stays the same. This will give you an
inkling as to whether it's an alignment problem or a tire/wheel problem.

If the tires are new as of just a week or so ago, I gather no wear is
evident.

Again, have you (or your spouse, or your children) hit anything with the
car? This could throw off the alignment.

 

Why were new rotors and drums installed?

How many miles are on this car?

If you have the time and motivation, you can switch right and left tires and
see if the pulling switches sides or stays the same. This will give you an
inkling as to whether it's an alignment problem or a tire/wheel problem.

If the tires are new as of just a week or so ago, I gather no wear is
evident.

Again, have you (or your spouse, or your children) hit anything with the
car? This could throw off the alignment.

 

no I haven't hit anything...I noticed it pulling out of the dealership

 

no I haven't hit anything...I noticed it pulling out of the dealership

 

Probably the tires and not just the front. A bad rear tire can also pull the
car off it's line. Also, in some cases, the car has a tendency to drift to
the right since the road tend to lean toward the sewage/drainage.

If the tires are not noicey (bad tires tend to get noisy), then I'd start
with the alignment.

Pars

 

Probably the tires and not just the front. A bad rear tire can also pull the
car off it's line. Also, in some cases, the car has a tendency to drift to
the right since the road tend to lean toward the sewage/drainage.

If the tires are not noicey (bad tires tend to get noisy), then I'd start
with the alignment.

Pars

 

alignment. make sure you find a shop that knows how to do a good
4-wheel alignment. my experience is that some places are not very good
and taking the vehicle back 2 or 3 times till they get it right is not
uncommon.

 

alignment. make sure you find a shop that knows how to do a good
4-wheel alignment. my experience is that some places are not very good
and taking the vehicle back 2 or 3 times till they get it right is not
uncommon.

 

Could be an alignment problem but you mentioned that the problem
became apparent immediately after servicing. Assuming that they
didn't do the alignment (you said brakes and tires) I wouldn't want to
fool around with alignment now. you already have enough variables.

Switching the tires left-to-right, as someone suggested, is easy and
would rule them out. While you have the wheels in the air, give them
a spin to make sure that the brakes are not dragging excessively.
Also look for any damage or other obvious problems. It is possible
that one of the employees at the dealership ran it into the curb or
something.

If you can't find anything after all this, take it back to the
dealership.

Why was all this stuff replaced on a new car anyway?

 

Could be an alignment problem but you mentioned that the problem
became apparent immediately after servicing. Assuming that they
didn't do the alignment (you said brakes and tires) I wouldn't want to
fool around with alignment now. you already have enough variables.

Switching the tires left-to-right, as someone suggested, is easy and
would rule them out. While you have the wheels in the air, give them
a spin to make sure that the brakes are not dragging excessively.
Also look for any damage or other obvious problems. It is possible
that one of the employees at the dealership ran it into the curb or
something.

If you can't find anything after all this, take it back to the
dealership.

Why was all this stuff replaced on a new car anyway?