[Option_Fans]

My Gen 3 is pulling to the side when I brake, does anyone knows what's going on? Alignment? Tire needs Balancing? Any Clue?

Thanks....~

 

[jhbhatia]

def brake job needed! Your brakes are warped and or unevenly worn out. You need to resurface your rotors and buy new pads. Resurfacing is cheaper than buying new..(also referred to as shaving) but it depends on how worn they are..if they have been doing this for a while and you NOW want to correct it..it might be too late and you might have to spend upwards of 4 bills (i'm not refering to a diy brake job as you were asking this question..i'm assuming you can't diy the brakes on your own).

 

[SmokingTires]

^
I wouldn't say definetly. There is a lot better chance it is just the alignment. After how long that car has been around, it has probably hit its share of potholes/bumps. You just need to have your alignment re-adjusted. Any shop will do it for you.


I don't know where you got breaks from.... And $400 on a brake job? Wow. I've never seen someone pay that much. And all he would need is new pads. That wouldn't run much. I still doubt it is pad wear though.

 

[jhbhatia]

^
I wouldn't say definetly. There is a lot better chance it is just the alignment.

Dude he said its pulling when he brakes...not normal driving

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And that $400 was for all the whole 9 yards brake job...not just rotors and not just pads. ie. why i suggested resurfacing/shaving as the first option (cheaper)

 

[SmokingTires]

Ah, Sorry, I must have missed where he said it was when he brakes. Still out of it from just waking up. That's still a lot for a brake job, but I guess I get my discount. So yeah, probably about right.

Sorry 'bout that

 

[cam2Xrunner]

First check your air pressure in the tires. If it only pulls when you hit the brakes then you might need to rebuild your calipers or replace them. Is it pulling to the left when driving normally? Or ONLY when you brake?

 

[cheeba]

I just took my car to the shop for this problem today and it's fixed for the most part. My car was pulling to the left when I drove and when I hit the brake. The steering wheel would also shake when I hit about 60 mph or brake from a high speed.

The shop rotated my tires, balanced them, did an alignment, resurfaced my rotors and adjust my rear brakes for $160 bucks. I don't know if that was a good deal but all of my problems are corrected except for the drift to the left which is much improved but still drifts a bit to the left. The mechanic said that camry caster (2000 camry, I4) isn't servicable so I would either have to live with it or maybe get non-directional tires so they could be rotated better (criss-crossed I assume?).

 

[jhbhatia]

^^ 160 was a great deal.

 

[cam2Xrunner]

Your mechanic is absolutely right about not being able to adjust the caster. What you can do is air up the front left tire 5-8 psi more than the right front. Figure 32-33 psi on right side and40-41 psi on the left it will prob. for the most part fix the prob. This is what I have been doing for the last 20k miles and haven't noticed any abnormal tire wear from doing it.

 

[cheeba]

Thanks for the advice trdcam.

Btw, how do you determine what the correct psi for your car is if you're no longer riding on stock rims/tires? i'm on 235/40/18's now but I still use about 32 psi. How do I know how much air to put in?

 

[Deuce]

its written on the tire.

 

[cam2Xrunner]

Ok Your pretty much like mine. I run 45 in the left front and 38 in the right front. 32psi is pretty low. What kind of tires do you have and what is the max psi on the tire. I run the rear tires at 40 psi.

 

[cam2Xrunner]

Also the right way to take care of this problem is find a body shop that does frame straightening and alignments. If the frame isn't bent and if the subframe hasnt been pushed back you might have a lower control arm that is slightly bent and maybe causing it to pull. You also might be able to adjust the caster by using thicker shims in the lower control arm. But this is only assuming you have a caster problem and not a radial pull in the tires that is causing the pull. I wish toyota had caster adjustments for the front like the earlier accords.