Why is my car pulling to the left??

Question

i have noticed the last week or so a whirring noise, which i think is coming from the engine, sounds like a belt or something on the wheel. secondly, today i noticed the car seemed stiff when pulling away after being parked for a few hours and when driving in a straight line, it wants to veer to the left and the steering feels stiff still but not as much. when i slow to a stop, the steering wheel turns quite sharply to the left. as long as i hold it to the right, its ok to drive. my questions are: what is wrong, are the two problems connected and can i fix this myself on the cheap?? thanks

Answer 1

sound like either u have a break caliper problem which means it is starting to lock up which will cause to pull to the left of the allignment is out either way u ned to take it in have it repaired  

Answer 2

cus u r steering left.if u keep the steering wheel strate it will drive strate silly

Answer 3

you need a balance on it or a rotation of your tires take it to a wheel and tire place and they will take care of it

Answer 4

try checking tyre pressures an tyres also take it to a garage an get them to check the tracking i bet you it is to do with the tracking

Answer 5

Sounds like you have two possible problems - the whirring noise is possibly from your power steering pump or drive belt. This would cause heavy steering . The pulling to the left is potentially dangerous and I suggest you don't drive it until you have corrected the fault. The fault could be related to the power steering but is more likely to be the brake binding - possibly a seized brake cylinder or calliper. Either way the fault must be investigated before you drive again - if you are handy with cars then you can take the front brake pads out and see if the pistons in th callipers move - or at last look at the pads to see if they are wearing evenly.  

Answer 6

Brakes on the the left hand front wheel are binding. Get it seen to.

Answer 7

as far as the car pulling to the left,that can either be a belt broke in the tire or a low tire,as far as the noise,it could be from the tire also.turn the steering wheel as far to the left as you can,then look at the tire and see if you can see any distortion in the treads,like one of them are bent.

  look for any knots or anything strange around the tire. also jack the left side of the car (front) and see if you can move the tire in a vertical motion,or side to side.also ck your lug nuts to make sure their are tight.a good way to see if they are,look for any signs of rust sround the lug nuts.if so tighten them up.one last thing,ck the brake caliper,make sure its not dragging ,causing the car to pull to the left,that would explain the noise.if you ck these things ,chances are your gonna find your problem  good luck

Answer 8

Has your car been involved in a front end accident? What you are having is a stering problem. A tyre could not cause such a serious deviation. You must take it to a garage and have the steering alignment checked. Tell them to go over the steering links, although a pro would do this automatically.

  If you have an accident you will find that your insurance company will declare your policy void, because you knowingly used your car in a dangerous condition. It would be no use arguing

that you were ignorant of the cause. In law, ignorance is no defence.

  Do NOT attempt to deal with this yourself unless you are a skilled mechanic.

Answer 9

Tyre pressure.  wheel alignments,  or brakes   or even a steering fault   could all cause car to  veer to one side,  Get it checked   Sod cheap  safety is the most important,  

Answer 10

Classic signs of worn break pads - you'll need new ones ASAP.

Answer 11

when your car is pulling to a different direction it is definatly the  tracking which is off (the alligment of the wheels)

that doesnt cost much to get done and pretty much all garages can do it, it's on the ramp the connect a computuer thing to your car and set the allignment up.

when the tracking is 'off' like yours it can use more fuel and your tyres will wear unevenly. so it will save you money by getting it done.

The whirring noise can be loads of things, in my experience, the fan or a belt like you say if it's 100% from the engine.

In many cases when you reckon that noise is from the engine it will turn out to be a wheel bearing gone, that produces a whirring noise (that isn't to expensive either)

the two problems are seperate the wheel bearing if it is that needs to be 'pressured' at a garage and are quite delicate.

and the allignment needs to be done at a garage by that machine as the set the car to the manufacturors spec.

hope that helps

Answer 12

First thing I would do is check your tire air pressure.  It may be that one of your front tires is low and it will cause the car to pull one way or another.  If they are properly inflated, then have the alignment checked out.  

Answer 13

tracking needs doing. mine is the same.

Answer 14

it is hard to tell what your trouble is by the way you explain it first I would check my tire pressure. it sounds like you have a low left front tire, witch would account for most of you complaints. good luck

Answer 15

You have had some pointless uninformed answers to your problem with only a few pinpointing your problem.It has NOTHING to do with your tyres you have a problem with your n/side calliper which needs to be inspected and repaired by a trained person.