Pulling to the left, 2004 V70

SOURDOUGHJIM · Post by **SOURDOUGHJIM** » 27 May 2023, 10:18

When topping a hill or rebounding from a dip in the road, the car will briefly pull left. If I ease up on throttle when topping the hill, it doesn't pull left. My thinking is the subframe bushings are weak and inserts will correct this problem. I ordered the inserts and bolts however it appears that inserts are already installed. (White plastic seen above washer) Any thoughts on this?

Post by **jonesg** » 27 May 2023, 10:30

Those witness marks on the bolt heads tell the story.
I would look at control arm bushings.

SOURDOUGHJIM · Post by **SOURDOUGHJIM** » 27 May 2023, 11:28

The fresh marks on the bolt head are mine. About to put some torque on the bolt then noticed the plastic.

SOURDOUGHJIM · Post by **SOURDOUGHJIM** » 27 May 2023, 11:59

30 + years ago I owned a 1969 Ford F100 4x4. Occasionally I would get the death wobble in the front wheels. The track bar had aftermarket bushings in it. Seemed snug but turning the steering wheel you could see a slight bit of movement. I had a Ford dealer to press in new bushings and all was good after that. The moral of this story is that any lateral movement of the axle (or subframe) in relation to the steering gear (or column) will have an effect on the steering knuckle via the tie rods.

Post by **chrism** » 28 May 2023, 07:47

If it pulls to the left under acceleration then there’s a strong possibility that the RH control arm bushings have gotten sloppy.

Post by **Krons** » 29 May 2023, 17:00

Just did subframe bushings, well worth doing to improve ride and handling. Same goes for lower control arms. I’d say both of these are needed on P2 chassis cars with 150k miles. Only downside is you should do an alignment after control arms.

Check inner tie rod joints and swaybar links for slop while you are there.

SOURDOUGHJIM · Post by **SOURDOUGHJIM** » 30 May 2023, 08:01

The control arm bushing I can see looks OK. One odd thing, the previous owner replaced 1 strut assembly. Right side. I ordered another, same brand and PN to replace the left. Sorry for the slow reply, internet went down Sunday afternoon and just came back on. I'm fixing that too this week!

Post by **BlackBart** » 30 May 2023, 12:18

Oh, if you have one bad strut it will push up higher over bumps and compressions on one side and the steering geometry is wonky. We chased a weird wiggle / swerve on my son's old BMW, which was on the edge of dangerous. Turned out to be one bad shock / strut.

SOURDOUGHJIM · Post by **SOURDOUGHJIM** » 30 May 2023, 15:22

BlackBart, I'm hoping that cures the issue. Not getting my hopes real high, though. Thanks for the encouragement!

SOURDOUGHJIM · Post by **SOURDOUGHJIM** » 30 May 2023, 15:26

ChrisM, I don't have any issues on acceleration or braking, just topping a hill or rebounding from a dip.