00 V70XC Car drifts to left after alignment

[regent]

...Probably a hundred ways to simulate a load in a car without getting in the customers face about it.

Well, we tried getting a hundred dogs in that car but they would not stay put...

[instarx]

Make sure the ball joint is into the LCA all the way. Its possible to put the bolt in without picking up the flat on the joint. Eyeball the balljoints and make sure they look the same

This is really, really dangerous, btw.

Im grasping at straws here, though. Bent frame or sub-frame?

No, I can't believe it anything is bent. No accidents ever. And I'm just a normal guy, 200lbs (well a little overweight lol)

Yes, it is dangerous. Drifting off the road is one thing, but into the opposing lane is another. I'll order new control arms tonight for both sides. Actually, what I think I'll do first is go get that alignment double-checked.

[scot850]

Check the brakes are not binding, in particular the rear calipers. The AWD have a more complex rear suspension, so also check the bushes in the 4 stays bars (the cross stays on the rear behind the sub-frame, also check the cam adjuster bolts on the inside bush as they can shear). These cross stays adjust the rear toe in/out.

Check the upper bush were the upper control arm connects to the hub as they can wear which allows the car to steer from the rear.

Also check the lower control arm bushes, particularly the inner one that is pressed into the sub-frame as this was the only one that was really bad on my car during strip down.

The stays that have the front mount just in front of the rear jacking point do also fail with age and can be hard to see as the large washers on them hide the rubber.

2 notes on this. If the front bushes are bad on this stay, buy the bush and the mount (only $5 difference in price at Tasca) as the bush is on back order. There may be a poly bush from a 240 that can be used in this location but I would need to look into that. There was a guy called Big Will on V70r website that listed all the bushes.

Also keep the rear larger washer from the mount as it is obsolete. The front one with the smaller hole in it is available, you could buy 4 and drill the hole on 2 out to the larger size.

Neil.

[instarx]

I just got a call from the alignment shop. Seems they aligned another car yesterday and it was brought back with exactly the same problem - drifting to the left.

It turns out their alignment machine was out of calibration.
Thanks for all your help, guys! Now, I have to send all those parts back.

UPDATE: It was out of alignment and they corrected it, but it still drifts left. A second shop verified the aligment is correct. So I'm back to replacing the LCAs next week.

[regent]

I hope you've got the Lemforder LCAs (or at least Meyle HD) for her. I would to the BJs as well while I am at it. They will soon be (past)due if not already

[Big Will]

Any chance that the tech forgot to center the steering wheel before doing the alignment?

[oragex]

I just got a call from the alignment shop. Seems they aligned another car yesterday and it was brought back with exactly the same problem - drifting to the left.

It turns out their alignment machine was out of calibration.
Thanks for all your help, guys! Now, I have to send all those parts back.

UPDATE: It was out of alignment and they corrected it, but it still drifts left. A second shop verified the aligment is correct. So I'm back to replacing the LCAs next week.

As above, how is the steering wheel when driving on highway? Is it spot at the center?

[instarx]

I hope you've got the Lemforder LCAs (or at least Meyle HD) for her. I would to the BJs as well while I am at it. They will soon be (past)due if not already

Meyle. I thought the ball joint and LCA came as an assembly.
Can't afford the Lemforder - this is a 15 year old car after all.
Steering wheel is straight, I'm not steering it left. If I let go of the wheel it will be over the yellow line in 5-10 seconds.

[dosbricks]

I tried the Meyle HDs on the S70. You are correct, the ball joint is included. The bushings must be pretty tough because we found the ride to be rather harsh for the the first couple of weeks (new struts also breaking in). Then it gradually mellowed out and is pretty decent now with good control, but the dash was squeaking at every rough place in the road at first. Lemforders just make the car feel like it's new again.

Let us know the resolution of this because I have a slight drift to the left on my wagon. After reading this thread, I'll try the tire swap.

[dang5002]

I had the same problem when I put on new tires. Alignment was spot on, too. Found it to be a bad tire. The tire shop said it was called radial pull. They installed a new tire and the problem was gone.