00 V70XC Car drifts to left after alignment

[instarx]

Installed inner and outer tie rods a few weeks ago. Car drove great although alignment was off. Bought a new set of pre-mounted 17" rims and tires from Tire Rack and put them on yesterday. Car drove fine. Had all four wheels aligned today and now the car drifts to the left! Mechanic switched the front wheels R to L and the car still drifts to the left. Its pretty dangerous. If I don't pay attention the car will be in the oncoming lane of traffic in 10 seconds.

Here is the problem - all the alignment figures are spot on. Not only are they within the acceptable range they are all in the middle of the acceptable range. Technically this is probably the most accurate alignment I have ever had. But the car still drifts to the left, which it never did before.

I asked the garage when the last time they had their alignment machine calibrated but they said that wasn't the problem. Its a Hunter laser aligner and pretty impressive.

Any ideas?

I think my next steps are:
1. take it to another alignment shop and have the alignment double checked
2. put the old wheels and tires back on and see if that fixes it

Anyone had the experience of a car in perfect alignment that still drifts to one side? The brakes are fine - new rotors, calipers and pads about a year ago and no braking issues. New Sachs front struts three months ago. New inner and outer tie rods three weeks ago.

[regent]

Three quick questions:
1.what is the condition of your control arm bushings?
2.do you have the 'before' and 'after' readings from the alignment?
3.which settings did the Tech change during the alignment?

[instarx]

1.what is the condition of your control arm bushings?
Hmm. I don't know. The front end has always felt solid except for the steering wheel play from the tie rods. The car is in a salt-free environment and the suspension is in pretty good condition. I gave them a push/pull tug when I was replacing the tie rods and didn't feel play, but I suspect that's a useless test, lol./ I may just go ahead and replace those wishbones- it doesn't look too expensive or difficult.

2.do you have the 'before' and 'after' readings from the alignment?
Yes, the toe-in readings were way off to start because I changed everything. I knew that when I took it in. Before I changed the tie rods the car was very slightly out of alignment given the slop of the inner passenger tie rod but still tracked straight. I don't have those readings any more, I wish I did. The tires also wore very evenly.

Currently the toe readings are:
Left: 0.18 degrees (acceptable range 0.12 - 0.22)
Right: 0.17 (0.12 - 0.22)
Total: 0.34 total (range 0.23 - 0.43)

3.which settings did the Tech change during the alignment?
Only front toe-in. Everything else was good.

[abscate]

How much wheel correction are you adding to keep it straight?

Check brakes for dragging..is brake pad wear symmetric?

Try swapping wheels side to side for test purposes, then put them back.

Worn ball joints test...jack wheel up, lift wheel up/down with lumber while watching ball joint motion for play

[850 LPT]

I suspect the tires to be the problem, put your old ones back on and see if that makes a difference.

I had the same problem with my XC about a year ago after getting an alignment done at our Volvo dealership. When I drove away from the dealership the car pulled to the left just like it did before and so I brought it back. The tires were almost new at that point.
They checked it again and said that the alignment was spot on. The mechanic even drove the car with me to confirm. Then they swapped the front tires left to right and that cured the problem.

I know you already did that but maybe you can try the rear tires in the front?

[instarx]

I suspect the tires to be the problem, put your old ones back on and see if that makes a difference.

I had the same problem with my XC about a year ago after getting an alignment done at our Volvo dealership. When I drove away from the dealership the car pulled to the left just like it did before and so I brought it back. The tires were almost new at that point.
They checked it again and said that the alignment was spot on. The mechanic even drove the car with me to confirm. Then they swapped the front tires left to right and that cured the problem.

I know you already did that but maybe you can try the rear tires in the front?

Lol, all this tire swapping is hard work!

I suspect the tires, too. I'll swap old for new today.

[instarx]

Lol, all this tire swapping is hard work!
I suspect the tires, too. I'll swap old for new today.

Slowly eliminating things. It isn't the wheels and tires. It still drifts left with the old ones back on. And it isn't the brakes - they are in tip top condition.

[abscate]

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?

[regent]

OK,

Here is an email response from Volvo (to a similar issue, several years ago).
It's long, like 2 pages long but worth looking at...

I sincerely hope that it's irrelevant to your case

Begin Quote:
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: ***************************
To: **********************
Cc: *******************
Sent: Thursday, April 28, 2011 1:38:16 PM
Subject: fat lady story(told by Volvo Tech)

ok, so this lady brings her XC90 in for like the 4th time complaining
that "the drivers' seat will move on its own and squish her up against
the steering wheel". keep in mind this lady is fat as ****, like orca
fat. every time we get the car in, especially since it was brand new at

the time, it went to the most seasoned tech who has been here for 30+
years. at that time i was being trained by him in some respects but
mostly we were just working together on pissant diagnostic problems.

first time she brings it to us there are no codes stored and nothing is

wrong with the damn car, we told her to read the section about the
power
seats and be on her way. so off she goes. we spent hours and hours
trying to get this thing to act up with no alas.

second time, check for codes... get a code for seat switch activated
too
long, this is normally a bogus nothing code but volvo gave the go-ahead

to replace the PSM, power seat module. we ordered it and replaced it.
the whole time the seat never showed any symptoms of moving on its own.

set the seat memory back to the driver's preferred position and
returned
the car to customer.

the lady comes back next week saying the seat problem isn't fixed and
it
needs to be addressed asap. we get the car, plug it up and go to pull
codes, nothing. no fault codes to indicate a problem. we drive this car

around and around and around with no symptoms to report. again, give it

back to the customer.

two weeks later she comes back, YET AGAIN calling the people here all
kinds of nasty ignorant names complaining of her "dangerous seat
situation" and here is where it gets good... right as we are about to
get the car into service again she said she forgot something in her
car.
the whole time she's bitching about her damn seat. we go out to the car

with her to get it tagged and she gets inside to grab her purse or
something.. low and behold! the seat starts MOVING! she exclaims "look!

it is doing it right now!!!"

me and the shop foreman try to hold a strait face while pointing down
at
her fat ass hanging over the seat and pushing the button to move the
seat forward. she gives us a dumb look like "what?" and then realizes
the whole time the seat was moving as her fat ass was hanging over the
side and pushing the button.. she finally realized what was going on,
closed the door and drove off... we both exploded in laughter.

also she has since made amends for her name calling shennaigans but now

sends the car in to be dropped off by her husband.

here's more to the fat story...

on '03 xc-90's there is this service campaign that requires the tie
rods
to be replaced by a superceeding design. vehicles within a certain
chassis range get the tie rods replaced and then an alignment.

so here comes her husband with the car to get the tie rod recall done.
somebody else, i don't remember who, does the tie rods and alignment
per
volvo specification.

the car comes back with this unusual tire wear and the husband
complaining that his wife primarily drives the car and she says it is
pulling on the highway. so dude goes and sets it up on the rack and all

the alignment specs are spot on. i don't remember the exact plate but
this car has some personalized plate that someone recognized from the
whole seat moving ordeal. they told the other tech this is the seat
moving fat lady's car. well, no wonder it pulls and is wearing tires
unevenly.

we told the husband there's only one way to remedy this and it isn't
pretty. next thing i know, mrs. fatass is here ready for her special
alignment. the special alignment includes making her sit in the car to
simulate the weight on the suspension and align to specs with fatty
sitting at the helm. we did it, and it worked, no more pulling or weird

tire wear, i can only assume that it pulls the other way on the highway
End Quote

[abscate]

Good story but shows why they are Auto techs and not rocket surgeons.

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