focus leans while driving

[Some Guy From NY]

Originally Posted by joe77

Drove it a little more today...and same issue...pulls on hard acceleration and braking, besides the wandering on slightest road imperfection etc...I wish I had my old rack before the accident, steering was tight on highway, loose on parking/low speed and perfect. Very manageable.

What is the part# for your gear replaced?
my final order service stated - cv6z-3504-DE, I have a titanium with 17 inch wheels

Maybe it has to do something with the parts..I know there are 3 racks out there DE,CE and KE

Originally Posted by dbenney

the only problem i have is on roads with grooves in them that run perpendicular to the direction of travel. Sorry you guys are having these issues, my Focus is perfect, 0 issues.
as far as pull on hard braking or acceleration, that is normal on front wheel drives. My 2000 focus did it as did my 02 focus, 03 focus, 05 Malibu and my new 2012 SEL.

if pull on hard braking is excessive, there can be air in lines on one side, warped rotor, bad caliper... pretty much anything that would cause uneven pressure.

one more thing... how many miles do you guys have again? have you had yours struts inspected? if they have begun leaking and are not functioning properly they could cause some of this.

My steering rack is BV6Z-3504-KE.

I have not had my struts inspected/replaced. The braking pull once again happens intermittently, but more times than not.

This all started after I got my new rack...the only issue with the old one was the highway wander, which is now fixed...but Now I have to deal with the pull to the right.

I have ~7,200 miles.

This is infuriating.

[joe77]

tell me about...lets see if Crystal looks into this. I want my old steering back. Had i test driven this car with the current new steering rack that I have now, i would not have purchased this car.

[Craeshen]

Have them check the shock to see if it is defective or broken. (can happen potholes and rough roads are notorious for eating shocks.) The strut mount could also be fatigued or broken.

Just kind of the first thing that came to mind when I read your car gets physically lower on one side.

[Some Guy From NY]

Just drove my normal route to work (i'm working nights for the next 4 days) and the pull to the right was not noticable...however the pull from a start and braking was there, but not as bad as it is other times. If my focus drove this way all the time I would be happy, because the times it did "pull" was very minimal and could be possibly explained by imperfections in the road.

This is why I don't really want to take my car to the dealer..sometimes it drives horrible, other times it drives nearly perfect. I don't want to waste a day at the dealer just to be told it is normal or can't be reproduced.

[sgmfocus]

Originally Posted by dbenney

how can the cars physical ride height change in 1 side? that just makes no sense to me... especially intermittent. i would have right side gone through... control arms, spindle, strut and spring. are you SURE it is actually lower? how can you tell and know its not related to the road surface or an illusion?

thats what i'm hoping to find out, it doesn't make sense at all ,the dealer checked car out found nothing obviously wrong ( 4 road tests , on lift 3 times i waited for car), yes i'm SURE, happened when we went on 1st road test, mechanic pulled out of lot got about a block away b4 it lowered then about 1/2 mile until it leveled out only did it the one time on 4 seperate 6 mile road tests (same route each time)

[sgmfocus]

Originally Posted by Craeshen

Have them check the shock to see if it is defective or broken. (can happen potholes and rough roads are notorious for eating shocks.) The strut mount could also be fatigued or broken.

Just kind of the first thing that came to mind when I read your car gets physically lower on one side.

thanks for reply, they checked suspension said its ok,thats what i think also a defective strut ,spring or mounts,( none are broken or leaking checked that myself), just have to get a dealer to figure it out

[onestout]

Originally Posted by Some Guy From NY

Just drove my normal route to work (i'm working nights for the next 4 days) and the pull to the right was not noticable...however the pull from a start and braking was there, but not as bad as it is other times. If my focus drove this way all the time I would be happy, because the times it did "pull" was very minimal and could be possibly explained by imperfections in the road.

This is why I don't really want to take my car to the dealer..sometimes it drives horrible, other times it drives nearly perfect. I don't want to waste a day at the dealer just to be told it is normal or can't be reproduced.

Do you have a break caliper sticking? After it does this feel to see if there is more heat coming from one more than another. Just hold your hand close to the wheel near the caliper, do not touch, can be very hot.

[Some Guy From NY]

Originally Posted by onestout

Do you have a break caliper sticking? After it does this feel to see if there is more heat coming from one more than another. Just hold your hand close to the wheel near the caliper, do not touch, can be very hot.

I will try this tomorrow morning when I drive home from work.

[Some Guy From NY]

Okay I just drove home from work and realized something. The car pulls to the right A LOT when accelerating from a stop a bit quicker than normal. I can easily duplicate this.

This is not the same problem as the steering wheel jerking left or right when braking quickly. It only sometimes jerks when accelerating. If I hold the wheel tight where it does not move when accelerating quickly from a stop the car almost immediately starts to drive to the right even with the steering wheel held straight.

When maintaining a speed it very slowly starts to pull to the right, sometimes not at all.

Those who are experiencing this can maybe test this out and report back.

note: at work I drive ALL previous gen focuses and none of them drive as shitty as the 2012 in terms of tracking straight....and these are company cars that get ABUSED.

[Joeywhat]

It's a FWD car with a reasonable amount of power...it'll pull under acceleration.