steering pull to the right?

What could be making my 2001 Avalon pull to the right?

I have read the 'steering flutter' thread.

I just had it aligned and wheels balanced. I regreased the slide bolt/bushing on the caliper, the piston seal was dry and looked fine. Tire pressure is spot-on at 31psi where recommended. The steering wheel does vibrate slightly at higher speeds.

steering position sensor?

I'm assuming this was happening before the alignment. >The natural curvature of most road surfaces. Draging brake: did you compare left and right brake pad thickness? Uneven tread wear: rotate the tires front to back one side at a time.

Had a similar issue with pulling to the left. Had it aligned, tires rotated, and everything else checked. All specs were dead on, but it still pulled to the left.

Shop manager then suggested it might be "tire torque" which was something I'd never heard of before. I have directional tires, and he explained that these sometimes result in a pull if wheel torque is not applied by the engine equally to both wheels. So they swapped the two front tires (which reversed the direction of the tire) and it then pulled slightly to the right.

I still don't quite understand this phenomenon, but it does seem related to the tires and not the alignment, etc.

from the website of the "Cartalk" guys on the radio ...


"Many tires are rotated front-to-back and side-to-side, but some tires are directional, which means they're only supposed to turn in one direction. They have to stay on the same side of the car. Directional tires often have arrows on the tire's sidewall to show you the direction in which they should turn."

If you had a mechanic recommending that directional tires be swapped to the other side of the car, I'd recommend a new mechanic. If they were swapped as a means of diagnosis and isolation then, okay.

Swapping two directional front tires from side-to-side is not good and goes against the manufacturers intention. It will not reverse the intended directionality of the tire.

Torque of course would refer to the lug nuts and the correct torque specs being used to tighten the lug nuts. I have never seen a shop mechanic check torque or tighten wheel lug nuts with a torque wrench. They usually use their impact guns and tighten lugs until it "seems right". Perhaps checking the exact torque of each lug nut with a torque wrench may help.

"... wheel torque not applied by the engine equally to both wheels ..." I have no idea what that would mean.


now, to be Toyota specific ... it just seems these cars are REAL sensitive to tire pressure, alignment, steering, etc.

other thoughts ?


Had a similar issue with pulling to the left. Had it aligned, tires rotated, and everything else checked. All specs were dead on, but it still pulled to the left.

Shop manager then suggested it might be "tire torque" which was something I'd never heard of before. I have directional tires, and he explained that these sometimes result in a pull if wheel torque is not applied by the engine equally to both wheels. So they swapped the two front tires (which reversed the direction of the tire) and it then pulled slightly to the right.

I still don't quite understand this phenomenon, but it does seem related to the tires and not the alignment, etc.

from the website of the "Cartalk" guys on the radio ...


"Many tires are rotated front-to-back and side-to-side, but some tires are directional, which means they're only supposed to turn in one direction. They have to stay on the same side of the car. Directional tires often have arrows on the tire's sidewall to show you the direction in which they should turn."

If you had a mechanic recommending that directional tires be swapped to the other side of the car, I'd recommend a new mechanic. If they were swapped as a means of diagnosis and isolation then, okay.

Swapping two directional front tires from side-to-side is not good and goes against the manufacturers intention. It will not reverse the intended directionality of the tire. From what I've read, the directionality of these tires has more to do with shedding water than any other aspect. The tire plys themselves are not different than a non-directional tire...so I've read. That said, I agree that it's not helpful to swap the directions if for no other reason than less than ideal water handling.

Torque of course would refer to the lug nuts and the correct torque specs being used to tighten the lug nuts. I have never seen a shop mechanic check torque or tighten wheel lug nuts with a torque wrench. They usually use their impact guns and tighten lugs until it "seems right". Perhaps checking the exact torque of each lug nut with a torque wrench may help.
Not "of course"...I wasn't referring to lug nut torque, but to the torque applied to the tire via the axle. I too have never seen a shop use a torque wrench, which is why I always re-torque them when I get home.

"... wheel torque not applied by the engine equally to both wheels ..." I have no idea what that would mean.

As noted above, torque applied via the axle to the wheel/tire. The transmission does not alway split the torque equally. He was referring to this unequal torque as the cause. Not sure I fully understand the physics of this, but the empirical data (i.e., my car) seems to support his theory.

now, to be Toyota specific ... it just seems these cars are REAL sensitive to tire pressure, alignment, steering, etc.

other thoughts ?
I've not noticed anything exceptionally sensitive about my current Toyotas (Celica, Avalon, Land Cruiser, and MR2).

I thought wheel torque from the axle was more of a front-to-back thing (for ex. 60% / 40%) rather than a side-to-side thing.

Is "yaw" a more appropriate term.

don't some axles/diffs have yaw sensors?

not sure about avalons ...