Torque Steer

I wonder if anyone could suggest what to look for. I’ve been experiencing torque steer on the Metro for several months. It is only very noticeable during acceleration – it pulls to the right. While driving at a steady speed or deceleration it is pretty much not there. I’ve inspected everything around the engine and front suspension and cannot see anything obvious that could be causing this. I also have one of those cheap tools for measuring toe alignment – checked the toe and it looks fine. Not measured camber or castor – I believe they are not adjustable on the Metro.

Any ideas what could be causing this.

Nature of the beast so far as I'm concerned. Have you just recently noticed this? All your tires the same size/brand? Maybe you have a brake assembly dragging on the passenger side?

-MechanicMatt

It may be a long shot in your situation, but you should check the rear right control rod. The muffler shop used big hangers when I had the muffler replaced last, causing the muffler to bend the rod each time I went over a bump.

Jai

This has been happening for about a year. To summarize briefly how it came about.

End of last year I had to travel to Palmdale in the high desert in connection with work. On the way back, my Garmin GPS routed me though some roads meant for off road vehicles (since then I have leant how to configure the GPS not to take me on unpaved roads LOL) . I had gone too far to turn back (in fact that was not possible as it was a single track narrow road full of sand). The outside temp was dropping close to freezing and the sun was setting so I had no option but to keep moving in case the car became stuck. I finally got out of that mess but I had a feeling that what happened was not very good for the car.

A few days later the bake pads needed changing and also I discovered a torn CV boot on the drive side axle. I pulled the axle out cleaned it up inspected it for damage and then replaced the boot. Some weeks later I noticed the torque steer problem along with a knocking noise which on inspection turned out to be the sway bar link having separated from the control arm. Not sure how that happened but I may have removed it in the process of separating the ball joint from the control arm and not replaced it correctly. I fixed it but the torque steer has been there since.

The tires have been rotated and balanced since – this has not helped. As far as I know there is no problem with the brakes. Another major thing that happened is that the transmission early this year suffered major problems. It suffered multiple problems (compounding of the primary problem which led to secondary and tertiary problems). In the end the direct clutch was toast along with a thrust bearing failure between the front planet carrier and ring gear. I pulled the transmission, tore it down and fully rebuilt it. In doing all of this I have not been able to see the cause of this problem and it has neither got better or worse during all of this time so I’m puzzled.

Something after the ride in the sand may have got bent or out of alignment but I not sure how to try and locate it.

I will check the rear suspension also as suggested – I must say I have not inspected it since the problem showed up.