Is200 Pulls To Left After Changing Front Pads/discs And Rear Pads/disc

[emissary]

Hi Gang,

I recently had my geometry settings done by Wheels in Motion and was driving well.

This weekend I had a mechanic friend change my brakes pads and discs all round.

I bought Pagid barke pads and discs.

However, I am notice the steering feels stiffer and not as looseor flexible as before and the car now pulls to the left when driving in a straight line.

Could there be something that was missed out?

I thought changing pads and discs is a relatively straight forward job and should not affect tracking???

Please can someone provide some assistance as I do not really want to have to shell out £`100 for WIM to have to look at them, plus I am 100 miles away round trip...

Thanks for any help... :)

[ChrisIS200SportTTE]

Correct, changing pads and discs will not affect the alignment.

My suspicion would be your calliper on whatever side the car is pulling to is starting to sieze. This now presents itself more blatantly because you have new discs and pads.

After a drive do this...

Check the temp of all four wheels. If one is hotter than the other three and it's on the side the car is pulling to, suspect a siezing calliper.

Does the car smell of hot brakes after a drive?

jack the car up. The front wheels should be easily spun by hand and rotate freely. If they don't, the calliper is sticking.

Other thing to check is your front lower control arm bushes. If these are perished and the rubber is split then an alignment is pointless as the settings will be changing constantly because the bush isn't doing it's job and the car will wander/pull.

[emissary]

Hi Chris,

Thank you for your response.

I will check this once I drive home, particularly for the temp and smell of hot brakes...

So in short order I will be doing the following:

1.) After 20 mile drive home, check the temp of each wheel. Checking if 1 out of 4 is different to the other 3.

2.) Sniff for hot brake scent.

3.) jack Car up and spin front wheels.

Please bear in mind that the back discs are the originals only the brake pads were changed.

The front however have new discs and pads, all Pagid.

Im pretty sure when it pulls to the left it seems as if its leading with the front...if that makes any sense.

Thanks again and I will update you with my findings.

emissary

[ChrisIS200SportTTE]

99 times out 100 the front is where the problem will be

[taylor_sa]

Did he adjust the handbrake wihle he had the rear wheels off? He may have over adjusted one side. Also apologies if you have already checked but do check your tyres first, pressure condition etc its the first and easiest thing to check.

[emissary]

Thanks again for the suggestions.

Ok, so there was no difference in temperature on the front left wheel.

There was also no smell of burning brakes...I was driving for 20 miles so I figure I would have defintiely smelt something once I got back.

However, my back left tyre was down to 20 psi, anf the front left was at near 27, so I had all tyres checked and set to 33 psi all round and what do you know it handles like it used to. Cant believe it was such a simple fix. On the plus side I was ****ting it as I was thinking I might need new callipers etc.

I did also learn some new things too!

Thanks Chris and Taylor much appreciated!