Car pulls left while braking over 40 mph

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beeman212
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Posts: 95
Joined: Thu Feb 19, 2015 5:58 pm
Year and Trim: 2000 Bonneville ssei
Location: elizabethtown pa

Car pulls left while braking over 40 mph

Post by beeman212 »

2000 Pontiac bonneville ssei.
Have changed control arms balljoints, outer tie rods,both front wheel bearings and sway bar links.
Changed both front rubber brake hoses and replaced passenger side caliper, driver side caliper was changed 2 years before all the other stuff.
Had an alignment done after all the front end work and still pulling.
Was pulling left but the steering wheel was turning slightly right while car was pulling left.
Turned out the axel nut on passenger side was snug but not tight and driver side was tight.
When I replaced wheel bearings I swear I tightened the axel nuts to 118 ft lbs.

Also not sure if it's a problem but my steering dosent lock and the front end is looser feeling and car feels like it wants to kinda wander on the road and with all the new parts it should be nice and tight.
I also have the service stability system message on the dash occasionally but then you shut it off and the next time you get in all the lights are off, abs, brake,trac off lights and I used my tech 2 to pull codes while the service stability system was on and got
C1214,C1248,C0660,P0716,P0717 codes.
Also occasionally the transmission with start slamming into 2nd gear even if I'm coasting down a hill.
The transmission thing hasn't done it in awhile and if it does it wont do it the next time you drive it.
Sorry such a long post but im at a loss of what to do other than push it off a cliff or something,
Major love hate relationship with this car and too much invested to give up now.
Thx for reading and any help.
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nos4blood70
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Year and Trim: 2003 SLE
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Re: Car pulls left while braking over 40 mph

Post by nos4blood70 »

How are your subframe bushings up front? Did you replace your inner tie rods as well?

It could potentially be a tire pull. Move your tires around front to back and see if anything changes.

The harsh shift into second is either a worn front transmission mount or a combination of that and code P1811 which doesn't trigger a check engine light.
-Car Guy Carl
"Penelope" - 2003 SLE - 250k Miles
"Sydney" - 2000 Honda S2000 - 101k miles
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bobc997615
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Year and Trim: 1992 SSE
2005 GXP

Re: Car pulls left while braking over 40 mph

Post by bobc997615 »

I'd check the a-arm bushings. If you torque the lug nuts on the front wheel, you may see a toe-in change due to the bushing being worn out. In my case, I had to change both lower A-arms.

2003 SLE with 130k miles
imidazol97
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Year and Trim: 2003 Lesabre Limited, 2008 Cobalt, 2014 Malibu

Re: Car pulls left while braking over 40 mph

Post by imidazol97 »

Has the rear suspension been gone over carefully. I recall some parts back there could rust through. The rear might be changing the wheel orientation during braking.
beeman212
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Posts: 95
Joined: Thu Feb 19, 2015 5:58 pm
Year and Trim: 2000 Bonneville ssei
Location: elizabethtown pa

Re: Car pulls left while braking over 40 mph

Post by beeman212 »

subframe bushings are all good. a arms where replaced with ball joints and outer tie rods, wheel bearings,sway bar end links, new struts on front and new shocks in rear new calipers in front. car has good strong brakes but when u give moderate pressure to stop it pulls to the left normaly but occasionaly to the right. but under hard braking it goes strait.
ive also replaced the front engine/transmission mount.
if I have to hood up and rock the car in park the engine has little movent which looks normal to me.
I would love to fix whatever it is but I,m stumped on the problem.
it all started by trying to get an alignment and was told it needed a passanger balljoint and that my passanger wheel bearing was going bad and that I needed to change them before the could get and alignment.
so then I changed everything I could on the front and got an alignment and it pulled like this before the alignment and still pulled after alignment. car drives reasonably strait but seems to wander a bit at higher speeds. and at speed betrwwen 50 and 80 it just feels a little loose or shakey is the best description I can come up with.
carl
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Year and Trim: 2002 Buick LeSabre

Re: Car pulls left while braking over 40 mph

Post by carl »

If all those parts check look at the abs. I have a small seal leak going on and notice intermittent uneven drag that worsens at high speed hard braking. No codes.
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