I have the Continental Cross Contact LX's o my '04 F150 2WD and they have excellent wet traction. I have had no problems with them. I almost bought Michelins, glad I did seeing your problems. Sorry you had your trouble xjcamaro89.

 

I have had the same issue with my 05 4x4. I have good tires that I bought but you are right if you put the wheel straight it wants to turn right so you have to have it turned to the left a little. Most the time its not bad but I do know because it was bothering me too! Hwy speed dont really have it but slow driving I have to turn the wheel to the left some.

 

Thats exactly what mine does, at highway speeds its fine, its the city or slow driving where i see the tilt.

 

Put on my extra rims with the stock size Ameritracs, seems to have improved the problem, but its still a little tilted, please read my other thread on the caliper pins for any thoughts.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/8...iper-pins.html

 

Xjcamaro, is the truck still pulling or is the steering wheel off center a little? That would be two different problems. The main elements of pulling or driving straight are caster and camber. Caster has a greater influence on pull than camber, but camber can still cause a pull. Toe in and camber are the elements that effect tire wear. It sounds like your complaint now is that the steering wheel isn't centered any longer. If it does not have a pull in either direction, your alignment can still be perfect, but the shop just didn't get the wheel centered when they set the toe. It'a fairly common for alignment shops to miss it a little. That usually happens when they don't set the equipment just perfect accounting for runout in the wheel(s) when setting their basic settings prior to checking the alignment. When they put the equipment on the wheel or spindle hub (depending on the type of equipment used) every wheel or spindle hub has some lateral runout. It's not perfectly true. If they didn't hit the average just perfect or if the wheel turned slightly it could throw their readings off a bit. It won't be enough to give a bad alignment, but it could give them a reading that will result with the steering wheel being off center slightly. It could also be the calibration of equipment. If it's off just a bit but still in tolerance it could throw the setting off a little. Again not enough to effect tire wear or handling, but it's usually noticeable with the wheel being off a little. Another factor that can have an effect is a spring that might be sitting a little lower that the other. Uneven tire pressure or a tire that is slightly different in diameter can have an affect also. Also, if they didn't give the alignment enough camber and caster lead to compensate for road crown, that will cause the wheel to be off a little as you are steering the wheel into the crown a bit to keep it going straight down the road. Bottom line is, when you set an alignment, you are dealing with averages. I prefer about 1/4 degree of camber and caster lead favoring the left (pull slightly to the left) to compensate for road crown. It won't be perfect on every road, but it will be good on most roads. Or you can accomplish the same thing with 1/3 degree of caster lead with camber being equal. That being said, on an interstate highway with very little road crown, my steering wheel might be canted a little to the right because I may have a slight left pull. When I drive on a county road or city street, it may be perfect. Sorry about the long post, but I hope this helps you out some. The settings you posted should give good tire wear.

Greg B

 

Thanks for all that information! Great knowledge. See my steering wheel is straight, or near, alot of the time. It feels like it almost comes and goes. My top caliper pins were stuck the whole way in last night and i had to use a pair of pliers to wiggle them out. They were the design with the rubber sleeve on them, i replaced them with a straight pin. But a thing i noticed is after i put the brakes back together i left the front on jacks and started the truck and pumped the brakes up. I then went and turned each of the front wheels. They did not spin very freely and you could hear the pad rubbing on the rotor. Its wasnt real loud almost the loudness of rubbing sandpaper across the rotor. But i bet the wheel didnt spina quarter of the way around. Both sides were the same. How free should the wheels be with the brakes off? Im thinking that my calipers might be sticking just enough that its giving me that little bit of pull on unflat roads, but on almost flat highways at highway speeds the drag isnt enough to effect the driving? Anyone have any thoughts on that?

 

Ok, i drove it for a bit and jacked up the front again. The front rims were pretty warm, almost getting to the point where if i would have drove further they might have been to hot to touch the backs were nice and cool. And the front wheels when spun didnt spin very far, maybe a quarter turn and stopped. They have alot of resistence from the brakes. So im really thinking that my front calipers are sticking and giving me my pulling effect. So Napa has the calipers for $71 a side so im going to go that route. I think that if it wasnt the calipers then the front wheels would turn freely and they wouldnt be that warm. Anyone have any thoughts. I think i might have found my problem. Again its a 2004 STX 4x4.

 

Some drag on the wheel with disc brakes is normal. When you apply the brakes the fluid forces the piston(s) into the pads against the rotors and you get the clamping force necessary to stop. When you release the brake pedal, you no longer have the clamping force, but the piston stays where it was with little or no pressure against the pads. Each time you apply the brakes, the piston is moved by the hydraulic pressure in the system. since there are no return springs and such, the piston stays where it was at during the last brake application and a slight amount of friction material is removed from the pads. Caliper pins should be lubricated to make sure that they don't cause the caliper to stick. Another problem could be a hose beginning to collaspe on the inside. You won't notice anything externally. But when a hose collapses, it'll let fluid into the caliper, but won't let the pressure release properly. Is the drag even on both wheels? You need to check this out. You probably need an inch/pound torque wrench to measure resistance. If it's light and even, then all is normal. Just to give you an idea, I have 155,000 miles on my old 94 Taurus beater with original calipers and hoses and the brakes are fine.

Greg B

 

Ya, i havent had to change calipers on anything else ive drove as a daily driver. I would say that the resistence is close to even just by feel. But in my mind when you give the wheel a real quick spin by hand it should it be hard to start to spin? I think that it should spin somewhat freely with a little little pressure still left from the brakes. But when i spin them now you can hear the pads screeching against the rotor.

 

i was told by Firestone back in 04 that all vehicles aligned were done so that there is a slight pull to the right for "protection" if somebody fell asleep on the road the vehicle would veer out of traffic instead of out of it.

On another note....The seals on my rack decided to bust out on me one day and I ended up replacing the rack. Very similar problem with the alignment going both ways while driving. Ended up that the inner tie rod joints were worn on the rack. (didn't figure that till i cut the boot open)

After the 9hr instillation of the rack...darn haynes manual sucked.....the problem was corrected

 

I dont think my problem is the same as my calipers seem to be sticking. But good thought