I've been having some weird issues when driving my car recently. This seems to have happened maybe about a week or two ago, I'm not sure.

It feels like when I'm driving that my front wheels may be rubbing or hitting something because at times when I turn it feels that way, but there is no sound or visible damage. It also will sometimes pull to one side or the other when I'm accelerating (almost as if my alignment is off on both sides.)

It also feels weird controlling the steering wheel, it feels as if the car has no power steering (not like the fluid is low on a car with power steering, not that bad, but just like an older car with no power steering) and it feels weird to drive the car in general.

I checked my power steering fluid and that was just fine, my tires were rotated about a week ago, maybe a little more and maybe that is where the source of the problem (front tires were much more worn than the rears so I had them switched around). I don't have the time to look into this until Friday and I'm trying to maybe get an idea on what the problem is so I know how to fix it.

Any help is much appreciated!

 

are you lowered or anything? when is the last time you had an alignment?

 

Drax I'm lowered on TRD Struts and TRD Springs and my last alignment was quite some time ago, maybe about...November/December of 2008. Haven't encountered a specific reason to get one recently.

 

what is your model year and mileage? have you ever had your power steering flushed?

 

oh, and what size wheels and tires are on your car?

 

2008 with 30,000 miles and I'm running OEM wheels (original tires on still). And no to the power steering flush.

 

if the car pulls to one side or the other, it usually isnt your allignment. if it was allignment it would always pull to the same side.

if u were driving on a slanted road, the car will tend to pull towards the side that is sloping down, even on a slightly slanted road. i noticed that from experience.

try to find a street that you feel is as flat as possible and drive down it, see if it still pulls to the side.

also, you may have uneven tire wear.

just take it in for service and teh dealer will find the problem and more lol

 

just to throw it out there...

your power steering fluid may be full in the container, but it may not be feeding the fluids..

(just an idea..)

other than that, i would suggest you get an alignment only because it's been a very long time since you had one annnnnnd because it may solve your problem.. if not, then at least you know it's not an alignment problem, and you wouldn't need to get one for a while.

 

It sounds to me that the power steering pump is not working properly and that your alignment is definitely off....Suggest getting the pump checked, get new tires, balance them and then alignment. Should do the trick.

 

Ok so a quick update. It doesn't pull to one side or the other regularly, it feels as if sometimes maybe it slightly pulls one way, then pulls the other, or sometimes maybe jerks one way or another depending on the road (for the most part it still drives fairly straight).

Now tire uneven-ness is there, I was being told by my local Toyota dealership that I had not been getting my tires rotated (in the past I never did it myself since I asked once when I was having my oil changed for free if that was included and was told yes and that they would do it, but they have never done it since I confirmed that it is not included.) So I just rotated the fronts to the back and the old front tires were extremely low so I'm not sure if that would factor into what is happening.

It seems to be getting worse, now it seems like it is really hampering my acceleration since when I'm going it feels sluggish (in the way that the car almost feels too heavy or that it has too much weight in it) and decelerates very fast so I'm not sure if this would indicate an issue. It maybe seems a little harder to drive now, the steering seems heavier as well.

I'm going to get new tires and an alignment today or tomorrow so I will know if that will fix it or not, but am still wondering if it may be something else.