Tracking Left...

[HEcreated487]

My car is tracking left.  It can be described as a moderate pull to the left (i.e. when the driver releases the steering wheel, the car will definitely move into the next lane... or oncoming traffice!  ).  The car doesn't do a full U-turn, but it is definitely not a simple drift.  Some effort is needed to keep the car rolling straight (within the lane lines) and causing the wheel to be slight turning clockwise (approximately 3° to 5°)...

Before your brain cogs start spinning, here are some specs:
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Alignment (Yes, there is excessive camber.  Somewhat necessary to fit some wide wheels and tires )

• - DS Front:  0.00° Toe | -2.6° Camber | 3.9° Caster
• - DS Rear:  0.08° Toe | -4.5° Camber
• - PS Front:  0.00° Toe | -2.8° Camber | 3.7° Caster
• - PS Rear:  0.10° Toe | -4.8° Camber

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Other:

• Raise the car approximately 1" (if that matters)
• New wheels and tires with air pressure set at ~35 PSI
• Bushings and ball joings were inspected and seem to be in decent shape.  No tears, cracks or significant, noticeable deterioration from what I can observe.
• No leaking from any steering component.  Nothing noticeable from what I observed.
• Replaced the front brake pads and rotors on Friday, 01 March 2013.  Please note that the drifting occured before the change to the front brake pads and rotors.
• The car tracks left more noticeably when accelerating, which I find odd.

.
So what could it be??

• Improper brake engagement at the front DS wheel or something with brakes?
• Wheel bearing?
• Tires?
• Steering component?
• Suspension component?
• 

.
Any insight would be much appreciated.  Thanks ECM fam.

[CrackerTeg]

How was the wear on those pads before you changed them? I'm suspecting a seizing caliper.

[HEcreated487]

Unsure on the wear for the pads, since I had a shop replace the brakes and they stated they would check the calipers.  They didn't mention anything regarding the calipers, although I would suspect that may be the culprit as well.  I plan to call them today.

[CrackerTeg]

Find out if the pads wore unevenly. That will tell you.

[HEcreated487]

Ok, called the shop.  They stated it should have nothing to do with the braking system.  They offered to inspect the brakes, the alignment and rotate tires.  They stated it's most likely the tires, but they're brand new.  Hmmm.

[CrackerTeg]

Should have nothing to do with the braking system? If a front caliper is siezing, how does that not have anything to do with the braking system? Now that i think about it a little more, what if the caliper slide pins aren't doing their job? That could do the same thing.

Mike, I'd recommend to NOT go back to that shop ever again if they're blaming tires and not actually inspecting your stuff properly.

[HEcreated487]

Good recommendation Z.  I will rotate my tires this afternoon to see if that does anything.  I'll also have my uncle (a mechanic at Acura) take a look at it.  Take that, shop-who-took-my-money.  

[CrackerTeg]

Yeah! Take it!

[MyNameIsThien]

Wait. Why is the PS have 2 degrees more negative then the DS?

[CrackerTeg]

I just noticed that. Good question. Mike?

[HEcreated487]

Thanks for noticing that, Thien. It's a typo. OP revised.

[MyNameIsThien]

OK, now I can thoroughly diagnose this. A seize caliper won't cause a pull unless under braking 90% of the time. You say you have new tires. What brand tires did you get? I'm going to assume you have even tread on them. What are the tire size? OK, here is what I want you to do. Only rotate the two front tires from side to side. Note, if the car pulls to the right, then you have a tire pull. Then you will need to see the shop that sold you the tire to see if they can correct this issue with a road force balance or warranty out the tire for you.

[HEcreated487]

Here's the details, Thien, as requested.

A little history.  I bought a new set of wheels and tires from the "mainland" (i.e. Continental US) and had them shipped here (i.e. Hawaii).  The tires were mounted, filled with 30psi of compressed air and balanced, although I am unsure of what wheel balancing equipment was utilized.  Wheel and tire specs are:
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• 19x10 et35 Rotiform SNA SQUARE
  
• 265/30/19 Achilles 2233 tires (400 A A Rating ).  Yeah, I know these aren't name brand or the greatest of tires, but the price I paid for the package, INCLUDING SHIPPING TO HAWAII, pretty much provided FREE tires  ...
• McGaurd Spline lugs and locking lug nut set

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Upon arrival of the wheels and tires, the weights on two (2) of the wheels had lost adhesion and came off.  I had these two wheels rebalanced.  These are mounted on the fronts.  The other two wheels are assumed to be balanced as the weights are still intact.

Last night I took your advice and rotated the front two tires only, from side to side.  The result?  The car still tracks left, but not as noticeable.  Still has a moderate pull to the left under acceleration.  :  I plan to have the shop recheck the alignment, possible rotation of the rear tires (side to side), check the tire pressure in all the tires, have them rebalance all the wheels/tires as well and inspect the suspension/braking/steering components while the wheels are off, since they offered to do some of it for free.  We'll see if that helps.

Any other suggestions would be great.

[MyNameIsThien]

I know for sure those Achilles tires aren't that great, and it could be a possible major tire pull. Try swap the front tires to the rears and see what happens from there. You say it happens mainly during acceleration. I would check all your motor mounts to make sure none of them are worn out or damaged. After you've swapped the front tires to the rears, and the pulling to the left stops, I would chalk it up to the tires.

[HEcreated487]

Damn tires.  ... I'll work on it some more but that's unfortunate that it can be the tires. I was just hoping for decent length of use and tire wear. F@$&!!

Thanks Thien!