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Car Pulls to One Side When Braking

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A car pulls to one side when braking, either left or right is an indication of a tire pressure issue on the front or a brake-related problem.


As you do not know, your car's front end or front tires controls the steering and the front brakes do most about 75% of the braking, so you better check those three parts to determine what causes the problem.

Let's start by checking the tire pressure on front tires, get a tire pressure gauge and find out if one of your front tires has more air than the other. If your car front tires have an uneven amount of air then this causes the pulling.

How to Check Air Tire Pressure
How to check air tire pressure, the first thing to do is to remove the tire valve cap. Remove the tiny cap that is installed on the tire valve. Read more » How to Check Air Tire Pressure

An uneven amount of air in your car front tires can cause imbalance on your car front ends thus causing your car to pull to one side, you can always notice this especially when you are braking, just add the required amount of air on the affected tires to correct the problem, the key point is that you must have the same amount of air in both of your front tires, use the recommended tire pressure of your car manufacturer, usually, it can be found on your car owners manual.

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If for instance, you have the same tire pressure on both of your car front tires then you have to find out whether the problem involves your car front end the front brakes.

To find out what really causes the problem, drive the car on a level road slightly relax your grip for a second on the steering wheel as you are driving, notice if your car will pull to one side of the road either left or right. This test is to verify if your car tends to pull on one side even when you do not step on your car brakes.

When your car pulls to one side even when you do not step on your car brake then the problem is about the alignment of front-end parts this condition can be more noticeable when you step on your car brake pedal. Also, a possibility of a car brake problem is the cause but this is very rare to happen, the front end misalignment is more likely to cause the problem.

To correct the problem, bring your car to a reputable shop to have your car front end aligned, if the mechanic recommends replacing one or more bad suspension parts, seek first a second opinion before doing so.

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Now, to find out if you have car brake-related problems, park your car on level ground then loosen the front wheels then jack up the car, use a tripod to support both of the car's front ends, remove the front tires to exposed the brakes. Examine the brake disc, rub your finger across each disc but before doing so wait for the brake disc to cools down, to find out if there is a presence of an oily substance, or grease, or even brake fluid.

If there is a presence of any of the substances mentioned then you have a contaminated brake disc that causes the pulling. The substance reduces the friction between the disc and the pads, as a result, there is uneven braking between the left and right brakes, if there is uneven braking it will cause the car to pull on one side when braking. To correct the problem bring your car to a reputable shop to check if there is a leak on your car brakes somewhere else that causes the presence of the substance.

Another cause of your to pull on one side when your brake is applied but is rarely to happen is when you have a mismatch disc this is when one disc is thicker than the other, also if you have, also if you have a mismatch of brake pads wherein one brake pads is thicker than the other, bring your car to a reputable shop and have the mechanic to correct the unmatched components.

Car Pulling to the Left? What to do
Car pulling to the left is a result of a mismatch tire air pressure on the front tire, dragging brakes or, the wheel is out of alignment. Read more » Car Pulling to the Left?



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