Car: Volvo V70, 2.4T, AWD (visco-type), model year 2002, driven 311 000 km (193246 miles), automatic gearbox.

Problem:

The car pulls to the right more than what is to be considered as normal. It pulls a little bit less during acceleration, but constantly when driving steady, when taking the foot of the gas pedal and when rolling in neutral. In order to drive straight, I have to rotate the steering wheel slightly to the left to counter the pulling. I have another V70 model year 2001 that drives straight on the very same roads.

Measures taken to get rid of pulling:

- Rotated tires between front and rear.
- Rotated tires between right and left.
- Tested driving with winter tires (205/55/R16) – same pulling force occurs.
- Replaced both front lower control arms (brand: Lemförder).
- Replaced both front spring seats (OEM Volvo quality).
- Replaced both front strut mount bearings (brand: Lemförder).
- Replaced both front sway bar arm links (OEM quality).
- Replaced both inner track rod ends (unknown quality).
- Replaced all four summer tires (Nokia Hakka Black 2, 225/45/R17) – no change in pulling.
- Performed three four-wheel alignments at two different shops. The latest one at the official Volvo dealer.
- Checked front struts and springs. Both are original quality and working.

Wheel alignment is mostly within specs (see picture below for numbers from a wheel alignment two weeks ago by Volvo). Rear camber is too negative on both sides, left -01°25', right -01°31', otherwise things are within recommended specifications.

The brakes are not sticking as far as I can see. The rear brake pads and rotors were replaced a year ago. Front brakes seem evenly worn. I tried pressing the right front brake caliper in and it moved. The wheel bearings seem fine as well and are not making any noises that I can hear.

The car has been to three shops (two independent and a Volvo dealer). The mechanics who did the wheel alignment at Volvo thought the steering was strange even after the alignment, but did have any clear idea of what was wrong. One comment was that the steering felt heavy. They tested the power steering by “driving” with the wheels off the ground to test if the power steering was pulling. It was not.

I tested to adjust the front camber according to step 4 (max positive camber on the left, max negative on the right) in this V70 service bulletin from 2007 https://www.volvoxc.com/0/resources/...celeration.pdf after the latest four-wheel alignment. It did not stop the pulling, but it changed the steering wheel position to be slight to the right when going straight. Before the camber adjustment, I had to hold the steering wheel slight rotated to the left to go straight.

What are your thoughts on this problem?

The steering pulling is very annoying, so I am thankful for any advice.


Wheel alignment settings after the latest alignment at Volvo dealer. Numbers in red are outside specifications.

 

anything bent or worn in the rear suspension? at 200K miles all bushings are suspect including the rears. Does the back end seem to sag due to worn springs?

 

Your camber number on the printout show positive camber on the right front, and negative on the left - granted not very much, but perhaps with the crown of the road it's enough to make the car drift to the right.
If after following step #4 (push hub in and tighten bolts on right side for max possible negative and the opposite on the left) - perhaps a aftermarket camber bolt on the right side might help -

Worn bushings in lower control arms can make the car pull one way when accelerating, and the other when decelerating - i realize they have been replaced -

 

Thanks for the response. I haven't found anything bent in the rear suspension. The mechanics who have checked the car said the the bushings in the rear were old but not really broken. One said the sway bar link arms made a bit of a noise. I wouldn't say the back end sags noticeably. The front end springs are original and seemed to be in good condition, I have not checked the originality of the rear springs. The negative camber in the rear is somewhat noticeable by my non-expert eye.

When I quickly measured ride height from the ground through the center of the wheels to the edge of the fenders, I got the following results:

Right front: 680 mm (26.77 inches)
Left front: 692 mm (27.25 inches)

Right rear: 682 mm (26.85 inches)
Left rear: 694 mm (27.32 inches)



Rear end left



Rear end right

 

Thanks for the reply. Yes, the camber on the printout shows positive camber on right front and negative on the left. But both are still within the specifications.

I tried following step 4 in the service bulletin (max negative on right front and max positive on left front), but the pulling did not stop. Instead, the steering wheel was slightly off to the right when I drove straight. So I adjusted camber back to the way it was at the time of the wheel alignment.

 

I had a look at the rear springs (see pics). The springs were under load (wheels on the ground) when the pictures were taken.

Could these worn springs cause the too negative camber in the rear end? And would this affect/cause the steering pull?


Rear right spring.



Rear left spring


To my understanding, the car has Nivomat shock absorbers in the rear end. At least according to the suspension/spring code (65) on the identification plate (see https://www.ipdusa.com/techtips/1001...oes-it-tell-me).

 

No, it's your front camber and the crown of the road, and looking the the rust i'm glad I live the in south. The sagging rears might be cured with new nivomats but are very expensive!

 

According to Volvo’s wheel alignment the front camber it is within specifications. I could try the special camber bolts you suggested. But when I tried to correct the pull by making the front left camber max positive and the front right max negative, it did not change things, so I'm not too hopeful that more front camber adjustment would help.

I do not think it is simply due to the crown of the road, if I drive in the same lanes but in opposite direction on the same roads the crown pull is not as strong to the left.

And yes, new Nivomats are too expensive given the value of the car. Would it be a stupid move to simply change the rear springs and leave the Nivomats in?

 

My local Volvo dealer has had the car for 7,5 hours to find out what is causing my steering pull and wandering steering. Their suggestion is that the steering rack needs replacement. They could not guarantee that replacing the steering rack will fix the problems though. But they were sure that the steering rack is not ok. According to them, everything else in the front is in good condition (inner and outer tie rods, struts, springs, spring seats, spring bearings, ball joints, control arms, sway bar end links), which means that the steering rack is the part likely to blame.

They came to this conclusion when rotating the tie rod while checking for stiffness in the outer tie rod. When they rotated the tie rod end on one side, the opposite side tie rod rotated simultaneously. Thus, there seem to be a rotational play in the steering rack. There is no horizontal play in the steering rack and it is not leaking oil.

I tried to recreate what the mechanics found out. In the video, I'm rotating the right side tie rod while filming the left side tie rod. What are your thoughts? Could this be causing the steering pull and wandering steering?
Video: https://streamable.com/vmgiua

There is a video on how to replace the steering rack on Youtube: However, I've heard that the procedure is somewhat different on AWD Volvos. Does the driveshaft have to be detached from the angle gear or something similar?