Hello All,
I have a strange pull in my steering wheel when I engage the brake. The steering wheel pulls quickly left several degrees, and the car seems to want to go slightly right.
Anyone know the common causes of this? Any previous experiences?

Side note: I looked at the rotors in the front, and they seem very scored! Lots of nicely rounded grooves across the entire shiny rotor in no particular pattern, no break grinding noise. (I have no idea what causes this kind of scoring either). Not sure if the scoring may be a symptom of the same "brake pull" problem or not, it may help in the diagnoses.

But any thought on the brake pull? Is this a caliper stuck open? Loose tie rod? Control arm? Uneven pads? The fronts hold the parking break very well it seems (assume its probably not stuck open?), and neither of the rear calipers are stuck closed. So far, thats all I have deduced.

Thank you all! I'm looking forward to the discussion.

By the way, I bought the car day before yesterday; my first volvo! Very stoked about it so far! '96 850 sedan; 5-speed; Amethyst /Aubergine pearl metallic w/ black leather.

 

If you pull the wheel off, you can have a look at the pads to see if there is uneven wear (I believe a 7mm hex key is needed to pull caliper off in order to get to pads and see inside caliper). My first guess would be a stuck piston in the caliper however there could be other things going on. I'd rule out the brakes first since that's easy.

 

Hello VPatrol,
I visually inspected the pads, and it seems they are all fairly evenly matched on visual inspection. They are all fairly full pads all the way around (so maybe recent pads, and not enough time to show uneven wear).

However, I have had a very funky new symptom the past two days: when I release the parking brake handle, the parking brake does not release. I have to engage the gear, and give it gas it until the brake pops open. After that, I do not hear any brake rub, or smell burning brake while driving, so it seems to release fully.
When releasing the brake, it does not get stuck every time. Only twice now, in the past to days, but that is about two out of the three times it was driven, because I have stopped using the handbrake now, and just park it in 1st gear (She's a 5-speed, if that wasn't clear).

Symptom review:
-Hand brake sticking closed,
-Car steering wheel turning left while braking
-Car actually trying to pull right while braking

Thank you! Your help is really appreciated!

 

I know this is an old thread but maybe will help someone else. I had the exact same problem -"The steering wheel pulls quickly left several degrees, and the car seems to want to go slightly right." In my case it was the left side control arm bushings that were worn out. I first replaced the right side bushings with no effect, then the left side which cured the problem.

My parking brakes were sticking because one of the cables had a crack in the sheathing and there was rust inside. Had to replace the cables.

My 2 cents worth.