Brakes pull to left,plus same wheel rubs bumper?? pa cresta

[paul armstrong]

hi , hope here i will get some answers to these 2 problems?
problem 1..
last yr all brakes renewed,including brake pipes and hoses, bar the skimming of discs.all was fine untill 2mths ago ,when heavy braking,car pulls to left.tyre pressure is ok,could this be suspension fault??

prob2
same side,when you turn to the left,the tyre is rubbing the bumper,this has started in the last mth or so,any idea what i should be looking for.thanks for reading..paul.

[JPB]

No matter what else you do, DO NOT use the car again until you've checked this out thoroughly. There would want to be a broken wishbone to cause the hub carrier to move enough to allow misalignment of this magnitude to happen. Examine the lower ones at their eyes, I doubt that a failed or torn bush would let the whole thing move to this extent.
Also, check that the front crossmember is securely attached to the chassis legs both sides as that could fill up with condensation through standing or surface water if you've used it on a wet day and then not taken it out for a run to get some air through it, rotting the areas around the bolt heads which, a quick glance at the Thatcham slide for your car would have me believe, are actually below the level of the surrounding steel.
Those are pretty substantial bolts though but, so I'm thinking that a fractured or sheared wishbone half is more likely it.

[paul armstrong]

thanks for that john,scary,will have a look,hopefully when i find the problem will let you know the result.paul.

[paul armstrong]

right,have had car up in the air,wheel off,checked chassis to crossmemberbolts,all ok...
wishbones also ok,have used crowbar from all angles to find any major movement,there is little,but not enough to make that wheel at least 1/2" more forward than the other,i am at a loss,i do not know where look next,HELP...

[JPB]

For the hub centre to have moved that far out of line there must be something broken somewhere, it can't just have been made that way or it would always have been doing it. Has one of the lower wishbones been replaced with one intended for the opposite side of the car perhaps?

Failing that, could one of the wishbone pivot brackets have been removed at some point recently and then been replaced without its spacer, if one is needed?

Could there be damage to one of the wishbones? Has the car been jacked up badly at some recent time? By a garage when having some work done for example?

For there to be that kind of difference from side to side, something must be badly wrong somewhere.
Would you possibly be able to take and post here some detailed photos showing the entire suspension assembly on the side where the hub is out of position please?
Failing that, measure some of the suspension parts at both sides and compare.

Is the wheel that much further forward when in the straight ahead position, or is it that far offset in which case it's only further forward when turned into a corner? In that case could you have replaced a front wheel with another from a different car recently? Are both front brake drums the same as each other? Has your car been fitted with disc brakes in which case are both vertical link/stub axle assemblies from cars with the same type of front brakes originally?

This is most odd and worrying.

[Wicksy]

Have you also checked the steering idler for security and wear? Had a Mk1 Consul years ago with the same symtoms - turned out to be shot linkage joints and loose mounting bolts allowing the LH wheel to do it's own thing in turns