My car pulls when braking

My car pulls when braking

So when I brake hard my car pulls to the driver's side. I know that when I hit a bump going at a slow speed I hear something coming from the driver's side wheel, but not sure if its a bearing, ball joint, tie rod (inner or outer). Has anybody experienced this before? I know a mechanic that will charge about $20 to diagnose, which I'm thinking of doing because I really don't have time to be changing things hoping that its going to be fixed. Is it worth it?

Edit: Oh, I have a 2000 with 120k miles, and its manual if that makes a difference (I don't think it does)

Thats what I was thinking maybe the slides on the caliper froze up or the piston is just getting tired. Try taking your wheel off taking the caliper off and using a big set of channel locks to depress the caliper if it goes in pretty easily it should be fine. Or if you dont want to take the caliper off you can wedge a pry bar inbetween the rotor and caliper and see how easy it moves out. (not responsible for any damage you do so do at own risk) Clunking could be a strut mount maybe or stabilizer link? there are numerous things it could be. I tend to hear more noises out of my car during the cold weather.

I'll check the brakes. I painted them in April or May and when I put the calipers back on I don't remember them being hard to put in. I'll also check all the joints. I have to rotate my tires this weekend so I'll be in there anyways

Brake Calipers

I dont think its got to do with your calipers.
Its a suspension related problem.Your lower control arm rubbers are shot so when you brake the whole control arm moves in the worn rubbers causing the wheel to move outwards in turn causing the car to pull to that same side.

The only other problem would be are the tie rods

I was rotating my tires today and I jacked the car up, then tried to move the wheel. When I grabbed the top and the bottom, it didn't move. Which means that it isn't a ball joint. But it did move left and right, which makes me think its a tie rod. Does this sound right? I looked at the boots of the outer tie rod ends and they weren't broken or leaking grease. Could they still be bad?

Have someone else with you when you shake down the wheel, so that way if there is play they can identify whats moving. It could be an outter or inner tie rod end. Shake the wheel and have someone hold down the tierod. If the side to side movement goes away thats your problem. Remember when replacing tie-rod ends you need an allignment afterwards. Or if your cheap you can just count the number of spins it takes to pull off the old one and put the new one back on like that. It just wont be as acurate.

I was installing some springs this weekend, and I noticed that the side where I hear something moving around was a little different than the other side. When I went to put the strut assembly back in, the side that doesn't make noise was much harder to put in because the control arm did not move down very easily. So since the other side moves easily does that mean that a ball joint could be bad? or could it be a control arm bushing? I would think that this may be a clue to what is wrong.

Here's an update. I still haven't figured out what's wrong. I went back to stock ride, and I noticed that the passenger side was very hard to get the strut assembly in and out. When I took off the bolts into the steering knuckle, the axle pushed up and it was hard to take the strut assembly out, it was even harder to get it back in. I thought that it could be the sway bar links, since they are still attached to the control arm. I installed new sway bar links, and it still pulls.

I've noticed that it only pulls when going over an uneven road or bumps while braking. But when I'm not braking the steering stays straight. Why would it happen when going over bumps? And why is it so hard to push down the control arm?

Check your control arm

ORRRR!!!!

that could be the only part of your brakes working.
You would know this if anyone certified ASE brakes. but guess not.
gonna have have a mechanic look at it if want it replaced. got to toyota if want it Fixed for good.

Not everyone has the cash to have Toyota have crap checked out lol

How could it be my brakes if the control arm lifts up when I take out the strut assembly bolts? I'm thinking it might be the control arm or CV joints.

Can CV joints cause this to happen?

cv joints? hmm... idk. Ususally it would make some type of noise if was. clicking or growling.

i know what you problem is but cant put my finger on it.
im gonna call a friend and ask. Let you know =]

Probably your wheel bearings, or as someone suggested a seized piston in the caliper.

I checked the brakes and they are fine. I don't think its the brakes since there is excess tension in the suspension. I looked at the control arm bushings and they look ok, but I don't really know what I'm looking for.

Wheel bearing tends to click while rolling more than "make a sound" going over bumps. Sounds like a lower control arm to me.

How do you check the control arms? Like I said, I looked at the bushings but I'm not really sure what I'm looking for. Do I have to take them off to check them?

I looked in the troubleshooting section of the Hayne's manual, and the first thing it says for "erratic steering when braking" is a wheel bearing. Also I've been having some vibration in the steering wheel around 70 mph, second to tire out of balance/out of round is a wheel bearing.

I've replaced the bearings in another 8th gen, but it took me all day. I'm not looking forward to this. Also, when I did it I replaced the hubs too. Should I replace both the bearings and the hubs?

If you haven't had this question answered, put your car on jack stand and shake each component of the suspension. There should be no play, and everything should be solid. If sopmething has any play then a busching is bad, of damaged part.
As for the bearing,while the car is stands, shake the top of the wheel from the driverside to the passenger side and shake the bottom wheel opposite. Everything should be solid also.

I just read this post today. But if your car pulls when braking, then it's brake drag. It means the the pistons aren't being applied to equally. If you haven't done this ever, a caliper rebuild would be a shop's recomendation. Along with a rotor resurfacing and new pads. The pistons seized because either it is damaged. But even more likely the piston boot, that returns the pistons back to it's original position, is torn. Or you have bad seals.

If you already figured things out then disrigared this message.

I recently realized that it doesn't always happen when braking. It happens on uneven roads when I'm going slow. So I think that it might be the bearing. The bearings are only about $25 each, so I'll replace these first. If that doesn't fix it then I'll replace the calipers, rotors, and pads.

Just because a car pulls when braking doesn't mean it's only brakes. Could be weak suspension pieces, poor alignment or even unbalanced wheels.

Pulling under braking could be a lot of different things, and saying it's only brake drag is inaccurate.

Inaccurate? It was only a suggestion. And I didn't read anything about tire wear, pulling while driving, or wheel tramp or shimmy. So based on givien info, that would rule out 2 of your suggestions. But if he inspects all the suspension components, then he can pin point or rule out things.

If it was a suggestion, word it more as a suggestion rather than, "If it's doing X, then it's Y."


That's how I read it anyways.

Well honestly I didn't word it very carefully because I'm thinking if he was really gonna follow my post, he would've asked more questions to further analyze the problem.

replace your pads , and grease your pins. dont forget to bleed , and make sure none of the lines are kinked rubber or steel.

What pins? The bolts that hold the calper in place?

the slide pins for the caliper. also a bad strut or sagging spring will cause this.