When leave your steering wheel 'hands-free', the car will sway to the side. I have tried to send the car for wheel alignment, still not solved. Should I send back to car dealer or is there any reason other than alignment that can cause this 'pull to the side ' syndrome? :dunno:
Car pull to the left
- Thread starter Toffeeman
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Every car I have driven in Malaysia since I came here 10 years ago , wether brand new or used is pulling ot the left. This seems to be a Malaysian phenomena! I am not sure why this is the case, somebody told me that all roads have a slight angle towards the left here to make sure during heavy downpours the water flows easier to the left side where the drains normally are.
I am not sure if this is true or not but might be a reason why all the previous 7 cars I had always pulled to the left as well.
rgds
tayfun
I am not sure if this is true or not but might be a reason why all the previous 7 cars I had always pulled to the left as well.
rgds
tayfun
The Necessary
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There is a very simple explanation for all of this:
THE EARTH ROTATES "TO THE RIGHT".
As Malaysia is almost straddling the equator, the relative velocity of rotation is greatest here, and hence the effect is most pronounced. It affects everyday life too; guess why world class 100m/200m (ie.anything in a straight line race) sprints are not conducted here?
Run in a straight line towards a point 100m away, as you run, you will sense yourself unconciously making slight course adjustments to the right.
Try it.
THE EARTH ROTATES "TO THE RIGHT".
As Malaysia is almost straddling the equator, the relative velocity of rotation is greatest here, and hence the effect is most pronounced. It affects everyday life too; guess why world class 100m/200m (ie.anything in a straight line race) sprints are not conducted here?
Run in a straight line towards a point 100m away, as you run, you will sense yourself unconciously making slight course adjustments to the right.
Try it.
all roads are designed to have "superelevation", which is a small percentage of tapering in order to
a) reduce inertia at high speed corners (so that the car will not "buang" as to layman terms
B) cater for quick surface run off dispersal
so the car will slightly pull to the direction of where the superelevation tapers down. on straight roads, the enter of the elevation will be at the median, as for corners, it is at the inside of the cornering (right corners-inner right diameter..vise versa)
disclaimer : the above is true ONLY if my memory serves me right....
a) reduce inertia at high speed corners (so that the car will not "buang" as to layman terms
B) cater for quick surface run off dispersal
so the car will slightly pull to the direction of where the superelevation tapers down. on straight roads, the enter of the elevation will be at the median, as for corners, it is at the inside of the cornering (right corners-inner right diameter..vise versa)
disclaimer : the above is true ONLY if my memory serves me right....
E46Fanatic
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My friend, this will apply only if there is acceleration of the earth's rotation. If its constant velocity of rotation, there is no difference for us objects who are rotating masses as well with the earth's movement. Even the air is rotating with the earth, and you wont see left drift from a feather dropped in a room with still air as the earth rotates..
The Necessary
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E46F,
you tend to forget that my explanation only applies to objects THAT ARE IN MOTION/ACCELERATION... ie. Sprinters and/or Cars.
When such object start accelerating "out of sync" with the Earth's gyro-rotation, the initial moment of mass of the object experiences a phase shift not in line with the gyro-scopic moment of movement of the Earth's, hence the slight "shift to the left".
Why else do you think water swirls clock-wise down the loo in the northern hemisphere and counter clockwise in the southern hemisphere?
you tend to forget that my explanation only applies to objects THAT ARE IN MOTION/ACCELERATION... ie. Sprinters and/or Cars.
When such object start accelerating "out of sync" with the Earth's gyro-rotation, the initial moment of mass of the object experiences a phase shift not in line with the gyro-scopic moment of movement of the Earth's, hence the slight "shift to the left".
Why else do you think water swirls clock-wise down the loo in the northern hemisphere and counter clockwise in the southern hemisphere?
E46Fanatic
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Man, you are definitely not a physics grad lol. BUT you can fool your way through with BS tho
. Don't you know that the coriolis effect with regards to swirling water clockwise and anti clockwise in different hemispheres is nothing more than an urban legend?As for the coriolis effect on our cars, its one tenth millionth acceleration of gravity... very insignifcant in comparisons to wind gusts, and other environmentals.
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--Finally, Thomas Humphrey, a senior scientist at the San Francisco Exploratorium, discusses in more detail the reasons why we do not see the Coriolis effect at work in the bathroom:
"There is an African country near the equator where entrepreneurs have set up two toilets, one just north of the equator, the other just south of it. For a fee, they will allegedly demonstrate that the toilets flush in opposite directions. It is only for show, however; there is no real effect. Yes, there is such a thing as the Coriolis effect, but it is not enough to dominate the flushing of a toilet--and the effect is weakest at the equator.
"The telling comparison is between the magnitude of the Coriolis effect and the initial amount of angular momentum in the water--that is, how much is it spinning anyway, regardless of the earth's rotation. Coriolis acceleration at mid-latitudes is about one ten-millionth the acceleration of gravity. Because it is a very small acceleration, it needs a very long distance for it to produce an appreciable curvature--and hence directionality--to the motion. A toilet or sink is just not large enough. The Coriolis effect influences because wind velocities may be hundreds of times greater than the motions in a sink and because the distances involved are far larger than the tiny draining diameter in a sink or toilet.
Get the facts
The Necessary
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Sigh, it's true, you IT people all have no sense of humour. Sigh.
Juan Powerblow
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Toffeeman, this issue was extensively discussed b4 in another thread concerning the BMW. There was also another thread which explained why your car even looks a little bit tilted. So, don't worry bro! It's quite normal. I used to be able to put on my tie in my ex-Honda but in the BMW, it gets a little tricky in motion!
The Necessary
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Why else do you think toast ALWAYS lands butter-side down?!
toffeman,
I had this experience not long ago after I change my all 4 thyres and after all the sophisticated alignment and balancing, as I and the mech test it out, the car sway to the left.
he just change the wheel position and viola , problem solved immediately. it went straight on the same road. its the uneven tyres, thats his explaination.
I had this experience not long ago after I change my all 4 thyres and after all the sophisticated alignment and balancing, as I and the mech test it out, the car sway to the left.
he just change the wheel position and viola , problem solved immediately. it went straight on the same road. its the uneven tyres, thats his explaination.
You guys gotta hear this.
Went to GSM Auto at Jalan 222. They claim that this happens on Continental PremiumContact tyres. Its the effects of the design of this particular tyre model.
What they did was just pump the tyre pressure to 32psi. The sway became less distinct and not so obvious anymore.That is ALL they did!
Went to GSM Auto at Jalan 222. They claim that this happens on Continental PremiumContact tyres. Its the effects of the design of this particular tyre model.
What they did was just pump the tyre pressure to 32psi. The sway became less distinct and not so obvious anymore.That is ALL they did!
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