hey guys. need some help here. its a bit complicated so please bare with me. back in november i spent quite a bit of cash on my 1996 escort 1.8 ghia x. i bought new struts and springs which lowered her, bought new anti roll bar bushes and put new wishbones on her, 3 days after i put them on i hit ice, slid down a hill and hit the curb, at this point i left the car there and walked to work, when i finished work i came back to find my poor escort had been hit by someone and they failed to leave details, the damage was to rear, new arch needed and new bumper. all the work i did myself and yesterday i finally got her on the road however under braking she pulls sharply to the left, i bought a new caliper for the right hand side but no change, i checked the spring on the right hand side and strut and all seems fine. ai`nt checked the left hand side yet which is the way she is pulling. Any ideas what could be wrong?? she feels quite dangerous to drive especially on motorways when doing 70 like.

so the car only pulls when braking but drives fine when accelerating?

could just be a front brake hose, they have a tendancy to breakdown. do kwik fit still do the free test? if so go there, then fix it yourself

she seems to drive fine. i drove her 160 mile yesterday and it went well, but when i was doing 70mph down the m4, a guy slammed his brakes on in front of me, i did the same and i ended up swaying into the middle lane from the fast lane. i was thinking of going to kwik fit but the closest one to me is about 20 mile away belive it or not. i start work before it opens and finish work when it closes so i got to diagnose myself lol. I will mention that the brakes do seem to be less effective than normal

brakes are pretty important to you and other people

i could'nt agree with you more. but its just my working pattern makes it that i start before most places open and i finish after they shut. it's a problem you get being a bus driver, you get long shifts. now i know there is a prob with the suspension. When the steering wheel is turned you get like a springing noise which is obviously the spring. i will take the arm out in the morning and check it but i doubt its the cause to my pulling

if it's driving normally and only pulling under braking i would say that it's down to the flexi being collapsed inside or the piston on the caliper being seized. i dont think the spring would make it pull as any fault on the suspention would make it pull all the time not just under braking

Check your wishbone and arb link arm on side you hit curb with mate. I hit curb going round a corner when it was icy end of last year and bent them causing a very similar problem. Couldnt see the bend til got right down and up close. If you can get hold of an old wishbone you can put that upto it and see if there is any difference .

 

Obviously after your flexi hoses and caliper . Lol . Incidently i have calipers for sale :-D