Weird suspension issue

[Impureclient]

Got back from a 10 day trip and took car out. A minute into driving I realize I am fighting the car from going right. Then it kind of goes away. This pull is pretty extreme, like the front right tire completely flat.
I floored it and slammed on brakes to initiate it again but that didn't work. Then driving some more and it comes back and goes away if I swerved real hard. I took it into a parking lot and
when turned full lock to the left going real slow I can hear a faint crunching/ticking sound.
Went home and pulled both front wheels and everything felt and looks fine. Took it to the dealer today and the sound and pull can't be reproduced any more. They even looked it over and can't find anything.
It's just gone, what is happening here?

Edit-clarification: Didn't take car on trip, it was was sitting in the garage the whole time.

[scotto79]

Is it possible the front caliper was seized from sitting? After running it for a few minutes it would have cleared the rotor up.

[Stomachbuzz]

My first check would probably be brakes, then wheel bearings.

[Impureclient]

Seizing seems unlikely as it is garaged and in FL weather. There is zero rust anywhere under there, it all looks new still. This wasn't constant like something that was rusted to a stop, it suddenly happened without touching the brakes. I left the neighborhood (takes about 30 seconds) got onto the highway and made a u-turn and it was after the turn it noticed it but was just pulling on the steering wheel to counter it. The roads slope to the right and I was just thinking it was that. Then I realized if I let go, it would have just pulled off hard to the right. It felt like somebody was grabbing the steering wheel then would just go away. Brake rotors are in perfect shape, bearings are fine too.

[solidONE]

The wheel spins freely when you had it up? No dead rodents lodged in the wheel? Steering rack looks okay? No extra resistance turning the steering wheel when parked? No strange sounds when rolling? It just pulls to the right intermittently? No warning lights triggered? No rats mistaken your wiring harness for a slim-jim?

Reason I ask is if everything looks good mechanically in the rotating assembly, maybe its not mechanical. Maybe the steering assist is causing problems. I'm not sure how it would cause your car to pull to one side, but it would definitely make problems with turning the wheel.

[DarkPira7e]

Does this happen on totally flat grade pavement that is in good condition? Did you drive other vehicles while you were away? What kind of tires is your car wearing?

[Impureclient]

Just checked today again and wheels spun freely. I didn't check the steering rack at all. This was only one the way to the store on good condition pavement in and less so on the way back.
Now it's totally fine and no evidence of anything wrong. Drove a rental car while I was gone. Looked into steering assist issues and nothing for pulling only one way intermittently.
My car is on Firehawk Indy 500 225/45/17 and 720 Form GTF1 wheels and only suspension mods are TRD springs, steering rack lockdown kit, Hotchkis strut tower brace.

[soundman98]

my car routinely does this at a few specific intersections where the pavement is buckling in the braking zone from larger trucks. putting the car too far to the left of the lane will make it pull to the left as well.

but i notice it the most in the first half hour or so of driving the car, a side effect of the communicative steering contrasted to the numb suggestion wheel i usually drive during the week.

[strat61caster]

+1 write it off as a weird road perturbation until it repeats somewhere else.

[Impureclient]

I am 100% sure it wasn't the road, definitely the car doing something. As it's not happening any more, any sign anything is even wrong nor can it be coaxed out of the car if I try,
I will just chalk it up as car gremlin that fell off when I was serving around.

[Grady]

Originally Posted by Impureclient

Seizing seems unlikely as it is garaged and in FL weather.

Garaged ok, but the entire state of Florida is considered a corrosive environment.

Most likely your garage is on old Indian burial grounds. You car is haunted now and the ghost is trying to drive.

[Impureclient]

Originally Posted by Grady

Garaged ok, but the entire state of Florida is considered a corrosive environment.

Most likely your garage is on old Indian burial grounds. You car is haunted now and the ghost is trying to drive.

Don't make me defend this craphole but I think cars last longer here than colder areas. That might be one of the very few redeeming qualities of living here.
Even being less than a half mile from the salt water all the places I've lived here and I've never seen surface rust even begin to form on any of my vehicles.
I think the native north Americans were too smart to live this far South due to the oven like temperatures. Ghosts don't have the strength to fight over the
steering the way it felt wheel like a small rabid gremlin would.

From dictionary.com
Gremlin (plural gremlins):
A mythical creature reputed to be mischievously inclined to damage or dismantle machinery.

Definitely a gremlin doing his thang.

[soundman98]

you get all the old gremlins down there.

[gravitylover]

Originally Posted by soundman98

you get all the old gremlins down there.

The only time I was in a Gremlin was a rental we had in 1977 in Florida. It had a sunroof and a giraffe at whatever safari place we went to stuck his head in and sneezed all over my great grandmother. She didn't like giraffes after that. There's my gremlin story.