I just bought new tires (Falken ZE512 ZIEX) from Discount Tire Direct and had them installed at Sam's Club. Upon driving I discovered that my TL now wants to pull or wander to the right. It never did this before with the old tires. I had a 4 wheel alignment done today but it still pulls. The alignment shop even rotated the tires and rechecked measurements at least 4 times but no fix for the pulling. They thought it was a blown engine mount and resulting torque steer (or something to that effect) but that sounds weak to me. I usually trust Sam's Club with my tires as they are recomended in my area by even the dealers. No problems in the past. This time the tire tech failed to mount my tires in the correct direction of rotation and I pointed it out to him before he bolted them onto the car. I can't figure this right pull/wander out. Could it be a result of faulty tire balancing? Bent tie rods? Blown PS rack? I was certain the alignment was going to solve it but it didn't. Any advice anyone can offer would be extremely valued by me.

 

Radial pull can happen... I would take it to Discount Tires if you have one where you are. They are really good about replacing ur tires if its due to radial pull. you may also want to make sure that when they did the alignment.. they set the car w/ the steering wheel completely centered. Im sure you took it to someplace reputable, but just in case you didn't... i've had this happen to me on my lexus before. They aligned it, but didn't align it with the steering wheel at center. idiots! my

Most likely either of those 2.

 

It could be many things. Its not a balance problem, that would cause teh steering wheel to shake. 1st thing to check is that all the tires are all properly inflated and the same. Then i would have a 2nd opinion on the alignment. IF that doesnt resolve the issue then id start to look into the tires. I find it weird that you had them rotated and it still did it, but its possible. Yes a mount could be throwint the alignment of the engine and tranny off causing it, or it could be a brake thats hanging up causing it to pull

 

Airpressure Airpressure Airpressure...

 

Agree Strongly.
I have the same tires in 225/55-16 on the original tl-p wheels.
I keep the pressure at 36psi front, 34 rear for 50/50 hwy/city driving....and add 2 lbs for extended hwy travel.

I also had Sears install them (price matched the Discount Tires Direct $ + 10%).
The tech also mounted one of the tires backwards before I pointed it out to him (bozo).

 

evern 1 or 2 pounds diff can make your car pull. check it out.

or if you had brakes done latley i could see one caliper not releasing pulling the car

unbalanced i don't think would have an effect on that just vibrations...

check the pressure. i will put money thats what it is

 

Are they perfomance Tires you might want to check if they rotate a certain way

 

i think its funny that people don't read his post completely and take the guy for a complete dote.

I believe that he said he told the tire guy that the tires were directional before he bolted them on. knowing enough to point it out to the tire tech, i am assuming that motl knows enough to check whether the tires are mounted correctly. So i think that means the tires are mounted correctly.

motl, it is entirely unlikely that you developed a caliper problem during/after a tire change. if one caliper was not releasing properly.. not only would you feel a pull, but you would also feel resistance from the car. not to mention that the rotor would be over heating and you would probably smell burning pad while driving if not after you get out. it is not a balancing problem. the tire pressure could be an issue.

take it to a real alignment place. its not rocket science. if its aligned properly at that point... then it is radial pull, meaning its the tire. this happened to me on a prelude i had about 8 years ago... Discount sold me a set of Roadhuggers and told me they were the newest best less expensive performance tire.. and the car pulled. I exchanged those for a set of bridgestone potenzas and it rode true.

as you may or may not have noticed there are alot of people on these forums that will tell you its everything under the sun.

a question tho... did you have alignment problems before? did you notice uneven tire wear on the set you replaced?

 

it was just some obvious things that most people take for granted when leaving a shop. its not like we told him to check his valve clearances or timing belt thinkcness or something completley unecessary

my

 

I know right Calm Down Jenna

 

A big "thanks" to everyone for offering solutions to my wandering problem. One of the reasons I thought an alignment might solve it is because, as Jenna suspicioned, I did have some uneven tire wear on my old front tires. Driving to work this morning I also now noticed that the alignment shop didn't center my steering wheel. Maybe they were idiots after all. They spent 3 hours on the car just trying to get the alignment right/cure the wander. I guess that is what I get for chosing a shop based upon a coupon for a $39.99 alignment, huh? Should have taken it to the dealer, where I probably will end up anyway. I will check my tire pressures first and play with that a little to see if that helps. Brakes are fine and were replaced not very long ago by dealer. No warping of rotors or excessive heat noticed. First thing I did after noticing the wandering was to feel the wheels for excess heat from a stuck caliper (none). It sounds like if it isn't tire pressure then it is probably radial pull. I have a great Acura dealership here and a good friend who works there too (he originally found the TL for me). So I'll be picking up the phone as soon as I log off and making an appointment there. Thank you all again. I was surprised by the response to my post. I hope I can return the favor to you all sometime.

 

alignment and pressure

 

 

The major culprit is alignment. I had a shop do the alignment 3 times and they still couldn't get it right. It would still put either left or right depending on which time I took it in. After that I just took the car someplace else and in one attempt they got my alignment right. No pull, steering wheel on center.

 

Surprisingly enough the Honda Dealer here near Asheville only charges about $59.00 for an alignment or did about a year and 1/2 ago. They had just gotten new equipment the last time I went there. Got my Accord back and it was perfect. Had had issue with other garages with alignment. Guess my thought is that the Acrua/Honda garage should be able to get it right. That's were I would go. All other places in town here charge around $75.00 for an alignment. Imagine the Honda Acura garage being cheaper! Probably the only thing they charge less for.

 

I had a brake that was slightly hanging on my Galant that caused a pull even when I was flying down the highway. Kept taking it back for an alignment that was perfectly fine, after about six months or so the culprit was found.

 

for my worth, i've had more "bad" alignments over 40 years of driving

than any other single repair.....

 

i cant believe you guys pay 20k+ for your car and you take it to get repaired at SAMS CLUB? or SEARS? wow...

The motor mounts on our cars will not cause a pull..Bring your car to the dealer and let people who know what they're doing fix your car. ;P

 

And you think just because its the dealer they can do better than a place that does as the main thing they do? Also for some of us its not worth the 1hr plus drive to the dealer.
and i can tell you from experiance my sears does better alignments than my dealer.

 

Well they're is somethin seroiusly WRONG with your dealer if that's the case. The dealer techs are certified. They know the cars..Or at least they SHOULD know the cars. I know at least my shop is stocked with the latest Honda Recommended equipment. If you had a problem with your alignment from the dealer, then why didnt you take it back to them?

 

I really think its an issue with the Faulken 512's. It has been brought it before of similar issues. I have those tires ... my problem is all will be okay but when I rotate the tires straight front <=> back it starts to pull to the right and I have to drive with steering wheel cocked to the left. The alignment was checked, but it just something with those tires. Do a search and you'll find ppl with the same issue running these tires.

 

Falken is not a very good quality tire..

 

Well for 1 the dealer isnt always the answer, especially the prices. 2 i bring it somewhere else because i know the techs and i know they do their job (also with the latest equipement available), and 3rd i bring it somewhere else because its not worth me driving a hour and 30 min 1 way. There is nothing wrong with my dealer. They are the best dealer ive ever delt with, Just it wasnt up to my satisfaction and i wasnt about to drive that amount of distance for that.

As opposed to the Shit honda sticks on our cars from the factory

 

alot of ppl has that prob with those tires...i did but now im running on the nitto neo gens...

 

What?! I've gone through 3 sets of tires in 60K. So far I've tested the stock POS michelins, the "all-expensive" toyos and the falkens. The falkens are the cheapest I've owned and they are the best that I have experienced so far. I've all driven cars with Bridgestone, Continentals, and Yokohamas, and they all fail in comparison to my Falkens.

I guess its all in preference in driving style but saying Falken is of poor quality is definately wrong.

 

Michelin is by far..the best tire for the price..the quietest all season tire money can buy. The tread patterns are superb. Makes the car feel the way it's supposed to feel.

The only flaw is the soft rubber compund, very prone to getting impact bubbles in the tires. But what can you do about that? STOP HITTING CURBS!

 

My car also pulls to the right, I bought after market rims and tires, the first tires were nitto 555, the ones i'm on now are yoko ES100, both tires pull. Had Acura align the car, twice. I still have that anoying pull, it's slight and not all the time. Any advice.

Thanks