PAR5zN2

Have noticed that my TL wants to go to the right. Believe it is drifting because of the road crown. The head mechanic at my Acura dealer told me the high performance tires with 17" rims tend to be more sensitive to road variations. The drifting has occured with the original EL-42s and my new Falken Ziexs. Talked to the Falken tech rep and he suggested I put 3 pounds more air in the right front tire. This seems to help( if the road has a crown) but I was wondering if it's something with my TL or others are experiencing this problem.

alv1

Here in MA, I find that often when I drive in the left lane the car "pulls" left due to the crown. Most often our right lanes are closer to level. How does the car drive on flat surfaces with the tires having unequal air pressure.

PAR5zN2

Doesn't ever seem to pull to the left, even on a level road.

TBone2004

How do you like the Falkens? Any Pics of them on the car?

PAR5zN2

Falkens are great! Very responsive yet smooth riding. A real value.

vtechbrain

My car pulled when new (Oct). I switched to the blizzaks for winter and the tendency diappeared. Now in spring I put the El42's back on and the pulling is gone, Beats me!!!! I think the pulling is tire related After a little wear it goes away.

alv1

Vtechbrain - had the pulling stopped before you changed tires as well?

maecrispy

I don't believe this is necessarily a TL issue. I've found that with past cars I've owned, the ones that had 'high-performance' tires almost always followed road crown worse. They also suffer from tram lining more often (this is where the wheel follows a rut in the road... feels like the car is sorta steering itself.)

Cars that have had narrower, smaller, touring tires (like my old Accord and Camry for instance) didn't tend to exhibit this behavior.

I think what you're seeing is the effect of using wider tires with lower profiles rather than anything specific about the TL. If you cruise other high performance car forums, you'll find posters decribing the exact same behavior you're seeing.

alv1

maecrispy - thanks. I thought that might be the issue but I've never had a car with this type of performance so I don't know what to expect.

KeithL

Mine does it ever so slightly and I have BS LS-Z, and actually almost every car I have had does it to some degree or another.

vtechbrain

Sorry for the wait. As far as I can remember it was still pulling when I swapped the EL's. Although I'm not an EL hater I suspect the tire does have cold weather issues. Since I put them back on this spring, the tires have performed excellently. Even the high speed turn bumpiness has disappeared completely. Although I have been ignored on this, inflating the tires to the recommended high speed pressure of 39F/35R changes the character of the tire completely for the better.

dheel

On some interstate driving my steering wheel will sometimes slightly rock back and forth. When you speak of tramlining, do you experience this as well.
I have been told it has to do with the wider low-profile tires. I read where tires with wide tread-blocks are likely to do this, my previous two sets of EL42's as well as my current LS-Z's did this. I'm no tire expert put the tread-blocks on the LS-Z's do look fairly wide though.. I also experience on some interstate driving in the left lane the car will pull to left. If I get over in middle lane the steering wheel will be mostly straight. My other cars have done this as well, think as other posters have said it's due to the road slanting some, maybe for drainage issues.