Anytime I have new tires put on, or have them balanced and rotated, the car pulls to the right, BAD! I've had several alignments with no luck. The only thing that works is to move the wheels around until you find the right combination.

It doesn't seem to make any sense that when you have perfectly balanced wheels, that the car pulls like it does and then to simply swap them around and the problem goes away. Do I have a bent wheel or suspension parts that are messed up? Of course the company I bought the tires from doesn't have a clue (tyvm Les Schwab).

Any ideas?

Thanks!

Tim

 

an unbalanced tire will cause vibrations and won't cause pulling. A bent wheel could cause pulling but I highly doubt it.

Have you been putting on the same brand of tire? What is it? The model? Some tires can have cords that come apart inside and cause pulling as the tire moves forward. It could be that you have a bad tire and have been experiencing this.

 

It's called radial pull you need to cross rotate the front tires

 

it could be tearing LCA bushing

 

Stuck caliper?

 

Do you always get your alignment at the same place?

From my experience, most places are **** when it comes to alignment.

Either way, you said new tires. All 4 wheels right?

Also a test you can do is letting the car coast in neutral and see if it still pulls to the right. This could help diagnose if it's torque steer from tie rod, ball joint, lower control arm bushing etc.
If it doesn't coast to the right in neutral then it's most def. torque steer assuming tires are fine, alignment is fine and road is not angled.

 

^with the rash of guessing going on, it sounds like the OP has to narrow down the culprit.

he's said he's gotten multiple alignments, but were the alignments to spec?
please post up alignment sheet showing before and after specs.

if the new specs are still out of spec, this could be the reason why new alignments wont work.

it will also give clues on if some components are out of spec as well.

 

And lol yes, put your hand near the wheels after driving for a while and check if one of the rotors seems much warmer than the others.

 

Or get it up on a lift and simple spin the tires.........

 

Psh who's got ready access to a lift at any time? Not me.

 

Turn off VSA and see if the pull remains.

 

Going through this now. the caliper is seized on the left and pulling car to the right.

 

He got new tires and has been back for multiple alignments so I'm assuming (yeah, I know) somewhere along in the process it has been on a lift. And until this gets resolved, I'm bet his car will be on a lift again.....

 

I would get the alignment done again by certified shop or a stealership that gives you the warranty. I did mine at the stealership right before putting brand new rubber on due to previous rear tires coupling. I got all four brand new Good Year Assurance Comfortread Touring and after about 9k miles there is no coupling so I recommend the alignment before you mess up the tires.

 

I think you meant "cupping," not coupling right? Not being a Nazi, just want to make sure we understand your prior issue.

 

You are right! My bad...

 

 

I just got my Type S a few weeks ago and got an alignment and they replaced the sway bars in the rear bc the suspension was way off. It was still pulling to they also had to do the ball joints. I know a lot of places do a half ass job on alignments so make sure you take it to a place where they dont just try and get you in and out quick for a buck.

 

thanks for the replies and ideas. It looks like kingkong_dav was right, but it was more than just cross rotation. I had one tire that was made wrong and the radial belts were off to one side. this was causing the car to pull. replaced that one tire and poof, problem gone. if the tire was on the back wheels, I wouldn't notice the problem.


Ultimately, they gave me over 50% replacement price on 2 tires and I just bought 2 new ones (different brand as the bad ones were discontinued). The old tired were 2 year old Toyo Tourevo II. Such a crappy tire. 2 of them had sidewall bulges that blew out and were replaced under road hazard warranty a few months back (and no I didn't hit a pothole or a curb). The mileage warranty was 40k and I barely squeaked out 19k miles before they hit 2/32"

 

^I hope you tried a reputable brand this time. No sense in cheapin' out on tires! Glad to hear IT's fixed for ya!

 

Glad you got it solved. It's been awhile but have owned a couple of sets of Toyo tires and I had no problems or complaints.