zeppelin77

Rotated my tires today (Stock Turanza EL42).
1) Fronts -> backs. Backs -> fronts. Crossed the fronts. Car pulls right.
2) Crossed the fronts. Car pulls left.
3) Rotated left side only. Front -> Back. Back -> Front. Car still pulls left.
4) Defective tire (radial pull) at front right?
I followed this guide: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirete....jsp?techid=12

Comments:
Pulls only on acceleration. No shaking from steering wheel. No pulling when braking.
I've tried other combinations of tire locations and the car always pulls in the opposite direction of the defective tire's side (i.e. defective tire on left side, pull to the right).

Before all this rotation business, car did pull to the left, but not as bad.
Bear in mind, the tire I suspect is defective was a warranty replacement 6000 miles ago for the same problem so it has a little more tread. About 1/8" to 1/16". Could that difference in tread cause my car to pull?
Other 3 tires have 11000 miles on them.
I've inspected the tires, no visual defects with any of them.

Possible solutions:
1) Leave the suspected tire in the front right and rotate the other 3 wheels every 3000 miles. Thus, the front right tire will wear more than the other 3 tires and equalize the tread wear.
2) Get a 4-point alignment. About $70.
3) Try to get another warranty replacement. I find it highly unlikely this is another defective tire. Maybe the tire shop replaced the wrong one?
4) Something else is going on with my car?

Thanks for reading.

-Frustated

Fulani has a TL

iTrader: (1)

The turanza are crappy tires, I thought there was a tsb out that changed the tires. IDK though. Are you driving on the same road and speed that you notice this pull? All roads have "crowns" basically a peak so that rain and runoff can drain off the road so that it does not puddle/flood. Is that possibly a reason why?

01tl4tl

this is one reason I go with the - dont rotate them at all- let alone the criss cross
The belts inside the tires take about 100 miles to get used to their new function- rears went from coasting in a straight line to pulling turning and braking forces
IMO- and that of bmw- (used as referance point of good handling cars)-
thats going to cause problems and complaints

If you replaced tires on the car you should get a 4 wheel thrust alignment.
If you live where its dodge the potholes, and freeways are construction zones,
you may need an alignment every year, and balance the tires as well

The car was pulling left before the rotate- and you have done eveything but put them back where they were- is that correct?
And you dont know why it had a left pull before?

zeppelin77

I'm driving on the same roads. I'm aware of the curvature of the roads (i.e. crowns). They tend to slant down to the right. That's why I put the defective tire on the front right (pulls left) ... to compensate a little for the crowns. The car still pulls left.

I live in southern CA, so the roads and freeways are in pretty good shape. I am careful to avoid potholes and other road hazards. I have rotated the tires to the original position (defective tire in rear right) and it still pulls left, but not as bad.

My question remains: could the small difference (1/8" to 1/16") in tread thickness cause my car to pull?

Here are rotation positions I've tried with an arrow pointing in the direction of pull (D is the defective tire?)

A B <> D C A D C D
<-- <> --> <-- <--
C D <> A B C B A B

First one listed is what I started with. Last one is where I'm at now. My proposal is to rotate only C, A and B every 3000 miles.

zeppelin77

Here are the tire rotation with easier readability:

01tl4tl

you could replace 1 tire now and it wont cure the pull- a small amount of depth is not causing the problem
When was the last alignment, even if you never hit a pothole, things get out of spec from roads in general- new tires mean fresh alignment

Do not try to correct for road crown with a tire pull!!!

zeppelin77

Last alignment was 6000 miles ago at the dealership.
I don't know what the values were before the alignment, but I'm pretty sure my car was to spec before the alignment.

After the alignment, the car still pulled. So, I brought it to a Bridgestone retailer and had a warranty replacement.
Now, either the new tire is defective or they replaced the wrong tire.

01tl4tl

seems like they would have written down which tire by serial number- did it go straight after warranty replacement?
Go back to bridgestone now and ask them to check the tires

the receipts for align will have before and after numbers
You want ~4 wheel thrust alignments~- not just a ~front wheel align~- make sure thats what you got- the dealers records will have that info of your repairs in the computer

zeppelin77

My receipt only shows the SN of the tire they replaced. It still pulled slightly to the left after warranty replacement. (They put the replacement tire in the rear right, which exhibits the least amout of pull).

I found a TSB on pulling from Acura. http://www.in.honda.com/Rjanisis/pubs/SB/B06-034.PDF I'm gonna have the dealership perform the service according to the TSB. Any tricks in getting them to follow the TSB word for word? I suspect they might want to take some shortcuts and just say it's a defective tire.

Man, I'm starting to hate Bridgestone. I tihnk I'll go with Michelins next time around.

Fulani has a TL

iTrader: (1)

Even if its a defective tire, and it WAS replaced under warranty they will/should replace it. Thing that comes into play is that alignments are or at least I dont think are not included in warranty as it is not a fault of the vehicle but a problem due to the road conditions