Vatican

Just replaced OEM tires w/ Pilot Sport A/S in 225/55/16. After alignments at two shops, the car still pulls right. Rotated front to back, and no change. Michelin USA got involved and says that the tires are "too good" for the TL - that if there is any little variance in the suspension, wheels, etc., these tires will magnify the problem and you simply can't fix it on certain individual cars. Michelin is offering to replace them with a "less aggressive" Michelin, BF Goodrich, or Uniroyal tire, though.

Anyone else had this problem with the Pilot Sports? There must be a way to fix the pulling problem without scrapping the tires altogether. I hate going back to the MXV4's and the Pilot Primacy does not get good reviews from what I've seen. Thanks.

fsttyms1

ive had the same problem pulling to the right on the michelin xgt z4 many alignments all say its straight and nothings wrong. dont know what to do either

Gordo

I have the XGT Z4's and the car tracks perfectly. MOre road noise, but good handling, traction and tracking

NSX4dr

Switch the tires Left to right, yes I know they're directional. If the pulling switches sides, the tire has a "Radial Pull" the shop you got them from will warranty them for you........


P.S. I work at Discount Tire, trust me

PearlWhiteTL

I had the car pulling to right after I mounted some winter tires on my stock rims. The tires were mismatched though front and back. Put my aftermaket 17s back on and problem went away. Must be the tread difference or the size difference. Just got a set of Blizzak MZ-01s in 215/55-16's That should hopefully fix the problem.

Vatican

Thanks for the tips. Unfortunately, we've tried these suggestions and car still drifts right. To keep it straight on the highway, the steering wheel has to be turned slightly left of center. Consensus of several people is that some very slight adjustment to camber may be necessary, and that I might need to replace stock ball joints with those that will allow more fine tuning in alignment. They also think tires being two sizes wider than OEM is making the whole alignment more sensitive. Any more wisdom or experience out there?

ThePhoenixForce

I forget the actual technical term for it, but one of the important specifications in a suspension is the centerpoint of arc drawn by your tire when you turn it. On the stock setup, the suspension arc lines up with the center of the contact patch, and all is fine. When you change the wheel size, if you don't get the offset exactly right, this point is no longer positioned correctly and your car gets a tendency to track one way or another, and becomes particularly sensitive to ruts, etc.

I have 225/45/18 Michelin Pilot Sports on my car, and while I can get the car to go in a straight line on a perfect road, the slightest rut will drag the car to that side.

The only real fix to this problem is to do a lot of math on your wheels to find out exactly what offset you should be running, and get spacers or mill out the wheel, which is probably more trouble than the problem is worth.

If you want the cold hard details on this kind of thing, I recommend the suspension forums at www.corner-carvers.com

Vatican

Breakthrough! I took the car to a specialty performance shop that has more specialized alignment equipment and (most important) a technician who knows what he is doing. He installed a shim which slightly decreased the caster on the left front wheel, from +2.5 (fixed factory setting) to +1.0. The car tracks perfectly straight again, and I can now enjoy the improved handling these tires provide.

bigdaddy

I have brand new19inch michelin pilot sport a/s on my maxima. 245/35/19 fronts
275/30/19 rears. At first it was pulling to the right. I've putted about 2000-2500 miles on it and the weird thing is that I can tell
that the pulling is going away slowly. I'm figuring that maybe the tires are still new that it needs to be "break in" after putting some
mileage on it. No signs of tire wear at all...Hopefully not anytime soon...Later

Hey Casey

After reading this thread, I was a little hesitant to buy these tires to replace the stock tires at 40k miles. I got the Pilot Sport A/S 225/55/16 at Costco ($188 each - $15 per tire w/ coupon). Right after they were installed, I noticed that the car was pulling right and I could feel a slight vibration in the steering wheel.
Fortunately, after having a 4-wheel alignment at the dealer, the car drives perfectly straight and the vibration is gone. The tires are just a tad bit louder than the stock tires, but most people will never hear the difference. And it's true, the difference in traction between the stocks and these is simply amazing. I'm very satisfied with them and highly recommend them to anyone else. It may just be me, but I feel like the car's acceleration is slightly less with the new tires. Has anybody else felt this?

Vatican

In my case, I don't think the car actually accelerates any slower, but I do notice that it takes a little more throttle to accelerate as fast as before. (This is verified by the fact that I'm getting 2-3 mpg less in gas mileage.) It also takes slightly more effort to turn the wheels at low speeds. I attribute both results to the fact that there is a larger footprint of softer rubber at all four wheels due to the increase in tire width by two sizes. The OEM MXV4's had a harder rubber compound and less rolling resistance than the Pilot Sports.

Hey Casey

Yeah, I meant to say what you said about it needing a little more throttle to get up to speed. I have noticed a little degredation in MPG but can't tell if it's due to my driving patterns or the tires.

juniel

Vatican,
I work for Just Tires in Arcadia, CA so am familiar with problems and solutions on alignments.

Bring your car to a frame alignment shop....... meaning those shops that will still make adjustments possible to non adjustable situations such as fixed camber and caster on most japanese cars.

You might have run over some deep potholes w your right front wheel one time or more and have caused the rt front caster to move back. This situation will make your car pull to the right.

Still, this is a trial and error thing which may or may not work.
Go try.
juniel