First off, my car has always had a very slight lean to the right.


Ok so two weeks ago I got a set of brand new tires - Continental DWS. Afterwards, I got an alignment and everything was in the green.

I don't know when exactly I noticed it but for the past week I have noticed the car is pulling to the right. Not just torque steer, but even with my foot off the gas and just coasting. When I have the steering wheel straight from a dead stop and slightly press on the gas I can see the steering wheel slightly turn right and the car leans right. I could probably cross a 4 lane highway from the left to the right line going 70mph in about 5 seconds just by taking my hands off the wheel.

The tire pressure is 35 all around. The tires are non-directional so I ruled that out. Since the alignment was in the green, could it be the tires? I have read in a couple other posts that some people tried switching the two front tires and if it then pulls to the left, it is a bad tire (the bad tire was originally on the right and now on the left)? Any ideas?

 

my car does this too, and i also have continentals dws on the front. my rears are a mix of 2 other tires but also 235/45-17.

i thought continental dws were directional?

 

The DWS aren't directional but the tires must be mounted so as the lettering on the tire sidewall "outside" is outside.
This means that they can be rotated side to side, which I would try first, switch the front tires side to side, as long as they are mounted on the wheel properly and see if any difference, then move the fronts to the rear and give it a try.

 

I have the same problem. Alignment is almost perfect except my front. I dont know what else to do, alignment is good but my car still pulls to the right.. I guess as long as camber is to a minimum and toe is 0.. tires should be good..

i heard honda/acura did this on purpose to keep drivers awake on the road lol

i remember reading that somewhere but i dont know if the person was serious or not about it -_-

 

there not called directional its asymmetrical. there is a inside and outside on those tires. its definitely radial pull. (try cross rotating them)

 

I am going to try rotating them and see if that helps. So should I just switch the two front ones or rotate all 4 (cross rotate - swap front left with back right and vice versa)?

 

hunter road force balance. weird lateral pulling issues can be assessed by this machine as well as rebalance the wheels and tires under real world conditions since the machine loads the tire. it can also determine if you have a bad tire and/or bent wheel. check out the website for the machine.

i too had issues after DWS install and alignment. coughed up the extra money to get the RFB done...fixed the pull...and most of the vibration (the rest of the vibration was fixed with custom hubcentric/wheel centric spacers for the fronts to clear the brembos). had another alignment done after my suspension swap...the dealer did an excellent job with it and all the toe measurements were essentially 0. happy car.

the materials used in the DWS and other UHP tires tend to be a bit softer and when they are manufactured its not a guarantee that the tire's weight distribution will be completely uniform (this is based on what my dealer guys told me). this is based on what they have seen coming in. so by all means don't jump on back on this one.

 

^ so you are saying I should get the tires rebalanced? If so I will just take it back to discount tire.

Rotate them or rebalance them?

 

Make certain they are mounted properly, then I'd just switch the fronts. This way you'll be able to determine which tire is the problem. Once you start swapping all 4 around it would just be a guess.

 

^ Thanks. I did check and they all are mounted properly with 'outside' showing on the outside.

 

key words "Road Force Balance". its different than a typical dynamic balance.

google "hunter road force balance". look it over...then you will understand what i mean. i'm not sure if discount tire even has those machines. i would ask them...after you've looked up the RFB machine. like i said, most dealers have the hunter road force balance machines. for all 4 it'll cost $115. pricey but well worth the it if you want long lasting tires and minimal stress on you and the car.

http://www.gsp9700.com/



you could try and rotate them and see if that fixes it.

 

Thanks all for the input. I am going to first rotate the two front tires and see if that does anything. Will post an update afterwards.

 

I switched the two front tires last night.

After driving some last night and today I noticed it definitely stopped pulling to the right like it was doing. In fact, it pulls a little to the left but nowhere near as much as it was pulling to the right. It is much more comfortable driving after the switch.

It seems like with the slight lean to the right I've always had and the slight pull to the left after the switch, it goes straight most of the time. When I am on the highway and step on the gas is when I mostly notice the pull to the left now, but again, nowhere near how bad it was pulling to the right.

So what do ya'll think?

 

so the problem is the front left wheel and tire.

the subtle pull would drive me nuts...which is what my car was doing but to the Rt.

RFB. but its your car and i'm not entirely sure what you mean by lean to the Rt.?

 

First, I'd say it's a tire problem. If it drifted right and you switched the tires side to side, now drifts left, tire problem. Now just switch the fronts to the back and see what the result might be, but remember where that left tire is placed (left rear) in case you need a replacement.

 

Sorry by lean I mean pull to the right .

If I were to move the front tires to the back, what would I look for then? If it still pulls to the left, it would be that now back left tire that is the problem? What if it doesn't pull to the left afterwards? I'm guessing this is the way to diagnose which tire needs to be checked out/replaced?

 

Wait until you move the tires to the back, see the results, then we can come to a conclusion.

 

They put swapped the wheels on the left side of the car. I drove around a bit and it was no longer pulling left. So we came to the conclusion that the wheel that originally was on the front right which is now on the left rear is the bad one. They replaced it and moved the wheels back to where they originally were and now it goes straight. I'm happy.

Thanks for the tip about swapping the front wheels Turbonut

 

Glad it worked out, but must also add that there have been many cases of cars pulling when the DWS is installed, more so than what might be considered a rare occurrence.