Hard pull to right - 2008 Silverado 1500 2WD

Joined
Jun 17, 2013
Messages
556
Location
Texas
Having a case of a hard pull to the right in my Silverado that really has me scratching my head. About 6 months ago, I installed a Bilstein leveling kit and also replaced the thoroughly worn out upper and lower control arms with some AcDelco pieces. Had the dealer perform an alignment as well. Drove great following that work and tracked nice and straight. Over time, I started noticing a pull to the right that I feel has gotten worse over time.

Checked out inner and outer tie rods and noticed that the right, inner tie rod had a bit of slop to it. Outer tie rod boots were ripped as well. Replaced all of those parts today in hopes that the worn, right-side inner tie rod was the cause but I didn't have any luck.

I've had the alignment checked once since I did the leveling kit/CAs because the steer ahead was off by quite a bit. It was already pulling at that point but not as much as it is now. All of the other specs were in the green at that time. I'm going to have the dealer check the alignment again tomorrow just for good measure.

The only things I can think of at this point is a tire that hasn't aged well, a sticky caliper, or a dying hub. With how hard it pulls, almost seems like it would be a sticking caliper but when I checked the pads, everything looked fine and any more worn than the driver side.

Do y'all have any suggestions on what to do next? Aside from the alignment check, I'm also going to switch tires around and see if that makes difference for me.
 
Yep. What mattd said. When I was younger, I nearly bought what appeared to be barely used tires in perfect condition (no uneven wear like chopping, cupping, wear on inside/center/outside of the tire, just smooth tread) with less than 5,000 miles on them for a good price. The set I was replacing was down to 2/32", but was properly cared for on a car with a good alignment. I had the 'new' set installed and the car immediately pulled HARD to the right, so hard that I had to keep the wheel at about 10 o'clock to keep straight. It was my first time experiencing that, so I assumed my alignment was thrown off somehow and had it checked. It came back fine, of course. So I started by crossing the LFRF tires. Yep. Now it pulled HARD to the left. Then I rotated front to back...the pull was gone. I didn't come home with that set. Ended up buying a new set a week later. If nothing else, it was a little time spent learning a valuable lesson.
 
Planned to swap the tires side to side today. It's a set of Valera tires from Firestone and I haven't had problems with them in the past, but they're now sitting around 5/32" or so. Can tires develop issues that create a hard pull as they age?
 
Planned to swap the tires side to side today. It's a set of Valera tires from Firestone and I haven't had problems with them in the past, but they're now sitting around 5/32" or so. Can tires develop issues that create a hard pull as they age?

Depending on the wear pattern, absolutely
 
These trucks are known 4 calipers that drag because they have phenolic plastic caliper Pistons. They can swell even crack if they are compressed the wrong way. You might want to check on your brakes and see if they are dragging. If you have an infrared thermometer that would work good. Also do a wheel bearing test. You might be losing a wheel bearing and it's getting tight on that side
 
Just to update, it ended up being the tire. I swapped the suspect tire to the front driver side and the problem went away. I have a slight pull to the left now, but it's nowhere as bad as it was when the tire was on the passenger side.

The wear pattern on the tire is even all the way across so I guess the tire is having issues with its internal construction.

These tires were cheapies from Firestone. I'm diligent about having them rotated and balanced every 3-5K miles. They're towards the end of their life now sitting around 4/32-5/32 so I'll just keep running them until they're completely used up and I'll upgrade to a higher quality tire...I've never had an issue with a tire like this where it causes a strong pull like that.
 
You have what’s called coinicity. It’s actually quite common.
 
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