so confused...help/advice needed...

[strombony]

I own a 2000 Dodge Grand Caravan and have a set of brand new General all season tires on it.
I had the van aligned as well, tires balanced, all was good. Then I noticed that the van would drift toward the left.
Even when I stepped on the gas from a dead stop, I could visually see the steering wheel begin to go the left, slightly.
So I brought it back to the shop and the crossed the fronts and this drifting stopped. Both wheels are in good shape, rims are not bent. If I have a radial pull, would it be the left or right tire that would cause it to drift left?

The guy at the shop said I should just rotate them front to back instead of crossing them from now on so that the fronts stay in the same location.... >???

 

[Hokiefyd]

Sounds like one of the front tires is bad. I'd make the shop replace them. This is the shop you bought the tires from? Rotating them to the back is not the solution.

 

[d00df00d]

Originally Posted By: Jason Adcock
Sounds like one of the front tires is bad. I'd make the shop replace them.

Agreed. If they are brand new tires, this should be handled under warranty anyway.

As for finding out which of the tires is faulty, I'm not an expert but here's what I'd do: First, put them back the way they were initially installed (before the fronts were rotated left-to-right). Then, rotate ONE side front-to-back. If the pull stops or diminishes, then the problem was probably with the front tire on that side; if the car still pulls, the problem is on the other side.

 

[mrsilv04]

These wouldn't happen to be the General Altimax tires that many people can't seem to get enough of, would they?

 

[CapriRacer]

Here's the rule:

If you swap front tires side to side and the pull changes direction, it's the tires.

If the swap doesn't do anything, it's the alignment.

If the swap makes the pull disappear, then it is both the alignment and the tires.

SOOOOOO, you need to get the alignment checked.

My experience says that the published alignment tolerances are too wide. Not the target value, but the allowable deviation from that value. I think it ought to be half of what is published.

Put another way, the alignment should be within the inner half of the spec.

Now if you want the long version of how tires cause a pull, I'll do that, but I suggest you take the tires back where you bought them and explain the situation. Hopefully they did the alignment. If they didn't, this could get a little tricky trying to get everyone on the same page and pulling the same direction.(Ha, ha, I crack myself up!!)

 

[crinkles]

be sure that it is not the road camber (cross fall) that makes it seem like it's pulling

 

[StevieC]

I have had a similar problem in the past... Turned out that the wheel balancing machine was out of calibration at the shop.

Take your van to another shop and have them take off the weights on the tires, and re balance them.

All should be well.

 

[daves87rs]

Originally Posted By: mrsilv04
These wouldn't happen to be the General Altimax tires that many people can't seem to get enough of, would they?


That's what I was thinking. I can't remember if these were the tires with that different tread pattern or not...

 

[Rabbler]

Can't say I ever had a wheel balance problem cause a pull or drift. Definitly can cause a shimmy though.
I just installed Altimax HP's on my 03 Caravan.
So far I'm very impressedsith them. Especially in the rain

 

[strombony]

Originally Posted By: mrsilv04
These wouldn't happen to be the General Altimax tires that many people can't seem to get enough of, would they?


Sorry. guys..been away. YES!! these are the General Altimax tires that many people love.

 

[strombony]

Originally Posted By: strombony
Originally Posted By: mrsilv04
These wouldn't happen to be the General Altimax tires that many people can't seem to get enough of, would they?


Sorry. guys..been away. YES!! these are the General Altimax tires that many people love.


And I'm just going to rotate from back to front instead of crossing these tires. I'm betting it's a radial pull which will not effect the wear of the tire, but it creates this nuissance when driving if it's on a particular side of the vehicle. (shrug)