What's fair?

[RW1]

I have a set of BF Goodrich Long Trail Tours on the 4Runner. Bought them from Discount Tire 3 years ago. We now have 30K on them and have been rotating them every 5K.

After the tires were rotated at the 15K mark, the vehicle had a noticeable pull to the left. The wife drives the 4Runner and told me it was a mild irritation and she would take it back to DT. They rebalanced the two front tires and checked the tire pressure. When she got it back, the wife said it was still there and she would take it back. After a few thousand miles, she took it back and they rotated the tires again. The pull went away.

She just had the tires rotated again and the left pull is back. She has an appt for DT to look at it again.

I think we can safely say it's not an alignment issue but a problem with one or both of the two tires that are on the front now.

But if they can't figure out what's wrong (they couldn't the last time she took it in), what's a fair resolution to ask for?

Replace the two front tires? Pro-rate it? Ask them to cut me a deal on some Michelins?

 

[OtisBlkR1]

ask for both, a pro-rate and a big discount on new tires.. the problems always been there, you and yours have repeat reported the problem and got no resolution so far.. so yes, ask for the moon and land on the stars !

 

[Carbon]

How are tires always going to pull to the left? Why would you think tires instead of wheels? Actually, I doubt it is wheels, but it seems more likely than tires to me.... but I definitely am not expert on tires.

Have you checked your brakes? See if the front left disk runs hotter than the right the next time you observe pulling, but don't use your finger to check the temperature.

 

[Rand]

radial pull

 

[RW1]

It's kind of got me stumped.

DT does a front to rear rotation; they do not switch sides. So the tire that is on the left front now was on the left rear previously.

The reason I don't think it's the brakes is that when the tires that are in front now were rotated to the rear, the steering was fine. When they were rotated back to the front, the pull to the left reappeared. So there is something wrong with either one or both of the tires currently up front.

One of the techs at DT suggested an alignment but I nixed that for now.

 

[RW1]

Never heard of "radial pull". I'll have to google it.

Thanks.

 

[RW1]

Thanks!

 

[CapriRacer]

First, there is a simple test to see if the pull is from the tires or the car - swap the front tires side to side.

1) If the pull completely changes direction, it's 100% the tires.

2) If the pull doesn't change at all, it's 100% athe vehicle - usually alignment.

3) If the pull disappears or only partially changes, then it is a mix of tires and vehicle.

************************************

In this case - facts as we know them: rotation every 5K. @ 15K (3rd rotation) pull. 1K later (16K) Tires rotated - no pull. Now 30K and pull is back .

I'm missing some rotations at 20K, and 25K.

Also, tires can wear in such a way to get a pull.

Let's see if that works!

At 0K the tires didn't pull. at 5K (1st rotation) - no pull. at 10K - (2nd rotation) - no pull. at 15K - pull.

Conclusion: the alignment may be wearing the pull into the tires.

Counter argument: Why not both pairs? Good question, but let's continue on.

at 15K the pull tires were on the front.

at 10K - rear. at 5K front. at 0K rear.

at 16K - rear.

If I assume there weren't any rotations until 30K, then the pull tires have spend much more time on the rear than the others - and that might explain why there is a difference between pairs.

Personally, I don't think the tires are the problem - and I think Discount Tire will be giving you a gift if they do anything. Nevertheless, good luck.

But do the test so you know at least what is going on.

 

[RW1]

Thanks for the indepth reply. I guess I can't see how it could be the vehicle since the pull is not constant. If it were the alignment, wouldn't it have that left pull on all tires?

But it's moved to the next step. The wife has made an appt for this afternoon while I'm at work. So I won't have the opportunity to do any checking/experimenting. I guess we'll see what they say.

 

[HerrStig]

A bent rim will cause a wobble, not a pull. A tread belt which has shifted slightly can cause a pull. I've had that problem with Uncle Goody tires in the past.

 

[CapriRacer]

Originally Posted By: RW1
Thanks for the indepth reply. I guess I can't see how it could be the vehicle since the pull is not constant. If it were the alignment, wouldn't it have that left pull on all tires?

But it's moved to the next step. The wife has made an appt for this afternoon while I'm at work. So I won't have the opportunity to do any checking/experimenting. I guess we'll see what they say.


What if the set of tires that is NOT causing the pull is just compensating for the alignment. And the tires that cause the pull are OK except for the fact they they are NOT compensating for the pull due to the alignment.

Nevertheless, there are some gaps in the rotation schedule that might be contributing to the wear - and that might be what is driving the pull.

 

[RW1]

Okay, BTW, for the record, the tires were rotated at 5K, 10K, and 15K. After complaining about the pull, DT rotated the tires again at 16K. The tires were then rotated at 20K, 25K, and now at 30K. All work was done at the same DT. The tendency to pull left was noted at 15K, 20K, and 30K.

I guess we'll hear in about an hour or so what DT has to say.

 

[mattd]

definitely sounds like tire pull. Common, actually. If they are telling you they cant find the problem as a tire place, they are feeding you dog****

You can verify this by cross rotating them. If the pull follows, its the tire(s).

 

[RW1]

Wife just reported in. They first thought it was tire pressure. But all were checked at 35 psi. After that, she's not sure what they did. But they eventually returned and offered to replace one tire for free. Wife declined because she didn't think a new tire opposite a tire with over 30K miles on it would run properly. So they offered to credit one tire and pro-rate the other three. She accepted.

I'm very pleased with their service.

 

[HTSS_TR]

That's good service from DT, and your wife is a smart lady in refusing their first offer of replacing only 1 tire.

 

[RW1]

Thanks! She is pretty sharp.

Followup: The BFG Long Trail Tour tires were pretty good. In the winter rains and occasional snow we get here, it did well....until one tire went bad. The only complaint we would have is road noise. Not as noisy as the OEM Dunlop AT-20s. I thought those were all around horrible tires. So she asked for a recommendation for quieter tires. She came home with Michelin LTX M/S2s. Even with the credit, that still put a nice size lump on the charge card. But so far, she's very happy with the ride and reduction in road noise. I warned her that new tires are generally quieter but she's happy & safe and that's what counts.