Was this a mistake (alignment) + caster ?

[Nayov]

Long story short, I had a 4 wheel alignment done with old worn tires, drove down the road a couple of miles and had 4 new tires put on. There's a slight pull to the right. Would the new tires throw the alignment out of spec?

Now about the caster. If that is out of spec, could it cause a pull, but not effect tire wear? The print out that they gave me sows the front right caster out of spec by .02. and it does pull to the right.

I asked him about it being out of spec. He said that it didn't matter, something about how the left rear wheel would compensate for the difference. Sounds like crazy talk to me but I don't see why they'd send me down the road unless they have a legitimate point. do they?

I'll probably call them tomorrow. Heck, I paid $83 and it ought to be perfect.

 

[nfs480]

You should really have an alignment done after you get new tires because they really can throw the readings off.

 

[troberts]

Uhhhh, no. Changing tires has no bearing on the alignment settings. The net effect of changing the position of suspension components is to aim the center of the axles at specific angles relative to each other. That's what the specs are for. Where changing tires can come into affect is when someone aligns the car to compensate for a pull caused by the tires (ignoring the specs)which are already on the car and then the new tires turn out to have a different rolling resistance and now you think you're not in alignement.

The guy was full of it when he told you the opposite wheel would compensate for another reading being out of specs. Take it back. Unless the car is bent in some way that uses all or more of the available adjustments, then they should be able to get it right on the money. Almost ALL road vehicles have caster settings that lean the steering axis backward, causing the weight of the car to want to turn the tires inward toward the center. The steering tie rods don't let that happen, of course, so equal caster settings on each side offset each other and the car naturally goes straight. Tell them to try to get it as equal as possible and don't try to increase the right side half a degree to "compensate for road crown."

Sorry for the diatribe. I've been a shop manager for thirty-three years doing alignments every day and seen all approaches. Tell them the readings need to be mirror images from side to side or show you why they can't be.

 

[HTSS_TR]

Check the tires pressure before going back to the alignment place, make sure they are all the same. If one tire, specially the front tire, has lower pressure than the others the car will pull to that side.

 

[nfs480]

Had an alignment done on my car last month and it has driven straight as an arrow ever since. Got new tires installed today and now it pulls significantly to the right, what causes this to happen with just new tires? Pressure and wheel torque is even all the way around.

 

[nfs480]

Ok, I called the place that installed my tires and they're saying that this isn't usually an alignment issue but an issue with the tires. He said to try rotating them to see if that fixes the problem. He says that they'd just adjust the toe to fit the new tires. This bugs me because he's basically saying I can't rotate my tires once I get this solved because rotating will cause the car to pull? I'm really confused here.

 

[Steve S]

Originally Posted By: nfs480
You should really have an alignment done after you get new tires because they really can throw the readings off.
How would tires affect alignment?

 

[nfs480]

I don't know, that's just what my mechanic told me, and now I have had new tires installed a month after an alignment and now my car doesn't drive anywhere near straight.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: nfs480
I don't know, that's just what my mechanic told me, and now I have had new tires installed a month after an alignment and now my car doesn't drive anywhere near straight.


It isn't an alignment problem, but rather, a tire problem. New tires will not affect the alignment.

Find a shop that is equipped with a Hunter GSP9700 Road Force Balancer and the StraightTrak LFM accessory. This machine will determine the optimal tire placement to correct the problem that you are experiencing.

Identifies Potential Vehicle Pull or Drift Problems
The optional StraightTrak® LFM** feature measures lateral tire force, then applies that information to the set of tires, providing multiple placement choices to eliminate or minimize tire pull problems – an otherwise unfixable vehicle complaint during alignment service.

http://www.gsp9700.com/pub/features/how.cfm

 

[nfs480]

So are these tires defective then? Should I call tire rack and request a replacement set? Will they pay for the shipping and costs of mounting defective tires?

 

[nfs480]

What do you guys think of taking the spare tire (the small bicycle size) and replacing each tire one at a time around the car with the spare until it drives straight to determine which is defective? Do you think that would work?

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: nfs480
So are these tires defective then? Should I call tire rack and request a replacement set? Will they pay for the shipping and costs of mounting defective tires?


They probably won't unless you can prove that the tires are defective.

There's probably nothing wrong with the tires. They just need to be properly balanced with a GSP9700 and placed in the optimal position on the car. In most situations, dynamic balancing is all that you need, but sometimes you just need a road force balancer to properly balance the tire and correct the pull. Just consider yourself unlucky, I guess.

 

[nfs480]

I found this page on their site (http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=12) and i'm gonna try and use it to determine if one of the tires is defective. Hopefully they'll replace it if so.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: nfs480
I found this page on their site (http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=12) and i'm gonna try and use it to determine if one of the tires is defective. Hopefully they'll replace it if so.


Honestly, that's very time consuming and a complete pain in the neck to do. Find a shop with a GSP9700 to troubleshoot the problem-- it's much faster. In fact, I wonder if TireRack will pay for part of it?

 

[nfs480]

Would I still be able to rotate my tires down the road to extend their tread life and keep the wear even? By putting them in the right locations to minimize the pull I feel like that's just a temporary fix.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: nfs480
Would I still be able to rotate my tires down the road to extend their tread life and keep the wear even? By putting them in the right locations to minimize the pull I feel like that's just a temporary fix.


If one of the tires are bad, the GSP9700 should detect it.

 

[nfs480]

ok, well, then tomorrow i'll call around and see if any of the local tire shops have a GSP9700

 

[Ken2]

Originally Posted By: nfs480
What do you guys think of taking the spare tire (the small bicycle size) and replacing each tire one at a time around the car with the spare until it drives straight to determine which is defective? Do you think that would work?

Nope, 'cuz the mini-spare will change things.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: nfs480
ok, well, then tomorrow i'll call around and see if any of the local tire shops have a GSP9700


Call TireRack and see what they recommend. Maybe they have another way of solving the problem.

Have you contacted your installer? Perhaps he can help with this since he installed the tires.

Also, here's a website where you can locate a GSP9700:

http://www.gsp9700.com/pub/search/findgsp9700.cfm

Most shops charge about $25/tire.

 

[Ken2]

Tires don't change alignment. That's in the iron. Tires can change the handling. It is wrong to change the iron to compensate for variations in the rubber.

Rotating tires does not extend their life. It evens out uneven wear. If proper alignment and inflation pressures can be found for even wear, great. If the suspension design always causes uneven wear, then rotation will allow all the tires to wear out at the same time.