Is this a bad tire?

[Black2010]

Lately I've been fighting an alignment problem. My car has always pulled to the left even after multiple alignment shops said things were straight (04). Wasn't real bad but noticeable. I recently replaced the entire suspension on the car with all new polly bushings, shocks/struts, ball joints, inner/out tie rods, wheel bearings, H&R springs, CC plates, etc.

I also bought the equipment to do home alignments since I've felt the local shops couldn't get it right. Car measures straight and I have the alignment set to:
- Passenger Front:
* 4.75 Degrees Positive Caster
* 0.6 degrees negative Camber

- Driver Front
* 4.5 degrees Positive Caster (went slightly less to try and compensate for road crown)
* 0.6 degrees negative Camber

Total front toe is in aprox 1/8th of an inch which sounds like it should equal 1 degree from what I've read.

Total rear toe is also set to 1/8th of an inch now and both rear tires are set to negative 0.6 degrees of camber.

Took the car for a quick drive expecting things to go nice and straight but it nearly threw me off the road to the left. For s*^@'s and giggles I swapped the front wheels and the car then nearly threw me off the road to the right. Both tires are running the same PSI of 28.

I can't think of anything that could be causing this other than a tire but the tires still look great. Before I go throw $300 on new tires, can anyone think of anything else that could cause this?

 

[mr. b_98GT]

I'd check to see if the tires are balanced, and maybe even check the rims. It sounds like it is something going on with one of your tires and/or rims.

I've looked at getting some equipment to do my own alignments. I'm curious to see what you bought.

 

[hemdog]

Sounds like the tire is bad. Sometimes the belts move causing the pulling condition. Depending on how old the tire is, you may want to contact the manufacturer and see if they can do anything for you.

 

[Black2010]

appreciate it. The tire is about 3 years old now with about 5K miles on them. I'll just replace the fronts and go from there. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something more obvious before pulling the trigger on them.

As for the alignment equipment, I bought these:
- https://www.amazon.com/Specialty-Products-Company-91000-FasTrax/dp/B000PG6OW2
- https://www.amazon.com/Longacre-795...coding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=7MD00NGW39PR27TCNCSA

The hardest part with the FasTrax is getting the amount of turn consistent when measuring the caster. I made some turn plates out of plexiglass and grease that worked out great (found several doing this on the web). The bubble gauge is pretty accurate but I also have a digital gauge that I used to really dial things in.

For toe I used the "string" method to get things close and then the Toe plates to dial it in. Starting with the string method makes sure you don't get your toe correct but off center of your steering wheel. I did a couple of my other cars this weekend and am extremely happy with how they drive now. Took me about 1.5-2 hours for each car but overall I'm happy that I don't have to rely on a shop to do it anymore.

 

[01yellercobra]

I didn't think we could do the string method because of the IRS? I thought the rear tires had to be 0 toe in order for it work.

 

[Black2010]

Nope. The string method takes the reading from the center of the front hub and the center of the rear hub (center cap of the wheel). You then measure the forward facing and rear facing lips of the wheel (at level) to get the distance. Shorter distance from the string in front = toe in. Shorter distance to the string in back = toe out.

I just use this to get things close as it's getting me to make sure I'm pointing straight. The toe plates is what is used to dial in the actual toe.

 

[awakened]

Before buying new tires you could try getting them "road force" balanced. Got mine done for $35 each and it fixed a vibration/pulling issue that an alignment and standard balancing would not fix. Not many places do it but it's worth it.

 

[1wild-horse]

If you have a tire causing a pull, it's probably ready to come apart. You won't see it, unless it's really getting bad.
Check the DOT date and if they are older than 6 years, consider replacement. I feel pretty uncomfortable blasting up to 90 or past that at the track with an old tire that may be coming apart on the inside.
A slight pull can be combated by by putting slightly more negative camber in the side it pulls to. But usually you end up with a little more in the right side to fight road crown.

 

[hotcobra03]

Fwiw..

Never touched my front end
.

Had done work on rear toe inks..I found rear toe will steer car and move the steeing wheel off center..

I had set rear toe to 0..than adjusted side to side to center steerin wheel..

I have no issues with tire wear and car drives straight

 

[Black2010]

Just and update for those that may stumble across this thread in the future. Tire shop confirmed it was a bad tire. Said it was "separating". Tire looked perfectly fine on the outside too. The tires still had about 70% tread left and were 3 years old (don't drive the car a lot) but I still replaced both fronts. Car drives perfectly straight now.

Sounds like I may have dodged a bullet by it just not driving right vs it coming apart while driving.