wandering wheels with a difference

On Wed, 20 Oct 2010 23:51:42 +0100, dave boggled us with:

I had exactly the same problem you describe just the other week with my Citroen Xantia. It *looks* like it was a faulty tyre, though after doing

Not cheap tyres either! I'd have an excuse if they were...

hi Mike, in my case I think the tyres are balanced ok as no sign at all of any vibration at any speed. I suppose I could go get the wheels alignment checked - but from previous experience - that could make things worse. Beside, if it was alignment I would have thought the car would pull the to same side whichever way the wheels were on.

Directional tread pattern, maybe ??

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Its the bias in the tyres. Crook tyres in other words.

If you have both wheels off try standing them up straight on the tread, flat level surface, they will fall over, as a rough guide, to the problem tyre.

Swap the wheels front to back.

If the fault disappears, you will have confirmed a faulty tyre.

It's not that uncommon, especially if the tyres are not from a reasonable maker.

Chris

Or they've different tyre pressures, worn differently or are different makes

lots of used cars pull to the left, most road camber is to the left, most cars are bounced up kerbs on the left, the vast number of roundabouts shoves all the cars weight onto the left. Tracking on its own should not make the car pull one way or the other, but something bent or worn will. It may be worth taking a steel tape measure and (with the wheels dead straight) measuring things like wheel base left and right, wheel position in the arch etc.