Pull to side when braking???

Hi,

I've got a 2002 Miata that can have a quick pull to the right or left when I'm coming up to a traffic light or other stop. I doesn't happen all the time, but at times it seems if I were to let go of the wheel, it would completely turn the wheel direction. Has anyone ever experienced this or know what it is?

David

Reply to
Prometheus7
Loading thread data ...

If it were consistently pulling left or right I would guess a defective brake caliper. Maybe two defective brake calipers to account for it pulling to both sides? Did you buy the car new and is this a new problem? The only thing besides defective brakes that I can think of would be damage to the suspension and/or steering rack.

Pat

Reply to
pws

Reply to
dr who

Could be several things. Start with the obvious - check your tire pressure to make sure that they're all within 1 psi of each other at your desired value. I run my '02 SE nominally arouns 28PSI.

Pay attention to the road surface; it's possible you're tracking ruts or imperfections on the road.

If you still haven't found an obvious explanation, you may wish to have your brakes inspected.

Cheers, Dana

Reply to
Dana H. Myers

Yes, check that first.

Many tires start to tramline as they get older, harder, and balder. The first place you'll notice is in the ruts at stoplights. Hang on with both hands, or replace the tires.

Reply to
Lanny Chambers

As Dana said tyre pressure is a good start, If that is not the solution, then I would try to recreate the fault consistantly, If you can, find a quiet stretch of road on which you can get the fault to occur consistantly, If the fault occurs only on the same point of the road then it's more than likely tramling, what size wheels do you have fitted? if its 17" then it is almost definitely this.

I could be the callipers, but it is extremely strange that it happens both left and right, and that it happens intermittently, this is not usual for brake callipers. To me it is more likely to be tramling from the tyres or road surface as Dana said, or a problem with the suspension.

Reply to
gixer

Yup, I would agree will all the comments about underinflated and/or old tires. I had the exact same symptoms on my '99 with the old Michelin Pilot's on it, and as soon as I put my new Toyo T1-S's on a couple weeks ago, it went away. Tracks straight and true now.

Regards, H.

Reply to
HardwareLust

Enjoy it while it lasts. The Toyos have a reputation for annoying tramlining when they reach about 12k miles. It's happened right on schedule with both of my sets, in two different sizes.

Reply to
Lanny Chambers

Thanks for the warning! But, that'll take a couple years. My avg. so far is about 5k/yr, and if I keep this Miata through the next winter, I'll have to get some winter tires, too.

I guess I'll be shopping for tires again about summer 2007-ish if I end up keeping this car.

Regards, H.

Reply to
HardwareLust

Hi Lanny,

Just out of interest as I have just had some Toyo T1-S's fitted, and would like to avoid any potential tramling. How often do you rotate your tyres, and do you rotate the tyres Diagonally, like rear right to left front etc, or do you just swap right to left.

Cheers Mark.

Reply to
gixer

Plan now to replace them at 11,900 miles... :-)

Front to rear only, every 3000-mile oil change. They're now at 16k miles total, and will probably last at least 22k if the new T1-R doesn't appear at a reasonable price first.

The T1-S is directional, so side to side would mean unmounting, remounting the other way, and rebalancing. Forget it, that type of rotation is totally unnecessary.

Reply to
Lanny Chambers

Of course sorry mate I forgot the tyres were directional. I accidentally mounted some motorbike tyres on the wrong way once when racing, went out and broke my lap record. I am sure if we spoke to a tyre company we'd get told that the tyre carcase is laid in a certain way, so it flexes only in 1 correct way, as is the grip pattern etc. But I wonder if any of us would notice?

Reply to
gixer

Easy to do, not? They should make those signs more legible. :)

I would think the pattern is designed to handle water, so it does not seem inconceivable to me that it would work better in reverse in the dry. Maybe the belts are directional too, but the question is again what was being optimized when it was designed.

Leon

Reply to
Leon van Dommelen

It's a matter of pumping water away from the tread. Not very important on a dry road.

Reply to
Lanny Chambers

In my defence your honour, it is a hell of a lot easier to put a motorbike tyre on the wrong way round, than a cars, especially when. I was in a rush to repair a crashed bike and I was the mechanic, rider and tyre fitter. Tyre was a slick, so no tread pattern to follow. And it was a spoked wheel, stripped of it's drum brakes and cush drive, when I fitted the tyre. In all honesty I did not notice until after I got the back home, probably why I rode the ass off it. Plus it did actually have arrows on every side on the tyre.

Reply to
gixer

While I'm certain that directional treads are primarily for evacuating water, I also suspect that the directional tread may provide *some* influence over the operating temperature of the tire surface. Just a thought.

Dana

Reply to
Dana H. Myers

You mounted a slick backwards! Ah. Nothing to do with tread pattern then, water or heating. The direction of rotation is almost certainly intended to provide the best strength of the carcass under hard braking - it'd be bad to have the tire delaminate under those circumstances.

By hard braking, I mean the sort of stop where the rear wheel is skimming or off of the ground.

I used to have an '86 GSX-R750, that was the best stoppie bike I've ever owned.

Dana

Reply to
Dana H. Myers

Reply to
gixer

Censoring me here? OK, OK, if you do not censor me, the terrorists win. :)

I would have thought that the main factors affecting thread temperature are

1) The heating when it is at the ground, in particular hysteresis, peeling, and slip. 2) The air cooling when it is off the ground.

You seem to claim that the thread is a cooling conduit for the instant the thread is on the ground. Have you got a reference for that? With relative amounts? And how would the thread pattern help (how would it need to be designed to do more good than bad?)

I would have thought that having a thread pattern anyway is bad news for the designer; that she would much rather deal with rubber at a more uniform temperature. Do you disagree/agree with that?

Leon

Reply to
Leon van Dommelen

Nope, that's not my claim. I'm observing that flex of individual tread portions may be intended to raise the temperature of the tread under normal operating conditions.

No. See above. I believe the tread pattern may be designed to intentionally flex and heat up under normal operation. In particular, sipes that are small and go "nowhere" - of no use for water evacuation - are specifically for this purpose.

Without such tread devices, the tire may operate at too-cold a temperature under steady-state cruising.

Certainly, I found that slicks and tires made from what I was reassured were very similar compounds differed in that the slicks needed to be ridden harder more consistently to achieve operating range - at least on motorcycles.

Cheers, Dana

Reply to
Dana H. Myers

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.