Tyres

Hello.

I just had my first set of new front tyres on my X-Trail. The crap Dunlop ones it came with were almost bald after just 14k miles. Kwik-Fit have just fitted a pair of Michelin Syncro's but now my steering wheel is off-centre - i.e. when driving in a straight line the steering wheel isn't in the centre position, but turned a few degrees left (anti-clockwise). Also, hands off the steering wheel on a straight road produces a drift to the right - i.e. against the camber here in the UK. But I don't know if this is a result of the power steering trying to centre the steering wheel, or if the steering is actually pulling to the right.

Before I start a rant at Kwik-Fit, what could they possibly have done just changing front tyres to suddenly cause this behaviour.

I am 100% certain that before the tyres were changed the steering wheel was centred and I had no drift to the left or right.

Appreciate any advice or guidance. Nige

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Reply to
Nige
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Your first clue was probably the fact that the old tires wore out at 14k miles. It sounds like you have a serious alignment problem and it wasn't so noticable with the old worn out tires, but now with the new ones, is. Get thee to an alignment shop post haste before the new tires get too badly worn.

Reply to
willshak

|Nige wrote: | |>Hello. |>

|>I just had my first set of new front tyres on my X-Trail. The crap Dunlop |>ones it came with were almost bald after just 14k miles. Kwik-Fit have just |>fitted a pair of Michelin Syncro's but now my steering wheel is off-centre - |>i.e. when driving in a straight line the steering wheel isn't in the centre |>position, but turned a few degrees left (anti-clockwise). |>Also, hands off the steering wheel on a straight road produces a drift to |>the right - i.e. against the camber here in the UK. But I don't know if |>this is a result of the power steering trying to centre the steering wheel, |>or if the steering is actually pulling to the right. |>

|>Before I start a rant at Kwik-Fit, what could they possibly have done just |>changing front tyres to suddenly cause this behaviour. |>

|>I am 100% certain that before the tyres were changed the steering wheel was |>centred and I had no drift to the left or right. |>

|>Appreciate any advice or guidance. |>Nige |>------ End of Message ------ |>

|>

|> |>

|Your first clue was probably the fact that the old tires wore out at 14k |miles. |It sounds like you have a serious alignment problem and it wasn't so |noticable with the old worn out tires, but now with the new ones, is. |Get thee to an alignment shop post haste before the new tires get too |badly worn.

Radial tires can also cause this if they're not evenly inflated. Even a few pounds off on one tire can cause the wheel to be badly off center. The other thing can be slightly different tire diameters (no tire is perfect). Try rotating one front tire to the rear on the same side or opposite side and see if that helps. If you can drive down the road straight and it doesn't pull it's not alignment, but more likely the air pressure or mismatched radials.

BTW, my OEM tires on my 04 Xterra XE, General Grabber AW, have 11k miles on them and they're about done. I could probably go to 15 with them if we didn't get 2' snows here in the winter so in mid-November I'm going to Bridgestone Dueler A/T REVO's as recommended by Tire Rack and several local friends. They even have a

50k mileage warranty for a truck tire!

Nissan obviously uses pretty much the cheapest tires they can get for their OEM tires until you get to their SE models. The SE X (no pun intended) comes with BFGoodrich tires that cost 2x what the General's do.

Thanks... Brian Bergin

I can be reached via e-mail at cisco_dot_news_at_comcept_dot_net.

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Brian Bergin

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