Can We Agree Wheel Alignment is Wrong?

Maybe, maybe not. It might be related to the new tires; sometimes mismatched tires (one tire notably larger than the one on the other side) or a fault in the construction of one of the tires can cause a pull. Try rotating the tires to see if the pull changes; if it does not then it's a fair bet that the alignment is off.

nate

"N8N" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@k70g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

Specifically, swap the wheel/tire assemblies *left-to-right*. If the pull then moves to the other side, that's your problem.

Thanks for your replies.

You think tire flaws could cause this even though it did not do it with the same tires before the alignment. Is that correct?

-- jim

Absolutely. In fact, a strangely worn tire can cause a pull when you correct its alignment. If this is the case, it will return to running straight and narrow once the tires wear down evenly.

Or as others have mentioned, swap the tires left to right and see what happens.

-phaeton

These are new tires.

-- jim

If I have heard it once, I have heard it a thousand times. "Car started to pull after tires replaced." All too often the lazy tire franchise sweeps the problem under the rug by rotating the offending pair of tires to the back -- also a favorite trick for tires that do not balance satisfactorily. Of course the problem comes back at the first maintenance rotation.

Don

A.K.A. Discount Tire/Americas Tire. They burned me one time too many, including destroying two wheel studs on my truck by hammering the lug nuts on when the threads were dry and needed anti-sieze, and putting some major gouges into the back side of the rim on my car when their mounting machine slipped. Personally, I won't be going back.

Chris

You can mount your own tires, and at least static balance them yourself, without much in the way of investment. A bit on the labor intensive side, but at least you have total control over what does and doesn't happen.

Now I happen to have alloy wheels that go for $200 U.S. _EACH_

That's $800 worth of rims, and I'm not eager to hand them over to some guy who is watching the clock to see when it's time to punch out.

I would rather just buy the tires, and do them one at a time by myself. Yes it will take -me- forever, but I won't be chopping up my wheels and studs.

OTOH, I am almost certain that NOBODY considers this job a DIY.

Lg

It's a PITA though if you don't have a permanent pad to mount your tire changer on. And low profile tires are near impossible to break the beads on without a professional-style tire changer, the Harbor Freight manual deal isn't going to cut it. (BTDT)

nate

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I've been reading up on this Nate. It looks like pneumatics/hydraulics are really necessary to create the forces needed to break the beads without damaging the wheels. And the last price I saw for a Pro model was just short of $7,000 U.S.

OTOH, who needs a used tire? Who give a s**t what shape it is in when you take it off the wheel? It isn't like you're going to use it again. So cut the f**ker off with a saw, staying away, of course from the soft alloy metal of the rim. That takes care of punching the bead off the rim.

If you manage to mount the new one, bring it up to 40 psi max and with the proper bead lube it should seat. If it doesn't, break the bead, relube, and try it again.

The only rub is the steel belts in the radials. So use a cut-off saw to lance the tire in multiple places, and a hydraulic floor jack to force the rubber away from the wheels rims. If you put the rubber between a hydraulic floor jack and a hard place, it's gonna come loose. I'll make a bet on that.

Lg

I was offered a "Big Four" tire changer for $250 a couple weeks ago. For me the appeal was not only that it looked like it could be made functional fairly easily, but it still had the "Studebaker Corporation" tag on it.

I didn't take it because I have a) no shop air (working on that) and b) no space to permanently devote to it.

I care about used tires because it seems like I'm always trying different sized tires and/or refinishing wheels (I work on a lot of old cars.)

I seem to not have trouble mounting/dismounting bias ply tires, FWIW.

nate

You know the old saying: "necessity is the mother of invention"

I figure I can make use of an old I-beam to provide a *frame* in which to put the rubber part of the tire/wheel and the hydraulic floor jack. Sort of like a square and force the rubber up against the I-beam keeping the metal wheel away from it at the same time. That has to break the bead. I mean, depending on the dimensions of the *box* I build, I can use a bottle jack up to 30 TONS, or a little floor jack at 1.5 tons. I can promise that the rubber is going to move -away- from the wheel rim seats with that kind of force, especially applied to only one part of the tire at a time. In fact, when breaking the bead on an ENTIRE tire at a time, the pro machines only use up to

3,000 pounds of force. Imagine what I can do with a hydraulic jack.

Now I look at it this way, I've got $800 of wheel rims, and with tires at about $100 each, that's $1,200 dollars worth of rolling stock. To me, that might as well be a million dollars. So if I can make something out of Salvage Junk that does what I want it to, the deed is done. All I have to do is some welding/cutting with an oxy-acetylene torch to build my *rig* and I have it for Life, which in my case, might mean until next month. When not in use, I lean it up against the inside of my garage.

The question is: "Is it worth the trouble" ?????? Stanfa Auto around here is pretty good, and they can do the job before I go through 3 cups of coffee. And I don't even have to get my hands dirty.

I can go either way with this. Let the pros not only mount my tires, but also dynamically balance them, whereas I would only be able to static balance them. Then I don't have to do _anything_ except reach in my wallet and hand over some dough.

OTOH, my stepfather would have jumped my a$$ for being a nitwit and paying someone else to do something I can do for myself.

It's a toss up. Right now, I know they can do the job, they have the equipment, they have the experience. They can get my car "in and out" in the time it takes me to eat lunch.

Than again, I can do a *fair* job myself, as long as I'm willing to manhandle some weight and get my hands dirty. But the tires won't be dynamically balanced. And I have to go out and get a wheel weight set. The I-beam...they're a dime a dozen at the local dumps. If you can haul em away, you can get em for dirt cheap.

Why do it myself? The answer is the same as why do all of us here on rec.autos.tech do our own work and not farm it all out to other people? a) because we want the job done right b) because we might be doing a custom job that would cost too much for somebody else to do c) because we're an independent lot d) because we have a need to feel cold steel in our hands and use our muscles e) because we're living on a shoestring and DIY is the cheapest way out.

Pick and choose. I believe I fall into all of the above categories, a through e inclusive.

Lg

You need to read the whole thead -- at least the original post.

-- jim