Alignment Issues: Could It Be the Tires?

So I took my taco to Pep Boys and had it aligned two different times because it was pulling to the right. After the second alignment, the tech at Pep Boys told me that it was an issue with the tires.

I have Falken AT3’s that are only 6 months old. Anyone ever heard of such a thing? My tires don’t feel out of balance. Should Pepe boys be able to make my truck drive straight or can tires really cause this?

If so, what is the fix?

 

Absolutely can be the problem, but usually in order to diagnose you need to unmount and remount on the rim for the other side if they're directional tires. On the other hand I would NEVER take any of cars to Pep Boys for any mechanical work.

Can you post the current alignment numbers from the last alignment? They will tell a lot.

 

Do you have the alignment specs?

 

Had this happen on my wife's car. It was pulling to the right, so I brought it in for an alignment. They put it on the rack and said it was within limits. After many heated debates with the dealer on what was causing the issue and whether or not it was a defect (prompting a warranty claim), I took the car home and did a little troubleshooting. I wanted to rule out the tires first, so I swapped L and R. Lo and behold, the car pulled to the left. Then I swapped front and back, and the pull went away entirely. Problem solved, right? Put the tires back the way they were and returned to the dealership so they could 'discover' the problem and replace my defective tire. Of course they wanted to check or rebalance all of them (waste of time and money), but they eventually came to the same conclusion as me and gave me a new tire.

Tldr; a well-balanced but defective tire caused my car to act like it was out of alignment.

 

this. and like he says it's an easy test, usually.

 

Here is how you can have a tire perfectly balanced and still cause the vehicle to pull. I exaggerated the shape so you can get the idea. Top view of tire:

 

Would you be able to off set this by tweaking some of the other parts of the truck that affect alignment? I understand that this may cause premature wear on the tire to get it back to a flat shape, which is probably why they don't do that.

I just want my truck to not drift. I am constantly pulling the steering wheel to the left to off set the drift, and I'm sure that this is causing premature wear somewhere on my tire anyway.

What can I do, short of getting new tires?

Also, I used pep boys because I got their lifetime alignment for half price, and was able to use my rebates from my tire purchase to pay for it, and pep boys are everywhere. Whether I am at work or home, I can go get an alignment if needed.

 

Hmm, so maybe this isn't something I have to solve. I am going to take these back to America's tire and have them take a look. Let's see if they will take care of me.

Thanks Gents!

 

I would really try and find a good alignment shop where that's all they do rather than any regional or national chain. I'm sure there are some in your area but if not, Bagge and Son an hour up the road in Culver City is one of the best in the L.A. area. Find out where people take their Porsche's and Ferrari's and go there and don't keep going back to the chains just because you have some sort of warranty from them. On my '93 I had Bagge align it about ten years ago and never touched it again until I sold it. Do it once but do it right.

 

your first mistake was taking it to pep boys those idiot mechanics don't know shit about anything .

 

Alignment is all checked by machines. If it’s in tolerance then it’s in tolerance. From what I have been reading, no alignment guy is going to correct a defective tire, no matter how much they overcharge Porsche and Ferrari owners to tweak their suspension.

 

Yeah. Alignment IS checked by machines, but there's a LOT more to just being in tolerance. For instance, there's a range of acceptable caster, but if you don't have half a degree less on the left than the right it will pull to the right on a crowned road. If they're both the same, both side ARE in tolerance but it won't be a correct alignment. Same for camber. You could have one side be minus .25 degrees and the other be plus .75 and still be in tolerance and be completely wrong. A top quality four wheel alignment on our trucks is about a hundred bucks. Even though there's no adjustment on the rear, it's still good to know that the back is square with the front and if you've got more than .1 or .2 deg. neg camber in the back, then something might be bent. A four wheel alignment on my 911, which is fully adjustable front and back runs about a buck and a quarter, so roughly in the same range.

If you don't know what to ask for and why, then you often will get an "in spec" alignment which usually isn't worth the money you through away on it. And on some cars you'll never get it exact. You can chase specs for a long time. Change one thing and everything else changes with it which has you chasing your tail for several rounds to finally get somewhere where everyone is happy. On my 911, we always go for maximum neg camber on the front - usually about -1.5 and then 1/2 to 3/4 deg more neg on the rear. Just the way that car is.

 

A guy that actually knows what he's talking about. Are you an alignment tech? I can't help myself and read most of the alignment threads and finish with a headache.

 

Alignment tech? No. Just a commercial photographer here in L.A. who has spent a bit of time trying to understand this stuff and will be brazing up a set of steel bicycle forks this weekend to turn an old mountain bike into a city bike. Now talk about something where alignment makes a difference and the steel expands and contracts to a slightly different place when it's heated and cooled. Some of the comments on these threads crack me up too.

 

I had something similar. I took it to the dealer three times saying it was pulling to the left. Their response was it's in spec. I went to an independent shop, they rotated the tires, and now the truck drives straight. Don't even get me started about trying to get the shifting TSB done.

For all Toyotas reputation...some dealers really suck.

 

I had a tire out of round that cause similar problems. Unless there is damage to the vehicle, it is most likely the tire.

 

Out of curiosity, how far are you traveling before you have to make a correction? 10ft? 100? Several hundred? Point being, I would argue that many vehicles are designed to pull to the right as a safety precaution, in case the driver becomes disabled, to avoid driving into oncoming traffic.

 

Never heard that one before. Vehicles designed for the street are generally aligned to go straight ahead with no pulling on the typically crowned roads we have almost everywhere. Most of the time that alignment will not pull on a perfectly flat non-crowned road, but there are more crowned than non-crowned road anyway. Even minor differences in tire pressures can make a difference. Caster angles when too shallow don't allow for enough self centering action - the same thing that allows you to ride a bike with no hands. Even wind can be a factor. I once had crosswinds so strong on a trip to Death Valley that it required about a twenty degree correction of the steering wheel.

 

You hit on another excellent point. Most roads are not flat and generally taper to the right for the same reason I stated and to assist with drainage/clearing.

 

First mistake, don't trust pep boys!!I wouldn't let them look at my lawn mower, go to the pros!!!