New Tires require alignment?

RyanZ71 · June 1, 2006

Hi folks, I recently got new tires on my truck less then a week ago, and afterwords I noticed the truck pulling to the right. It was not doing this with the old tires. I went from larger tires down to the stock tire size. Is it common that after having new tires put on that an alignment may need to be done, or do you think it might be an inproperly balanced tire? As it stands, I am going back to the tire shop this weekend to have them rebalance but thought I would pose the alignment question.

thanks

silveradoHO · June 1, 2006

You should always get an alignment when you have new tires put on.

pm26 · June 1, 2006

You should always get an alignment when you have new tires put on.

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Not exactly. When you do a wheel alignment, you align the wheels, not tires.

So properly aligned car should be within alignment specs when you put new tires on it. It is possible to get a bad tire that will cuase the vehicle to pull even with good alignment. I had something like this happen with a passenger car. When the tire was replaced, pulling stopped.

mmmikkke · June 1, 2006

Have 'em switch right front with left front, and right rear with left rear. If the pull moves to the other side, it's the tire(s).

silveradoHO · June 1, 2006

You should always get an alignment when you have new tires put on.

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Not exactly. When you do a wheel alignment, you align the wheels, not tires.

So properly aligned car should be within alignment specs when you put new tires on it. It is possible to get a bad tire that will cuase the vehicle to pull even with good alignment. I had something like this happen with a passenger car. When the tire was replaced, pulling stopped.

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If you just spent $600 or more for new tires, wouldn't it be a good investment to go ahead and spend the extra $40 for an alignment?

2004GMC1500CC · June 1, 2006

Hi folks, I recently got new tires on my truck less then a week ago, and afterwords I noticed the truck pulling to the right. It was not doing this with the old tires. I went from larger tires down to the stock tire size. Is it common that after having new tires put on that an alignment may need to be done, or do you think it might be an inproperly balanced tire? As it stands, I am going back to the tire shop this weekend to have them rebalance but thought I would pose the alignment question.

thanks

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It's probable the tires. Once I bought a set of 4 brand new tires. After many trips to the alignment and tire store, 3 of the tires had to be replaced for being out of round. What a giant pain in the @ss that was.

snoman · June 1, 2006

You should always get an alignment when you have new tires put on.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Not exactly. When you do a wheel alignment, you align the wheels, not tires.

So properly aligned car should be within alignment specs when you put new tires on it. It is possible to get a bad tire that will cuase the vehicle to pull even with good alignment. I had something like this happen with a passenger car. When the tire was replaced, pulling stopped.

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Not completely true. While you do align wheels you do so with tires too where and how they contact road and a change in their diameter or aspect ratio changes the loading on the suspension and the contact area center relative to suspenion pivot points. What his means is that when you cange tire size, you should get a alignement AND if you go to a larger tire and/orwith a offset rim, you may need to modify OEM specs for alignment (change camber and toein) because of the large shift in load centers relaive to pivot points and the extra stress placed on frontend that cause it to flex/stretch a bit more too.

mrfishaholic · June 1, 2006

rotate the tires front to back if the pulling goes away it is one of the two tires you put on the back end. to isolate the tire, put one of the tires from the back back up front, if the pulling goes away still it is the other tire on the back. That is how you would isolate a bad tire. A tire shop isnt going to be able to figure that one out on their own unless they are really customer service oriented!

larry arizona · June 1, 2006

first check your tire pressures. Make sure they are the same. Always check the simple things first. A few PSI difference can cause a vehicle to pull.

jhm · June 1, 2006

rotate the tires front to back if the pulling goes away it is one of the two tires you put on the back end. to isolate the tire, put one of the tires from the back back up front, if the pulling goes away still it is the other tire on the back. That is how you would isolate a bad tire. A tire shop isnt going to be able to figure that one out on their own unless they are really customer service oriented!

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Exactly. I had the same situation on my wifes' car. That is how I isolated the bad tire. I could spin it and actually see a very slight wobble after isolating the bad tire. Went back to tire shop, he tried to convince me the rim was bent. He put on a new tire anyway and the problem went away.