Tyres and pulling to one side

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Thu 3 Jan 2002 17:06
Tyres and pulling to one side - Keith
My car was pulling to the left and the tyres had worn on the inside edges.

I decided to have the wheel alignment checked and adjusted (properly mind, with a £20,000 machine not the normal simple equipment) I found that the car handled better but still pulled to the left.

I have just bought two new tyres and the car no longer pulls to one side at all. It just goes to show the difference that unevenly worn tyres can make.

Hope this helps someone out there.
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Thu 3 Jan 2002 20:08
Re: Tyres and pulling to one side - Marcus
My mate has a Golf 1.6SE and It has always pulled strongly to the left, despite several trips to the dealer and alignment checks - the last time he was told "they all do that" - Do they ?
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Fri 4 Jan 2002 12:26
Re: Tyres and pulling to one side - Keith
I don't think any car should. Although I was told by a Ford Dealer that Mondeos always have a slight drift to the left - mine doesnt anymore.
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Fri 4 Jan 2002 12:47
Re: Tyres and pulling to one side - AndyS
Keith
What was the fix?
I think my Mondeo pulls very slightly left, and I have been told that they are just very road-camber sensitive. This leaves me in doubt.
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Fri 4 Jan 2002 17:45
Re: Tyres and pulling to one side - Keith
The combination of the wheel alignment (by a proper garage with proper equipment worth £20k) and new tyres. Plus of course full checks for worn suspension and alignment of the front and rear subframes.

The haynes manual is quite hazy about how to adjust the subframes - especially the back one, I think the position of the alignment holes is more clearly shown in the section on removing the charcoal canister.

The fancy wheel alignment equipment will also tell you if the chassis is twisted or not - a nice thing to completely set your mind at rest.

My main point was that the tyres were causing the car to pull quite a bit to one side. The car now seems very neutral, but as with any car, will drift to one side depending on the severity of the crossfall of the road.

Once the tyres are worn thet will not correct themselves after the wheel geometry has been corrected.

Please let me know how you get on.
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