So I'll try to make this short and to the point

Before new tires:
-Recently aligned, goes in a straight line, is excellent. Rears were somewhat in need of replacement, figured I'd get another 1k miles out of them.

*enter the nail in the sidewall of my driver rear*

Take to nearest tire shop, get 2 new rears since they can't patch it.

After new tires:
-When the car is going straight, my wheel is at around a 5 degree left turn
-When the wheel is straight, the car is pulling right
-Haven't checked what happens if I just let my hands off the wheel on a flat road, will do so later

So, what happened here? Did the shop somehow mess up my alignment while they were mounting two tires? I wouldn't think that was possible, but incompetence knows no bounds I guess.

First thing I checked was tire pressure, cold 32 front 36 rear as of right now. They had the rears filled to 40psi when I got the car back...

So, anyone have any thoughts for me? What do you think the problem is here?

 

Did you drop off the car and come back later when it was done? If so, maybe they took it for a drive and hit a curb?

John

 

Well, first make sure they torqued them correctly. Then make sure they mounted them correctly (aka tread facing correct direction). Then make sure they are the right size, you know 40 on one side and 45 on the other could be an issue.

 

^ checked tread direction, checked tire size, haven't checked torque...

 

you weren't having problems with your steering wheel before this?

 

Are you driving on crowned roads? If so, you'd have to correct for the slope in the road. Often times this goes un-noticed unless you're looking for a problem.

Otherwise... does the car "shift" when you accelerate/decelerate (as described in many threads that are generally solved by tire pressure changes)? Or does it maintain the same direction of pull when you floor it and/or let off the gas?

 

didn't seem to pull when i hit the gas... and ya, it could very well be the roads + paranoia on my part. i hope thats all it is..

 

Swap the rear tires and see if the PULL changes direction. If it does, the tire on the side that the car is trying to turn in is NFG (no good).