On the entire trip home from work just now the car handled very strange. Every time I hit the gas pedal the car jerked to the left very noticeably, almost as if the right rear tire was spinning faster than the left, and the steering wheel is way off center. The car was difficult to keep in a straight line while cruising at 65 mph.

I made an appt to have the car looked at tomorrow morning.
The car was handling perfectly fine on the way into work this morning, so i have no idea what caused this.


Does anyone know what the problem might be?

 

Tire pressure?

 

Tire pressure

 

Definitely check your tire pressures. I had the same problem a few months ago and my back left tire was down to around 20 PSI. Turned out there was a nail in that tire.

 

Just checked that and the left rear was 15 lbs low. i have no idea how this happened, I checked all the tires 3 days ago. no sign of a puncture. i will monitor the pressure tonight. i suspect foul play in the parking garage today.

thanks.

 

Was going to suggest foul play. Was thinking more along the lines of checking your lug nuts though. Thought you might have disturbed some thieves.

 

Well, instead of making a new thread, I might as well ask a question here. Let's say I have the symptoms as SilverS2KAZ has, but the tire pressure on all 4 tires is fine. The tread on all the tires is still excellent also. I have aftermarket wheels and tires. What could possibly be wrong?

 

The gear-type LSD could be screwed up but there's usually other symptoms like weird rear-end noises to go with it. Or, by accident, your tires could have unequal diameters.

 

Front alignment?

 

If the rear tires aren't exactly the same with exactly the same mileage, the car will pull when switching between acceration and deceleration. I destroyed a tire at 2500 miles, replaced it with an identical new tire, and the car pulled during throttle transitions until the tires were worn out. When I got a new set it was stable as can be all the time.

If you notice the car suddenly pulling to one side when you give it throttle or release the throttle, stop and check the pressure immediately. If I had done that at first symptoms, I might have saved a second rear tire that I destroyed when it went flat on the freeway.