My S2k 04's been aligned twice and it still pulls to the right (a bit). I've been told that it's possible the right tire might have a defect in the radials that cause it to pull.

I'm taking it in for a third time to a different place to see if they can find anything else.

But is it possible this is the case? Would swapping the tires on the opposite rims fix this?

Thanks...

 

I know this may sound like a dumb question... but are all the tire pressures correct?

My car pulled right very slightly because my rear tire was under the normal pressure.. just something to double check..

 

is your frame straight? driven off or over any curbs? have you loaned your car to anyone?

 

Definitely check the pressure on all 4 tires. If the pressure is low in a tire it can cause the car to pull. I had a nail in my front driver's side tire and the car would pull slightly to the left.

 

Yeah, the tire pressure is correct (it's been checked and rechecked), and it has been aligned twice. The frame isn't bent, and if it was, it still wouldn't cause the car to pull if it's aligned.

It's getting looked at again and I'll know more on Monday from a different shop I took it to (having them inspect the subframe as well).

But what I've heard a couple times now is that the actual tire might have a defect in it that would cause it to pull. I'd like to know from some of the tire experts here what are the chances of there being issues with the radials that could cause this.

If so, would swapping the tires onto the other rims resolve this or just cause other issues?

 

I had similar pull issue, but I found that my rear tires lost pressure at different levels after a month or so and this caused my pulling issues.

I went to a local tire shop and explained the issue and they recommended I have both rear tires removed and have a seal lock used between the tire and rim. They mentioned a tire can lose pressure or even slip on a rim is seal is not solid. This happens typically with cars with higher torque than ours, but this sounded like it made sense. This was much cheaper than alignment or other potentially expensive issues. I had nothing to loose other than a couple dollars ($25 total) and both rear tires removed and remounted with seal lock. It's been almost a year since I did this and my pulling issue was resolved...

Good luck, but this worked for me...

 

Yes one tire can make a car pull. This sucks when you have directional tires, because you can't cross the tires, unless you take the tire off the rim. crossing tires can sometimes eliminate the pull, or cause it to pull the other way, depending on the way that the belts have worn in the tire. sometimes the pulls go away and sometimes they don't. If you're tires are relatively new or in really good condition, I'd spend the money to cross the front two tires so that the direction is correct, and see what happens, if it pulls the other way, get new tires or live with it, but it may fix your problem. As far as the alignment goes, make sure that you're caster and camber are in spec. Theoretically toe will not cause a pull, only tire wear. Just make sure that you have less than 0.5 degrees cross caster and cross camber. Caster pulls to the lesser degree and camber pulls to the more positive. If something is bent in your suspension, it should show up in the measurements on the alignment. Good luck fixing your pull.