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GT - 25 Oct 2005 17:35 GMT

Just got 2 new tyres fitted to my 2002 156 JTS. They fitted them to the rear
and put the old, partially worn tyres onto my main driving, steering and
braking wheels just in time for winter (not looking for a debate on this
though!), so they removed and replaced all 4 wheels during the procedure.
The car now pulls left most of the time! Sometimes (maybe 25% of the time)
it is fine, but most of the time it pulls left. This not worsened by
breaking or accelerating (not bad balanced breaks or torque steer). I
presume the tyre fitters did something wrong, or caught something, but the
car is in for a service in a couple of days, so I'll get the Alfa garage to
check it out - what should I ask them to check out? Wheel balance, tracking
etc?... What does this sound like? I will obviously describe everything to
them, but sounding remotely knowledgeable to the mechanic saves me being
ripped-off!!

Thanks

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SteveH - 25 Oct 2005 18:01 GMT

> Just got 2 new tyres fitted to my 2002 156 JTS. They fitted them to the rear
> and put the old, partially worn tyres onto my main driving, steering and
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> them, but sounding remotely knowledgeable to the mechanic saves me being
> ripped-off!!

Get the tracking checked.

However, I've noticed this sort of thing before - often with new tyres
(I insist on new tyres on the front of a FWD car regardless of advice) -
it usually goes away once the tyres have 'bedded in' - which would
equally apply to swapped wheels.

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Steve H 'You're not a real petrolhead unless you've owned an Alfa Romeo'
http://www.italiancar.co.uk - Honda VFR800 - MZ ETZ300 - Alfa 75 TSpark
Alfa 156 2.0 TSpark Lusso - Passat 1.8 Turbo SE - COSOC KOTL
BoTAFOT #87 - BoTAFOF #18 - MRO # - UKRMSBC #7 - Apostle #2 - YTC #

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GT - 26 Oct 2005 10:44 GMT

>> Just got 2 new tyres fitted to my 2002 156 JTS. They fitted them to the
>> rear
[quoted text clipped - 22 lines]
> it usually goes away once the tyres have 'bedded in' - which would
> equally apply to swapped wheels.

Thanks. I suspected tracking, but the intermittent nature threw me slightly!
OK, now we can re-launch the front/rear tyre debate!...

I favour front - those 2 wheels put all the power down, do 60%+ of all the
braking, do all the steering and I don't want one of them to blow going
round a corner, I would much rather the rear 'went', so I could steer into
it and bring the car to a halt safely instead of loosing the one wheel
bearing all the cornering load and plough clean off the road! Phew, that
feels better!!

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SteveH - 26 Oct 2005 10:56 GMT

> > Get the tracking checked.
> >
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
> bearing all the cornering load and plough clean off the road! Phew, that
> feels better!!

Heh.

I reckoning is that your average driver doesn't know about lift-off
oversteer, which is something that is a real risk if the rear tyres are
older than the fronts, and this is the reason why it's said new tyres
should always go on the rear.

However, if you know what you're doing, then I'd say it's definitely
preferable to have new on the front. The only trouble with this is that
sometimes you can be in a position where the rears are starting to
perish before they wear out - so I do sometimes swap them to the front
just to wear them out.

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alfistagj - 26 Oct 2005 17:49 GMT

Oh, please don't...................

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Ciao from The Netherlands
alfistagj (aka Gert-Jan)
GT 2.0 JTS (2005)
Montreal 2.6V8 (1973/4)

> OK, now we can re-launch the front/rear tyre debate!...

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alfistagj - 25 Oct 2005 19:44 GMT

Quite normal that the tracking has adjusted to the wear pattern of the old
tyres.
Now you have new (different) tyres, the tracking is off.
Just let the tracking ched and adjusted and every thing is fine again.

Signature

Ciao from The Netherlands
alfistagj (aka Gert-Jan)
GT 2.0 JTS (2005)
Montreal 2.6V8 (1973/4)

> Just got 2 new tyres fitted to my 2002 156 JTS. They fitted them to the
> rear and put the old, partially worn tyres onto my main driving, steering
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
>
> Thanks

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GT - 28 Oct 2005 10:32 GMT

> Just got 2 new tyres fitted to my 2002 156 JTS. They fitted them to the
> rear and put the old, partially worn tyres onto my main driving, steering
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> obviously describe everything to them, but sounding remotely knowledgeable
> to the mechanic saves me being ripped-off!!

They told me I need wheel alignment done - does this sound reasonable?
Extortionate charge of course!

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