Radial Pull on New Car?

Thread view:

Enable EMail Alerts

Start New Thread

Thread rating:

sonofabitchsky@hotmail.com - 19 Jun 2007 18:12 GMT

Have a new Expedition with 900 miles on it. Truck pulls to the right
slightly. Dealer said the alignment was dead on, and it maybe radial
pull. Is this possible on new tires?

Reply to this Message

Mike Walsh - 19 Jun 2007 18:37 GMT

If the front tires are matched they will not cause pull. To completely eliminate pull you might need tires that are the same size and brand and have the same amount of tread and inflation pressure. With only 900 miles this should not be a problem. Try switching tires. If you switch front to rear the pull should disappear. If you switch the front tires left to right you might make it pull in the opposite direction. If you can narrow the problem down to one tire it could be because of a defective tire e.g. a bad belt.

> Have a new Expedition with 900 miles on it. Truck pulls to the right
> slightly. Dealer said the alignment was dead on, and it maybe radial
> pull. Is this possible on new tires?

Signature

Mike Walsh
West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S.A.

Reply to this Message

sonofabitchsky@hotmail.com - 19 Jun 2007 21:22 GMT

> If the front tires are matched they will not cause pull. To completely eliminate pull you might need tires that are the same size and brand and have the same amount of tread and inflation pressure. With only 900 miles this should not be a problem. Try switching tires. If you switch front to rear the pull should disappear. If you switch the front tires left to right you might make it pull in the opposite direction. If you can narrow the problem down to one tire it could be because of a defective tire e.g. a bad belt.
>
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> Mike Walsh
> West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S.A.

Thanks. I will try this.

Reply to this Message

dahpater - 19 Jun 2007 19:43 GMT

On Jun 19, 1:12 pm, sonofabitch...@hotmail.com wrote:

> Have a new Expedition with 900 miles on it. Truck pulls to the right
> slightly. Dealer said the alignment was dead on, and it maybe radial
> pull. Is this possible on new tires?

Yes

Reply to this Message

PauL - 20 Jun 2007 01:00 GMT

> Have a new Expedition with 900 miles on it. Truck pulls to the right
> slightly. Dealer said the alignment was dead on, and it maybe radial
> pull. Is this possible on new tires?

Yes. Some tires are good, some bad. One on my car pulls pretty bad and
in 6 months there is little tread left while the others are like new.
Swap them around and see if the pull follows the tires.

Reply to this Message

lugnut - 20 Jun 2007 01:01 GMT

>Have a new Expedition with 900 miles on it. Truck pulls to the right
>slightly. Dealer said the alignment was dead on, and it maybe radial
>pull. Is this possible on new tires?

This is very possible and probably more common than you may
think. Swap the tires across the front. If it pulls the
other way, one or both of them have a mislocated belt.

I have an older (now) F150 that had that ptoblem right from
the start. The dealer spent a fortune replacing tires,
laser frame alignment, drilling and replacing frame rivits,
replacing the steering gear and who knows how many alignment
mods with no success. I kep trying to tell them it was heat
sensitive. It did not do this until I had driven a mile or
so or used the brakes. Ford eve offered to buy the truck
back a couple of times. The problem went away when I
replaced the brake calipers at almost 50K miles. Haven't
had it since. It was a cheap fix after all Ford paid under
warranty without replacing them.

Lugnut

Reply to this Message

HLS@nospam.nix - 20 Jun 2007 02:12 GMT

> Have a new Expedition with 900 miles on it. Truck pulls to the right
> slightly. Dealer said the alignment was dead on, and it maybe radial
> pull. Is this possible on new tires?

May I ask, what kind of tires came with this vehicle?

Reply to this Message

sonofabitchsky@hotmail.com - 20 Jun 2007 16:28 GMT

On Jun 19, 6:12 pm, <H...@nospam.nix> wrote:

> <sonofabitch...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>
> May I ask, what kind of tires came with this vehicle?

I swapped the front right to the front left and it pulls exactly as it
did before. That would indicate the alignment is the culprit I
assume.

The tires are Continental Contitrac TR 17"

Reply to this Message

dahpater - 20 Jun 2007 17:15 GMT

> On Jun 19, 6:12 pm, <H...@nospam.nix> wrote:
>
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
>
> The tires are Continental Contitrac TR 17"

If it isn't the brakes, tire pressure, yea. Have it checked by someone
else. Preferrable by an alignment shop that people recommed. Tell them
that your having a problem and you would like it as close to the
recommeded specs as possible. Ask them for a before and after print
out also. If their any good, they'll show and explain everything to
ya. If they don't want to, don't have them do it.

Reply to this Message

HLS@nospam.nix - 21 Jun 2007 23:13 GMT

> On Jun 19, 6:12 pm, <H...@nospam.nix> wrote:
> > <sonofabitch...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
>
> The tires are Continental Contitrac TR 17"

That is the way I would read it, unless you have some brake drag or other
reason
it would pull to the right. With only 900 miles, that would not ordinarily
be a problem.

I tend to doubt the good will of the dealership (but, then, what else is
new)

Reply to this Message

AZ Nomad - 20 Jun 2007 02:58 GMT

>Have a new Expedition with 900 miles on it. Truck pulls to the right
>slightly. Dealer said the alignment was dead on, and it maybe radial
>pull. Is this possible on new tires?

of course
It's also possible the dealer lied about the alignment. I'd rotate the tires
first, then take it to an independent shop.

Reply to this Message