Pulling To Left

April 28, 2009

I am having issues with my Yaris pulling to the left. The car had been in a collision with the kerb on the left hand front wheel smashing the wheel and bending track rod end / lower suspension brace (not sure name although it was replaced)

I have had the following replaced

Brand new replacement alloy

All 4 tyres including balancing

Tracking

Left handside track rod end replaced

At between 65-75mph the steering wheel vibrates. At all speeds the car pulls to the left.

Any advice welcome. Ta

April 28, 2009

Hi Gary, i was you i would get the car 4wheel aligned to sort it out.

I had the tracking done on my Yaris and the thing still pulled a bit (to the left aswell) and had some vibe issues on the m/way.

Took it for 2 new rear tyres and had the 4wheel alignment done.

The rears were miles out to the front's and now it's bang on straight, no pulling and no vibes. :D

ATS do it as do Kwik-Fit and most tyre places.

I got mine done at National Tyres & Exhausts and could not fault them. Very reasonable and proffesional.

Good luck. ;)

April 29, 2009

Hi Gary, i was you i would get the car 4wheel aligned to sort it out.
I had the tracking done on my Yaris and the thing still pulled a bit (to the left aswell) and had some vibe issues on the m/way.
Took it for 2 new rear tyres and had the 4wheel alignment done.
The rears were miles out to the front's and now it's bang on straight, no pulling and no vibes. :D
ATS do it as do Kwik-Fit and most tyre places.
I got mine done at National Tyres & Exhausts and could not fault them. Very reasonable and proffesional.
Good luck. ;)

Cheers, that is a possibility as the place i took it to didn't have laser alignment just the mechanical / mirror version.

May 1, 2009

garage swapped the front tyres around and it then pulled to the right. There explanation is that cheaper tyres can cause this. I assumed Marshall tyres were an ok brand. They then swapped a wheel from the back and this took the pulling away to a large extent.

No idea why. Though car still pulls to the left under braking it will now at least travel in a straight line whilst driving.

May 1, 2009

garage swapped the front tyres around and it then pulled to the right. There explanation is that cheaper tyres can cause this. I assumed Marshall tyres were an ok brand. They then swapped a wheel from the back and this took the pulling away to a large extent.
No idea why. Though car still pulls to the left under braking it will now at least travel in a straight line whilst driving.

All new tyres have visible coloured markings forming a radial band on the tyre. Several of these markings represent destination between the manufacture and the recipient.... Cars like Lexus require specific compounds so the radial markings do indeed allow the process to become visible and act like a bar code.

But there is also important information held within those lines that most consumers and tyre centres are not aware of, in particular the position of the outer line (colour does vary).....

Depending on how the belts are positioned during construction imperfections will allow the casing and the tyre tread to 'run out'. This disparity allows the compression to steer the tyre laterally regardless of any actions taken by the driver thus generate a pull.

The manufacture measures the degree of run out and marks the severity onto the tyre by the position of the outer band, typically the colour is Red or Blue, if the colour band is central then the run out is considered 0, if the band is toward the outer edge the tyre will need a 'reactive' partner to belay any pull. So the positions are vital to you and your car.... example

Realising this problem then it's easy to conclude if the tyres are symmetrical in tread construction, if the tyres are asymmetrical or directional then the centre will need to find a suitable match with an opposite reactive lateral partner....... Their problem not yours......

So next time you buy tyres have a look for the banding and decide what match you want..... remember most centres will have no idea of your request due to misunderstanding and lack of knowledge so you need to be wise.