I bought my 2004 touring about 4 years ago with 37k and immediately replaced just the front tires(inside tire wear) with continental tires. Then, I had an alignment done and the car was wonderful. Fast forward to last week, I decided to replace the Potenza rear tires(12 years old) with Michelin Premiers. Since that time, the car started pulling to the right. Ive had the car suspension checked numerous times and did another alignment. Unfortunately, it still pulls to the right(no tire noise). I'm going back to the tire shop to swap out the new tires but not sure that's going to do anything since I've read about this issue with older z's. Just curious what works.. I'm leaning toward getting bigger wheels and going back to get another alignment. What has worked with your older Z??

 

A couple of things to consider.
Generally putting new tires on a car should not cause it to pull.
Did you see stickers on tread of "new" tires?
The older alignment specs for the Z33 were incorrect and led to inside wear/feathering.
Ask the shop to use alignment specs from 06.
They should give you a printout for all 4 tires with green highlight.
If they cannot you need another alignment shop. I wouldn't spend $$$ on new wheels until this is sorted, but hey it's your money.

 

This is good advice. ^^^

In addition, start with basics:

- Check tire pressures!

- Make sure you don't have binding brakes on the side of the pull (binding while OFF the pedal) - a long shot but possible

- Check (or have shop make sure) the wheels are all properly torqued. Over torque (or loose) on one side can lead to wandering.

Adding wider wheels isn't a great idea until you determine what's causing the pull.

 

get an alignment. should be centered.

check air pressures.

check brake calipers for binding.

check sway bars and links for failures.

are you sure it is turning/pulling right or is the wheel just not centered?

check wheel bearings for play/binding.

 

I bought the rear tires to replace the 12 year old potenzas so I thought the new tires could be faulty and the tire store agreed to warranty out the 1 week old new Michelins.. so that won't cost extra..The brakes and suspension have all been checked numerous times along with sway bars and links.. The steering wheel starts centered going down the road and after about 2-3 seconds it starts to turn right.. after the newer wheels are replaced on Monday, i'm going to go back to the alignment place and have them use the 2006 specs with the basics.. all great advice!


Thanks!!

 

Alignment from shop before and after

 

 

Update: Unfortunately, the car still pulls to the right. I went ahead and checked the brakes and calipers again with the basics. Also, the alignment shop went ahead and aligned it to 2006 specs. At this point, I'm probably going to talk with the dealer. Thanks again.

 

Did you check the ball joints? This could cause the wandering and pulling