ppun88

Hey guys,

I just got new tires installed on the rear only and when i was going down the freeway it was pulling toward the right. It didnt feel right, I felt like the car is about to fish-tail. Just in regular turns I see "Slip" light coming on.

The tire presure is good and I'm sure my alignment was good at least till before I got my tires installed. i got different tire brand then the front.

My question are:
- can this be an result for having two differnt tires? I have stock Potenza in the front and kumho on the back.
- Is it possible that my ABS/VDC or any susp conponent is jacked-up?
- Can this be an result of improper tire balance?

I dont hear any noice or feel vibration when braking or in turns but I do feel like my rear is kinda sliding/ gliding without the slide or glide. I will go back to the tire shop and ask them to check the balance again but my understanding is that when the balacing is not done right, you feel vibration... any advice?

Thanks in advance!

TheFarmer

iTrader: (19)

What size tire did you put in the back?

ppun88

Same as stock 245/45/18...

quakerroatmeal

iTrader: (9)

And your fronts are stock 225/45/18 size?

ppun88

Yeah its stock size 225/45/18... this is why I'm kinda confused. Once thing I forgot to mention is that I took hard turn with VDC off since I was going to change my rear tires I just thought it would be fun lil drift on a right turn. Nothing serious, just a fishtailing right turn. Can this be an issue? I hardly ever drift since im always stuck in traffic for the past 6 years... i got Kumho ecsta LX platinum since it has 600 treadwear. Is there way to reset the VDC or something?

zettahertz

hmm, that's odd. I'm running different tires in the rear and mine's still great. I'd check tire pressure first and then the alignment.

ppun88

First thing i did is check tire pressure and just wanted to make sure before i go spending money on alignment. Can this be a tire balance issue?

DavesZ#3

iTrader: (26)

New tires are slippery. They are coated with a release agent during manufacturing that must be scuffed off the tire in order for them to perform at max potential.

There are also inherent problems with mixing tire brands and models front to rear. they may not have the same expected levels of traction.

All things considered, I AM concerned about your report that the car is pulling to the right, especially since it was the rears replaced. I'd have the tire shop check it out first.

davidv

iTrader: (2)

Crummy tires.

Spike100

Your tire sizes are fine.

I’ll bet your problem is based in what Dave describes. Your new tires are “greasy.” And that’s why they are slipping around. I’ve experienced the same problem. After just a few miles of driving, the “grease layer” is gone, the tread irregularities will wear to “even,” and your new tires will feel normal.

The only other explanation would be a defective tire (and I’ve had that happen as well).

Let us know how this is resolved (post back to this thread).

Spike

___________________________
EDIT: I’ read your post again, and Dave’s reply.

I have a question about your comment “it was pulling toward the right.”

Does that happen only when applying the brakes and when slowing, or does it occur when driving at a constant speed?

ppun88

I think you guys are right about the tire being greasy... after 50miles of drive I dont see sleeping lights however it is still pulling toward the right. I went back to the tire place and didnt really found anything wrong with the tires (balance or presure) on all 4 tires. I think this is alignment issue... hoping thats it. Im getting alignment done this thursday so I'll let you guys know if that fix the issue.

bdblackz

iTrader: (4)

It could be a conicity issue. Every tire is somewhat cone-shaped and has an inherent pull to either the right or left. Since you have no way of knowing what conicity your tires have when you buy them, you might have ended up with two that have high values in opposite directions, which is causing a large pull to one direction at the rear. Try switching them left to right and see if the car pulls the other way. If it does, then it is just due to their conicity and you can't do much about it. It will change with wear, and since the rear has a good amount of camber, that wear will cause them to achieve a neutral pull at some point.

If your previous tires were the OE ones that came with the car, they will have been matched by Nissan so that their conicity values mostly cancelled each other, but produced a slight pull to the left. This is so that your vehicle drives straight on the inside lane of the highway, which usually has a 1-1.5 deg crown. All OEs do this, but with trade tires it's luck of the draw.

Spike100

Thanks for the update. It’s appreciated.

When you mount new tires, it’s wise to do an alignment (that is something I always do). That adds additional expense, but summer-performance tires are costly and wear quickly (and wear very quickly when you have a faulty alignment).

If you detect a right-pull on the expressway, it could be simply the crown in the roadway combined with the grease and irregular tread on your new tires. If the symptom lasts more than a hundred miles or more, then there is something else wrong (and probably the alignment). The other possibility could be a bad tire (it happens).

Please keep us posted on your problem and solution.

--Spike

bdblackz

iTrader: (4)

While it could be alignment, it is unlikely that the alignment suddenly changed the day he got new tires mounted. Also, what is a "bad tire" Spike?

DavesZ#3

iTrader: (26)

I'm leaning toward a "bad tire" too. If it was an alignment problem, then in all likelyhood it would have done it with the old tire. The thing that concerns me is that we're talking about the rear and these kind of problem typically appear on the front.

A "bad" tire is one that has some internal defect that causes the tire to pull one direction or another - typically called "radial pull" because it appears in biased radial tires.

bdblackz

iTrader: (4)

As I mentioned above, every tire pulls by some magnitude in one direction or the other. Several factors contribute to pull including conicity (which i described above), residual aligning torque (which we can design into the tire), coupling stiffness of the lugs (also a design parameter) and others. A tire is not "bad" because it pulls - this is normal and not a manufacturing defect. I'm not sure what kind of conicity limits Kuhmo puts on their trade tires, but if it's a high limit, and he managed to get two tires at the top of that limit that are opposite direction (pretty rare), the car will pull.

I'd recommend switching the tires left to right and driving on the same stretch of road to see if it pulls the other way. If it does, you likely have high axle conicity. If it doesn't, you could have high plysteer (does not change with direction). Whatever the case, if it's not alignment related, there's not much you can do about it!

Spike100

Re> “While it could be alignment, it is unlikely that the alignment suddenly changed the day he got new tires mounted.”

That’s my point, and Dave mentions the same.
---------------------
So… that takes us to your second point/question: “Also, what is a "bad tire" Spike?”

Well… the answer is simply that: a bad tire. The tire (due to a manufacturing defect) won’t track in a straight line. Some of these always go right, others always go left, and some wiggle back and forth, right to left and left to right. See Dave’s message above for a good definition. Mercifully the occurrence is rare, but it does happen. Tire manufacturing is by no means a perfect science (consider the many tire recalls occurring over the past years).

--Spike

bdblackz

iTrader: (4)

No, you've missed my point - ALL tires track to one side or the other. It's NOT a manufacturing defect. Dave simply described plysteer, whereby the nature of the belt arrangement causes a pull to one side, which agrees with what I said, that all tires pull. Dave is incorrect however, in saying that this is a manufacturing defect. The plysteer is specifically designed into the tire. For example: tires built for use in Japan are have the belts going the opposite direction. This is because the highway crown is opposite (since they drive on the other side of the road) and they want the tires to pull the other way, up the crown. Coupling stiffness is also designed into the tire by the shape of the lugs. We even design tires to pull certain directions and magnitudes based on what OE vehicle they will be sold. So it is FAR from any kind of defect.

Conicity is a manufacturing variation, and all tires made (at least at Bridgestone) are screened for conicity before leaving the plant. However, you can have two tires that measured within limits when leaving the plant that, when put on the same car, can have an adverse effect (bingo - pulling on the highway!!)

Spike, you should know better than to argue with a tire engineer. This is my job - I'm even in the Tire/Vehicle Dynamics department who work with OEs to do studies on this exact stuff. If you don't understand it, look up the SAE papers on conicity and other tire topics; you'll learn a lot. All of this is information is out there

Spike100

^^ WT_?

ppun88 is describing excessive pull to the right, and not the subtle tire manufacturing difference you mention.

Focus... on the problem description.

Spike

bdblackz

iTrader: (4)

You're wrong again - it's not subtle at all. I wouldn't be wasting my time arguing this point if it wasn't a possible cause. What part of "I know way more about this topic than you can imagine" do you not understand? Stop trying to weasle your way out of being wrong again Spike

Oh p.s. OP - it is not a balance issue.