Winter tires and steelie rims and now car pulls to the right...

[machx]

Hey guys, put on brand new winter tires and new steelies on my car a month ago.

Everything brand new, professionally installed, balanced, weighted etc.

Had the alignment done and everything.

Then I noticed that my car pulled to the right, just slightly. Then a bit more than slight...

I take it back, re align it, very minimal difference in the numbers, but recalibrated, realigned and repositioned the tires. All is good again.

Still pulls, and gradually more and more.

But the thing is, it's not all the time, barely noticeable at slower speeds, but on the expressway or major roads, the pull could be comparable to the amount of movement you would make for a smooth lane change.

I'll let go of the wheel, it does it again, straighten it out, let it go, pulls even more it seems.

The next day, try it again, and it would pull, but barely, or at least nowhere as much as it did before.

It didn't do it before the winter tires. And thought I would ask here before I go through the hassle of putting back the original tires and rims and trying again to cancel out whether or not it was the tires/rims.

Also, when I did my tires, I replaced the front driver side hub and bearing with OEM. Which solved my rubbing issue which I believe is unrelated.

Any insight?

[Dave_The_BMXER]

Stupid question but whats the tire pressure like?

[Rob23]

you need to test it on a very flat parking lot or something. testing it on public roads isn't the best way because they are slanted for water run off, so your car will always pull to one side.

[Default User]

I was in a shop a few days ago - and heard the same story. Did you allow enough time for the tires to "seal"?
(apparently, the guy ripped it down the highway to test for any road noise. The tire slipped out of alignment/balance from the rim)

are the tires uni-directional and facing the correct way on all 4 corners?
tire pressure ok?

how are the other front end components? any clunking when youre driving?

[SonicBoy]

First off, it is hard to diagnose as you got an allignment and new tires at the same time.

1. Rule out the new tires. If on seperate rims, re-install your summers and see if the pull is still there. If it is, the tires can probably be removed from the equation and you can focus back in on the alignment.

2. With summers tires/wheels on, if the car still pulls, try and have the alingment put back to the initial specs and see if things are back to normal. If so, install winter wheels and see if it still runs straight with no pull.

My guess is the issue is with the tires. I've heard stories of the bead not seating well as well as what Default User has posted up above.

[Default User]

^^ GOOD POINT!

what was the OE tire size and the winter tire size?

[machx]

1) Pressure is fine, checked just now and before when I first started to notice the issues
2) I'll check in a parking lot, but I also drive 2 other cars along the same roads and they do not pull anywhere near as much as my Mazda does
3) All tires are correctly positioned and put on properly. I will take it back to my friend's garage and check the balancing again, and seals. That could be the issues perhaps. Was also thinking maybe because of the rim maybe it was weighted during balancing correctly and the weight slipped or fell.
4) No other sounds out of the ordinary, no clunking or anything.
5) Trying to avoid the hassle of swapping out the tires again, but maybe I have to, this is why I asked here first. Obviously swapping them out would be the logical deductive way to see if its the tires or the car itself. Might have to come to that.
6) Had 17" (205/50-17) on factory rims before, winters are the 16" (205/55-16) on steelies.

Thanks for all the replies.

I was almost even at the point of just dealing with it for the winter till I put them back on in the spring, mainly laziness. Because it doesn't bother me THAT much. But irritates the shit out of my brother when he drives it. I know it ruins the tires, but IMO they are only winters and I'll have them for maybe 2 more seasons max if that.

[vinnierap]

where did you get the alignment done? Maybe they screwed up.

Go back and tell them the car pulls and to re-do the alignment

[Hyperion]

where did you get the alignment done? Maybe they screwed up.

Go back and tell them the car pulls and to re-do the alignment

Hopefully not twice

[machx]

Yeah, got the alignment done at the same place, twice. So I was even thinking myself, perhaps their machine isn't' calibrated or off or something. But they do alignment every day and this was weeks ago, so if it was broken I would assume they would have figured it out yet, and I've received no notice from them.