Tire rotation question....

This past Spring, I went to a place that I usually go to, and I had my tires rotated and balanced.

When I left the shop - my car was pulling really hard to the right. Looking back on it, I *should* have taken the car back and told them what was going on, but I'm a girl and *honestly* I thought that maybe my car needed an alignment, and that the rotation made it more apparent. (I know, I know....STUPID)

So anyways - I went the next day and got an alignment on my car. When the guy took my car out for a ride to make sure the alignment was okay, he found that they car was now pulling to the left.

He asked me if I recently had my tires rotated, and I said yes. He said that it looks like who ever rotated them, messed up the rotation. He then said that he would try to fix them for me. (FYI - my car did not pull before the rotation.) He tried to rotate them back to the way they were, but he did not succeed. I left there with my car pulling to the left.

I was too embarrassed to go back to the place where I got the rotation (I know, that's stupid too). So I've been driving my car like this since May.

The guy who tried to do my alignment told me that getting new tires would probably solve the problem.

Has anyone had this happen to them before? Is this reversable? If I go out and buy new tires, will the pulling stop? Please help! I would hate to go out and buy all new tires (when mine are fairly new), and spend hundreds of dollars doing so if it won't potentially fix the problem.

Any advice for a girl who knows nothing about cars/tires??

Thanks so much!

~Kari~

Only thing I've ever had happen that was kinda similar was I had to replace a tire once and the tire the shop put on was a slightly differnent one (different tread). The car would pull toward which ever side that tire was on, because of the different style tread. It would only pull during acceleration though. No other time.

It seems to me that it is possible that by replacing your two front tires with a new set of matching tires might fix this pulling problem, IF the alignment is correct. NORMALLY hard pulling is an alignment or even bent/damaged suspension/frame problem, not tires. Hope this helps somehow.

Thanks so much for the reply. I know I don't know a whole lot about cars, but I don't think that this would be a bent/damaged/ suspension/ frame problem, as the pulling was not present before the rotation. I'm 99% sure that the rotation is what caused the problem in the first place.

I'm just hoping that with me driving my car like this for the last 4 months or so has not caused any permanant damage to the car.

I'll probaly end up getting some new tires next month, it's worth a shot I suppose.

Thanks again!

~ Kari ~

Yeh, since it was fine before the rotation you can be pretty sure the tires are causing it. Driving it with the pulling shouldn't have damaged anything. The only thing it could possibly hurt would be a wheel bearing, but even if it did they only cost about 30 dollars each and are inexpensive to have replaced

Phew - that's good to know! You have totally made my day! :)

Thanks again!

While uneven wear on your tires definately appears to be the cause of your pulling issue, you should also try to address the root cause of it. Tires do not wear unevenly from side to side (which is causing your pulling problem) when the suspension is in good order. You should ask a good suspension shop to check all bushings in your suspension for dry rot or excess wear. They should check your tie-rods and lower ball joints for excess play, and they should check to see if your struts are bent or springs are sagging. If all of these items are in good order and your have a proper alignment, accidentally switching tires from side to side will typically cause more road noise but not pulling to the side.

I suggest for those that take their cars in for tire rotations to take a dry erase marker and mark each wheel "LF", "LR", "RF", "RR", respectively. Upon receipt of the vehicle, they should have moved the rears to the front on the same side, so the Left Front wheel should have the marking "LR", etc. This not only ensures you that the wheels are properly rotated, it also help the techs identify which wheel is which once they go to put them back on the car, and many are appreciative of the help.

Good luck!

yes, your tires wear to the old alignment.
so if you rotat the tire you get what they call (radial pull)
the only way to eliminate this is to replace the tires
i know this sucks, but its the only solution.
bryan

I'm sure by now you have your problem corrected. Check your owners manual for rotation instructions, and make sure they are rotating the rear wheels to the opposite sides in the front, and the front wheels straight back. I like the method that FlamingTaco suggested, and agree with Sho u's answer as well.