Hi,
My car is a WRX 05 Wagon with Prodrive springs.
Went to Costco and had 4 new 225/45/17 Michelin PS3 tyres fitted. ( for £380!)
Now I noticed at the weekend there the car is definately pulling to the left if I let go of the wheel, and that the balancing is out as the steering wheel wobbles above 70mph.. I checked pressures and they were fine. I also hit a really bad pothole last week ( before going to Costco ) and wonder if this could be the cause.
Can the balancing make the car pull to the left?
At the time would balancing a new tyre on the N/S/F wheel show if the wheel was damaged? And would it balance out?
Could the pulling to the left and wobble not be balancing but a damaged wheel?
Cant be bothered going back to Costco to argue .. thought I'd trust a large company to fit tyres but once again feel let down ..I've got a local tyre company which I trust and I'll just pay to balance the wheels properly ( they just couldn't unfortunately compete with the price)

All advice is greatfully received.

Steve

 

If you've hit a pothole it's probably not the wheel thats causing the issue. I would get the front geometry checked. Sounds as though the tracking has gone out of kilter.

 

If the balance is out then yes that could be the case, also have a check to make sure no weights have been nocked off the wheel when they were fitting the new tyres, big companies like that probably have some noobie tyre fitter that has had a few hours training on the machine.

 

if you have buckled the alloy it will pull and affect the balance of the wheel. typical "get you in take your money off you" companies. you get monkeys to fit your tyres and wonder why balance and tracking is out. i can bet if you asked one of them what a camber bolt was or asked about the toe in on your car you would blank spacker stares. Get the wheels checked to see if they are buckled, get them balanced and finally get someone who know what they are doing to put your car on a tracking machine.

 

Thanks guys .. yeh will get the wheels rebalanced 1st and get them to check, if they can ,at the same time to see if any of the wheels are buckled

 

+1


if you have buckled the alloy it will pull and affect the balance of the wheel. typical "get you in take your money off you" companies. you get monkeys to fit your tyres and wonder why balance and tracking is out. i can bet if you asked one of them what a camber bolt was or asked about the toe in on your car you would blank spacker stares. Get the wheels checked to see if they are buckled, get them balanced and finally get someone who know what they are doing to put your car on a tracking machine.
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Well the saga continues..
Firstly the Balancing .. ALL the wheels were miles out Was told by the guy I trust and who rebalanced them that apart from being miles out, all the wheels had the weights on the outside of the wheel, a real lazy way of doing it apparantly .
It p***es me off that you trust these monkeys ( in this case at Costco) with your life and they do a sh*t job!

Secondly my tracking is out , car runs smooth at any speed now but still drifts to the left
Thirdly , and worst of all , 1 of the wheels are buckled , when balancing it the guy showed me it rotating on the machine

So looks like I'll just have to buy a new set of wheels cos I cant see me buying 1 wheel ( plenty about as it's the standard WRX wheel but in silver ) and getting it powder-coated to exactly the same colour as the other 3 .. suppose every cloud has a silver lining .. KEI FORCE 10 in GUNMETAL here I come

Thanks again for all ur input people.

Steve