jkayca

My car seems to follow the cambre of the road to well. Does that make much sense? No? OK, here's more.

If the road slopes to the right I have to turn the steering wheel left to keep my max going straignt. If the road slopes left I have turn the sterring wheel right. Although expect some of this it has become more pronounced over the last few months. Enough that my left hand is aching from compensating since most roads slope right in NA.

I got my front end aligned last month but it's been a while since my tires were balanced. I still have my stock potenzas (~85,000 kms) that are nearing the end of their life. Tread wear is pretty even as I rotate them every 6 months. Could bad tires or improperly balanced ones cause this kind of problem? If so, how can I tell?

BewstAdd1ct

if it pulls evenly both ways, and drives straight on level ground, its not the tires.

you could try a side to side rotation otherwise to see if it changes.

jkayca

I thought about that but the tire rotation pattern for the 01 is back <==> front. No crossing. I guess I could give it a try since my tires will be done by the end of the summer.

Maximax2

A couple of suggestions:

First, 5th gens are VERY sensitive to tire pressure, so make sure they're equal across sides.

Second, if it's just pulling one way, it could be radial pull. Try swapping tires across and see if there's a difference - this happened to me, and it caused pull and also serious torque steer.

With good tires, equal pressure, and alignment that's okay, the pull from road gradient should be minimal.

Potenzas suck, BTW I changed mine after only 16k with half their tread left because I feared for my life in the rain...

jkayca

Well as I stated the pull is both ways. The direction depends on the slope of the road. I've done the tire pressure check and all seems fine. 35 psi on all 4. I'll check it again though.

BewstAdd1ct

i know you have directional tires... im not saying rotate them and then go drive n the rain... its just for diagnosis. youll be rotating them back afterwards (or buying new tires )

jkayca

I checked the tire pressure yesterday. All looks fine. I guess I'm going to have to bite the bullet and try swapping the tires around. It's a PITA since I don't have jack stands. I'm going to have to jack up one side. Take the wheel off. Put one off my snows in it's place. Lower the car and then jack up the other side. Take the wheel off. Put the other potenza on. Lower the car and jack up the other side ....

zmax26

I've noticed on most of my cars in the past that when my tires were near bald they would tramline a lot more. I'd think getting new tires would fix your problem. Sounds like you got some miles out of the crap Potenzas, change them.