Swapped wheels and tires, now car pulls

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SpartanG

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Before I did this my car drove almost perfectly straight with no wandering. Earlier today I made the dumb decision to swap wheels with some guy on craigslist who had wheels I had been looking for. He just wanted a straight swap for steelies which is what I had ("If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is" seems to apply here :dunce:). Both of our tires are pretty new, mine were 195/60/14 his were 185/70/14.

After trading I drove home and noticed the car pulled to the left. I was pretty pissed because before I had a perfectly aligned car and now I don't. I tried texting him and obviously no response, so I'm stuck. It's my fault anyway. But then I switched the front two tires left to right and now the car pulls right. No vibration or shimmy. Do i need a wheel balancing or alignment?
 
Did you check the air pressure? Sounds like one of the tires is low. Check it, top it up if needed, then watch it for a little bit to see if there's a leak.

I would also take it on the highway and see if there is any increase in vibration in the steering wheel. It can help tell you if your wheels are balanced properly or not.
 
Thanks for the response, tires are all equal at 33psi. No vibration at all, which leads me to the conclusion that it's the alignment, but when i switched the front tires the direction of the pull changed... hmmm.... I feel like if it was the car's alignment the tires wouldn't have an effect.
 
Sometimes people have rubbing issues due to incorrect backspacing/offset and will try to fix the problem by throwing the rims on a lathe and making the center thinner. This almost always messes things up.
 
The insides looked untouched. Getting the tires balanced tomorrow since that's the cheapest option. 12 bucks a tire. If still no good, then front alignment. Thanks for the help guys.
 
If your alignment was off then the direction of pull would not change and would have occurred with the old wheels.
 
Zenith
If your alignment was off then the direction of pull would not change and would have occurred with the old wheels.
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So a (very slightly) different sized wheel would not cause the alignment to be thrown off? The problem here is not necessarily that my previous alignment is wrong, its just that with the new wheels the car could need a new alignment (?).
 
SpartanG
So a (very slightly) different sized wheel would not cause the alignment to be thrown off? The problem here is not necessarily that my previous alignment is wrong, its just that with the new wheels the car could need a new alignment (?).
Click to expand...

I go from a 17" winter tire to a 19" summer every year and my alignment never changes, so I don't see that being the issue.

As long as the tires were all the same size and at the same PSI when the alignment was done, it shouldn't make a huge difference switching sizes as long as the suspension remains unchanged.

Putting a bent rim on, or one that has been damaged/modified in any kind of way will cause the car to vibrate, pull or wobble.

Its possible that his alignment is out and caused the tires to wear unevenly causing the pull you're feeling. Getting them rebalanced should shed some more light on the problem.
 
It sounds like a balancing issue to me, especially since the symptoms were reversed when you swapped the rims over.

Different sized wheels wont cause your car to pull; however your speedo will now be out - you can find rim size calculators online to compare your old rims to the current ones to find out exactly how far out your speedometer is off.
 
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You need a new alignment for sure. However, it never hurts to have your tires balanced anyway. After your tires are balanced and you get a new alignment you will be all set. 👍
 
Went back this morning still being skeptical about a balance fixing this problem. An imbalanced wheel does not cause a single direction pull it causes a wobble or shimmy. I had done more research last night and I found that a slipped or broken belt can cause a car to pull. When I mentioned this to the mechanic he agreed. He suggested to rotate the tires front-back. If the car pulls differently then it's definitely the belt slipped and I will either have to deal with it or buy new tires. I just sold my DSLR so I do have some free cash.... hmmm....

And yeah i messed that up. The tires are different size, not the wheels.
 
Your problem is based solely on the wheel/tire. Nothing to do with balance, or your alignment(although getting that done is never bad). My bets are that the tread didn't wear even and that's causing your pull.
 
mustangGT90210
Your problem is based solely on the wheel/tire. Nothing to do with balance, or your alignment(although getting that done is never bad). My bets are that the tread didn't wear even and that's causing your pull.
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Sounds logical. I was gonna say I don't think just chaing them would cause an alignment issue. I go from 235's to 318's (33s) and a 16 inch rim to a 16.5 inch rim every summer/winter and never had an alignment issue (provided everythings correct). That said the speedo goes about 5-7mph off.
 
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Just to bring closure to this thread and the issue, I decided to buy new tires (BFG supersports, loving them) and the car drives straight again. Thanks for the opinions and suggestions.
 

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