new tires-->pulling to side

could the installation of new tires mess up toe-in settings? 2001
accent gs-after new tires installed now is pulling to right. On this
model, camber and caster are not adjustable. Old tires worn perfectly
evenly--had been rotated regularly. Thanks.

 

Two things:

Check tire pressure

Find someone with a torque wrench and re-torque the lug nuts to the
recommended 80-90 ft lbs recommended. The air wrench gorilla who
installed the new tires probably over-torqued the lug nuts and its
causing one of the hubs to warp.

 

A tyre could be faulty.
I had the tread separate from the belt on a tyre 5 years ago and the
steering pulled fearfully to the side. Took ages for me to work it out
too, i must have parked on top of the bulge everytime i looked at it.
I even adjusted the wheel alignment, thinking i must have whacked
something. But no it was the tyre.
Dunno if yours will be too but just thought i'd share my story.

To view the day to day life of a loser go here.
http://members.iinet.net.au/~farmerjim/log/log.html

 

No, replacing the tires won't affect the alignment settings.

First, check the tire pressures like recommended above and make sure that
at least the front tire pressures are about the same. If so, then I'd
like to verify what we're talking about.

Drive your car on a level, straight road so that your vehicle is
continuing straight ahead. Is the steering wheel centered? If not, (we
call this steering wheel off center), it's likely you have an alignment
issue. Next, while the vehicle is tracking straight ahead, take your foot
off the gas, shift into neutral, and let go of the wheel (being ready to
grab the wheel again as necessary). Does the vehicle continue in a
reasonably straight line for 500 feet or so? If not, (we call this
pulling), you likely have a tire problem. If you have both problems I've
described, check the tire issue first and see if resolving the pulling
also resolves the wheel off center issue. Pulling can often be resolved
by moving a tire from one side of the vehicle to the other or rotating the
offending tire to the rear. If it's necessary to move the tire to the rear
to resolve the pull, then it will of course return when you rotate your
tires.

My experience with tire retailers is that they don't ever want to replace
tires unless absolutely necessary, so expect a significant argument if you
want a new tire.

 

| No, replacing the tires won't affect the alignment settings.
|
| First, check the tire pressures like recommended above and make
sure that
| at least the front tire pressures are about the same. If so,
then I'd
| like to verify what we're talking about.
|

....

|
| My experience with tire retailers is that they don't ever want
to replace
| tires unless absolutely necessary, so expect a significant
argument if you
| want a new tire.
|

Ha ha!

Hyundaitech, you have given excellent tests for the OP. However,
I'd like to suggest an alternative approach, based upon what I've
observed and endured.

My experience with tire retailers is that it is very rare for
them to own, much less to use, an accurate tire gauge. In fact,
during my lifetime, I have even bought excellent tires from one
or two dealers who had no gauge at all! I'll bet that these tires
are unevenly inflated.

The bottom line, Andrea, is to buy a good tire gauge and use it.
One simple method, if you don't have your own air pump, is to go
to a gas station that has air, overfill your tires by around 5
lbs. Let the car sit overnight. Then in the morning, when the
tires are stone cold, slowly bleed down each tire, measuring
patiently with your gauge, until you've arrived at the specified
pressure.

I have owned two digital gauges. However, I'm more fond of
good-quality mechanical gauges. The digital ones are calibrated
only in 1/2 pound jumps. The mechanical gauges typically will
allow you to eyeball the pressure in much smaller increments,
allowing you to set the tires dead-on.

Richard