• Registered users are encouraged to enable MFA/2FA to add an aditional layer of security to their account. More information can be found here: https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/collection/top-tips-for-staying-secure-online/activate-2-step-verification-on-your-email

Changed wheels and tires, car pulls to either side randomly. What to do?

Messages
49
I have recently purchased an EP3, on which I put my other set of wheels with summer tires.
After that, the car started pulling considerably randomly left or right, I have to forcefully keep it straight otherwise the car would steer into the other lanes. With the other set of wheels and winter tires, I did not have this problem on the same roads.
I have checked tire pressure, swapped the front ones with the rear but the problems still persists.

I have also changed front brake pads recently, which were rubbing a bit in the first few hundred kms, but I doubt they would cause the pulling, since the car was steering perfectly with the previous set of wheels.

Is it possible that different sets of wheels need different front end alignment or could there be some other problem?

Thank you for your answer!
 
Are the replacement tyres new? Or used? Uneven tyre wear causes what you're describing, as do crap tyres.
 
Have you checked if they are directional rotation tyres and you have them on the correct side of the car?
 
Is it on a certain road that it does it?

My old EP3 used to pretty bad at tramlining on certain well trodden roads.
 
Thank you for the replies, guys!

The tires are still in good condition and worn evenly, I put them on the correct side as well.

Having only driven the car a bit and not being familiar with the wheels seems to have made me forget to check the wheel and tire sizes. In fact, the winter set was 16 inch with taller tire walls, while the ones I put on are 17s with shorter walls.

So this will definitely need adjusting the alignment, and that should fix the problem, right?
 
No, changing the wheels\tires should NOT affect the alignment whatsoever so it should not need adjusting.
What offset are your summer wheels and are you using spacers?
 
No spacers, but the offsets are indeed different. Winter ones are 55, summer ones are 45. If not the size difference, could this cause the problem?
 
45 is standard so should be fine, though a 55 will likely make the geometry more stable due to altered scrub radius which may have been masking a tracking issue, so I'm more inclined to agree that an alignment might help.

Did you notice any odd or fast wear on the winter tyres? What summer tyres do you have and at what pressures? Does it only "pull" when accelerating, braking & over uneven roads, or is it truly random ie smooth road with a constant speed and it still wants to wander about?
 
Are we taking about offset here or tyre profile? Standard offset is more like ET60.
 
EP is 45. To be specific ET45, but that's a good question. Is the OP confusing tyre aspect ratio with offset?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
First post says he only purchased the car recently, I can only assume there's little previous experience with that specific car. Could well want at least an alignment check to rule geometry out.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
The original wheel seems to be on the summer tires, with ET45 offset, and the winter 16 inch ones are actually OEM accord wheels according to what I found online, which have ET55. Although the tire aspect ratio also happens to be 45 and 55 respectively :D

Winter tires seemed very good, the spikes were still quite sharp with very deep, even grooves on the rubber. The winter (accord) wheels also seem to be much newer, I don't think they were used longer than 2 winters.

Current (summer) tires are 205/45ZR17 88W on the front with 2.2 bars and 205/45R17 84V on the rear with 2.1 bars.

The pulling is stronger at lower speeds, becomes unnoticable at around 90 kms/h. It happens on every kind of road randomly, but very often even at constant speed, and always at accelerating from a stop (not confusing it with torque steer).
 
Yes, I indeed have very little experience with this car, so getting a check to make sure everything is all right with the alignment seems reasonable. Best case scenario it will solve the problem.
 
IF just changing the wheels is enough to cause the problem. Then my guess is that the issue is with the wheels or tyres.
 
Thank you all for the replies!
I went and had the wheel alignment done, which was a bit off, so it helped a great deal. I probably didn't notice it with the winter tires because the road was quite slippery and I didn't drive that much with those.
Having done that, there is still a bit of pull remaining, which seems to be the combination of bad roads around and the tendency to tramline. My tires are not in need of a change for some time still, but if I will have some money lying around I will get a set of new tires to see if that makes a difference. Also, investing in new tires is never a bad idea I guess :D
 
Back
Top