[MotoGene]

I just bought some used SC wheels, and new 225 55 18 Yokohama AVID TRZ tires and now my 2007 LX wants to wonder all over the road. I have to constantly make little course corrections while driving straight.

The rig LOOKS great, it rides quieter, but the steering feels so loose.

Anyone else experience this?

Any suggestions?

-Gene

 

[King of Canada]

I'd say you need your tires balanced. Mine were like that after installing my news rims last year. It was 100% better once balanced.

 

[FastEddieB]

Is the tire outer diameter the same? The offset?

I'd think if either of those were different, the front alignment might have to be adjusted to compensate.

Short of that, maybe experiment with tire pressures (lower)?

 

[GaryS]

Is the tire outer diameter the same? The offset?

I'd think if either of those were different, the front alignment might have to be adjusted to compensate.

They would have no effect on alignment.

Short of that, maybe experiment with tire pressures (lower)?

This I agree with. Try different tire pressures. Toyos, or at least the ones I'm familiar with, have softer than normal sidewalls and require higher pressures to improve handling.

 

[psschmied]

I have the same model tire in a different size (225/70-16). I made a point to not only have the tires balanced, but to also get a 4 wheel alignment after a hundred miles. At normal pressure 32/34 psi there's no wandering.

I notice that if the road is laterally grooved the tires want to follow the grooves more than the OEM Goodyears did. Steering seems much lighter than a minor size increase would cause, given that the tread pattern is wider. Part of this may be due to the tire being a passenger touring design rather than a all season SUV/light truck design - the tread pattern isn't as aggressive. (My wife says it's easier to steer now) The solid ribs are supposed to help highway travel, which I translate as either easier steering and/or lower rolling resistance. The TRZ has a harder than typical tread compound for claimed extended wear up to 80,0000 miles.

What tire type/size did you have previously?

 

[insane_sc]

When I had yoko on my truck, I found to run them about 2 psi more than factory recomended. Also, if the car is out of alignment, bushings are old, ect., this can make a huge difference when going to a smaller sidewall. Good luck, but it should be nothing to do with the tires or rims.
Steve

 

[psschmied]

Quote:
Originally Posted by FastEddieB View Post
Is the tire outer diameter the same? The offset?

I'd think if either of those were different, the front alignment might have to be adjusted to compensate.
They would have no effect on alignment..

Changing the diameter alone wouldn't change the alignment, but in general, increasing the offset will change camber due to the longer moment arm of the chassis load working against the wheel, and it will change the handling.

In this case it's probably not as big a factor as replacing a worn tire with a new tire of a different type in a different size on a different wheel. You should expect handling to change. Changing to a harder tread touring tire will amplify the effects of a small toe-out error that a more aggressive SUV tire with softer tread might conceal.

It's a good idea to have an alignment done at this time if for no other reason than to to help extend the tire life and your tire warranty.

 

[fredmertz]

Bad Tires???

The tires could be defective. As long as your previous tires were wearing correctly alignment is not an issue.

One or more of the tires could be defective. Since the tires and wheels balanced there is a remote chance that the wheels are bent or defective.

Mark all four tires and move the back tires to front. Do not cross them and see if the problem is corrected, gets better or gets worse.

Go back to where you purchased the tires and raise hell nicely at first.

And finally make sure all the lug nuts are torqued to specs! Never assume.

Fred

 

[bassplayer5504]

The rims aren't bent, I sold them to him and Steve (insane sc) sold them to me. They were like new. Wider tires have a bad habbit of following grooves in the pavement. Some tires don't balance out as well as others but I think it would cause more of a vibration than just wandering if they didn't balance out. Almost sounds like maybe alignment and just the nature of wider section width tires.

 

[MotoGene]

Sorry to be absent so long

Ok, the wheels and tires seem to be balanced. They roll nice and smooth no vibration. I did notice the whole truck wants to pull to the left a little if I pull my hands off the wheel. I'm going to take it in for an alignment and see if that helps. Wheels look awesome!

 

[Dom.five]

Look at the numbers on the side of the tires. They may be from a different production run.

I have had one tire pull in the past. The tire store after much tinkering, Pressure, remount, balance, alignment, found that just getting the tires from the same run, fixed it. That was on a set of Armstrong Norsemen Radials. on one of my trucks.

Dom

 

[Lmint]

Yoko's

I put yokohama's on my Mazda Protege and they are easily the worst tires I have ever put on any car I've ever owned. I believe the sidewalls are soft or thin (or both) and allow a LOT more body roll through turns and more wallowing going down the road. I should have immediately turned around and demanded my money back but I didn't. I let the guy at the tire place talk me out of my original choice because I didn't think there was any way that tires could be this bad, and they came with a 70K mile warranty. I noticed the difference 50 yards down the road from the tire place and have lived with it ever since. If this was my daughters car, I can assure you that there is NO WAY I would ever allow them to stay on the car.

Lmint

 

[fredmertz]

I have thousands of miles of Yokohama tires on the race track with their DOT
race tires. Sidewalls aren't soft or thin.

I still think one of the tires is defective.

Alignment does help the ride. Your car should follow the crown of the road.

A good alignment is done with half a tank of fuel and weight in the drivers seat to approximate the driers weight. An E doesn't have enough adjustments to have much if any effect on ride by doing an alignment. A decent alignment takes about 1,5 to 2hrs of billable labor.

Fred