Cattledog

Greetings All,

Just bought a 2005 A4 last month. Noticed the car was pulling to the right. The Audi dealership first told me it was a combination of road crowning and my 18" wheels. Had a technician drive it - he noticed it was not just that. They adjusted my alignment and tow angle - and the car still pulled to the right. He switched the left and right front tires and now it pulls to the left!

Can tire condition (assuing pressure is proper and even on both sides) make the car pull like that? I want to get some expert advice before I blow a bunch of duckets on new tires if it is something much more sinister...

Cheers!

jim'02a4

Crowning in the road can cause a pull,,, take your car to a smooth level parking lot and let go of the wheel , see what happens. Also try putting the rear tires up front. If they have not been rotated that may help.

Tgr_Clw

Yes.

Cattledog

Yes. Around 1/3 of the tire tread width is very worn to the outside of both tires. What puzzles me is that both tires appear to show identically wear. The rears are have less tread but are evenly worn across the width. I will move them up front and give it a shot. Thanks

Tgr_Clw

Here's my example - I've bought winter tires in November and about 4k later I've decided to rotate them (rears tires to the front and fronts to the rear). I immidiately noticed that my car was pulling to the right a fair amount. Shortly thereafter I got an alignment done and the shop told me that my right rear toe was off. I'm thinking that because it was off, the right rear tire wasn't worn properly but I've only noticed it when that tire was mounted on the front.

Moral of the story is that it doesn't take long to fvck up tires w/o a proper alignment.

Cattledog

Yeah. Hard to tell exactly what is going on here since the car was just aligned when it went through the Pre-Owned Certification process, and I have only driven it 1k miles, but the tires were worn when I bought it. So doing some logical elimination I am thinking it has to be the tires in some way, shape or form. Both tires are identical in size (SportContact 2's 235/40 ZR18 95Y), but perhaps they are different in weight because of the rim? I am grasping at straws here, but I have a feeling I am facing the purchase of some new rubber.

Tgr_Clw

Weight of tire/rim has nothing to do with it. Yeah, you need a new set of tires.

Tgr_Clw

Might want to edit the "Subject" when replying. Makes it easier to follow the thread.

a4tis™[Bye Turbo]

2nd!

f1isbest

Check diameter of both front tires in the middle tread. If one tire is larger, you have split which will cause the pull. All tires do grow and sometimes not evenly. If that is the case you may need to find the two tires with the closest diameter for the fronts.