typesredline

I actually have them in my RSX type s. First 215's then 225's. The wider the louder and they seem to get worse as they age.

Great value of a tire. They look great and stick well in dry and rain. I've been running them for a total of around 7 years (two sets). But I'll be looking for another tire next time because the noise I a bit much when you're already running full catless exhaust and big cams .

spike

After going from the stock 235 to a 255 BFG gforce super sport a/s, my car developed a slight left pull as well. Alignments and tire rotations didn't fix the problem. I just live with it now but I'm suspecting going to the largest allowable width on the rim instead of the recommended width has something to do with exaggerating any slight pull. I'm curious what you find.

mrp5150

I'm taking it in for an alignment tomorrow. I didn't have time today. It's strange because there are a ton of guys on the Bullitt forums who run 255/45/18's on their car and none of them have a problem. There are even a number of guys running 275/40/18's on the stock 8.5" Bullitt wheels. I sure hope the alignment fixes it. I really don't feel like wasting $60 if it's not going to do anything.

typesredline

In my experience I'd have to disagree. Proper alignments are very hard to come by these days and 90% of the people out there will get it "in spec" according to the computer but it will still pull and do funny things on the road. People thing oh well it must be normal but in reality it is a bad alignment.

There is only ONE guy in my entire city that I trust to do one. He has me sit in the car while he does it. Periodically starts and stops the engine and pulls on the tow hooks. Among other things that I've never seen the guys at the alignment shops do. And it never fails, his alignments are flawless.

I had what you're experiencing. A slight consistent pull that worsened after I upgraded from 215's to 225's (biggest possible tire on a 7.5" rim). Got it aligned somewhere else (because I lost contact with this guy). Still pulled. Thought it was a bad tire. Swapped tires, still pulled. Ended up getting 6 alignments from different places and different guys with the same results.

Fed up I tracked down this one guy through some admittedly creepy ways and bam! straight as an arrow.

mrp5150

So I had the alignment checked today and the shop said it was fine. They said the car is pulling the to the left because the tires are wider and the road crown is probably causing it. It does seem more noticeable on the interstate or highway compared to side streets and back roads. Guess there's really nothing I can do. They said the tires aren't going to wear out prematurely and it's not hurting anything. It's not a drastic pull by any means, just a very slight roam every once in a while on the highway.

typesredline

Well that is different than my previous post. An inconsistent slight roam does indeed sound normal for some roads with a wide tire.

mrp5150

Does that mean that cars like the Boss 302 or GT500 would drive the same way? Or even the new Mustang GT's that have 255's on all 4 corners? It doesn't seem normal to me. Like I said, it's not a huge deal as long as it's not wearing out the tires, but I would prefer if it drove straight all the time like it did with the 235's on it.

typesredline

It is possible that you got a bad tire. It's actually pretty common that the band is off creating a pull. Have you tried a road balance on the wheels and tires yet?

mrp5150

I haven't tried that. How would I know if one of the tires was bad?

typesredline

Well a road balance would test each wheel and tire. The design is to tell you which corner the wheel should go on. But it would also detect if a tire is causing a bad pull.

mrp5150

I'm going to take the car to a BFGoodrich retailer and have them check the tires this weekend.

typesredline

If there is indeed a tire issue don't let the dealer scam you. They fill out a Michelin form and it's covered under warranty. They don't like to do this because they get reimbursed after the tire is sent back but it's your right.

NC14GT

Excellent post. I forgot about getting defective tires since I haven't had one for nearly 20 years. I remember now an incident involving a General tire on my minivan I owned back in the 90's. Two alignments at the dealership and constant pulling. I finally tried another dealership and the alignment guy saw that there was a small indent on the sidewall indicating a problem. Sure enough the tire had a defective band inside. A new tire fixed it immediately. Good luck mrp5150.

TheRedRider08

How much did those cost you?

mrp5150

$708 shipped.

NC14GT

Whatever happened??

mrp5150

I haven't got the chance to take it in. I'm beyond broke right now, so hopefully I can take it in when I get paid this week.

Krohn

I'm hoping it is something defective.
I have to hold on to the steering wheel when driving over modified roads; ones where the new lanes cross over the original concrete groves... each grove will yank the car another direction... sticky directional tires... Crazy that too much grip can make things more complicated on uneven surfaces.