My car came off the truck with a nail sticking out of the back tire and was flat. The dealer patched it and ordered a new one. The car has 150 miles on it now. The new tire was installed. Now it just doesn't seem to feel right to me. The rim was rebalanced, the tire pressure is OK, the lug nuts are tight.

While driving, it doesn't feel as smooth as before ???
Any ideas???

 

You should have asked for a second tire, if not all four to be replaced.

 

You think after only 150 miles that the others tires would have enough wear that the new one would take the car out of balance?

 

In that 150 miles did you drive hard at all, i.e. burnouts or slides?

 

150 miles shouldn't affect it that much.

 

I would disagree. Ever watch a NASCAR race on one of the superspeedways? The cars that take 4 tire stops always perform better than the ones that take 2. And they are doing way less that 150 miles on a set of tires.

 

I would disagree. Ever watch a NASCAR race on one of the superspeedways? The cars that take 4 tire stops always perform better than the ones that take 2. And they are doing way less that 150 miles on a set of tires. [/b][/quote]
Is that a serious response or are you being sarcastic?

 

I'm being completely serious. I realize the tires are slicks in NASCAR, but this is one tire, not 2 or 4, and he said since changing the tire that the car doesn't feel right ... it makes sense to me.

 

If you are serious, then you have no idea about the differences in the rubber compounds of a Goodyear NASCAR tire versus a street tire with a 400 mileage rating. Unless he was autocrossing that tire for the entire 150 miles, you won't be able to measure or feel the difference.

The Boss Hog

 

Okay, tires they use during NASCAR and tires they use are on passenger vehicles are completely different, not just the fact that they are slicks and passeger tires are treaded. When designing tires, they can be either designed to stick or grip the road very well or be very durable, you can't have both. Most of the time you would like to have a happy medium some where in there. The tires they use during a NASCAR race are designed to grip the road, kind of nice when you are driving at 200+ mph. These tires are only designed to last a few hundred miles at best, thats why they get changed regularly during a race. Now tires designed for passenger vehicles can have a tire life up to the 70,000 mile range. I am not sure what the stock tires on the Mustang are rated at but say they are in the 30,000 mile range. 150 miles on a 30,000 mile tire is not going to affect the ride of the vehicle that much if at all. Now during a NASCAR race, yeah 150 mph on a tire is a lot.

 

I drove very conservatively during the 150 miles. Maybe I should turn off the traction control and do a good burnout to take some rubber off that new tire ?

 

The tire could be out of round or improperly balanced. Is it a directional tire?

 

No

 

No [/b][/quote]
Are you sure?????????????

 

The back side of the tires are different from the front. But all 4 tires are mounted the same...

 

have them balance it again. Tires come with defects. It's possible that the new tire can't be balanced. Especially if they just ordered one, and not a set of 4.

 

Its an asymetric tire then.

150 miles shouldn't make a perceptible difference. Although a new tire will handle a little differently than an old tire (tires are under a constant vulcanization process as they age due to the hot and cold cycling) There shouldn't be any detectable wear on the tires and save the burnout until its ego time.

In any event how does it not feel right? Are you getting a vibration? Is the car pulling to one side or the other? Examine the service description on the tire - is it them same as the others (eg P235/55R17 94Y - this is one possible way it could be shown Passenger 235 mm section width / 55 sidewall ratio Radial 17" rim 94 load range Y speed rated tire) The load and speed symbol are probably incorrect for the tire and are for illustrative purposes only, but you get the idea, if the tire has the wrong load or speed symbol it will effect the handling characteristics of the car, not only now but also whenever the tire is rotated to a new position.

 

Same as the others...
Almost feels as if it has flat spots on it - but only very slightly...

 

Maybe a dumb question, but have you checked the air pressure in all 4 tires? I usually find errors when I have tire work done on a car.

 

Yes, all at 32 ...