BADFNZ

iTrader: (19)

I try to drive my car at least once a month just to keep everything working, but due to me being TDY, I was unable to drive it for 2 months. This car is not a cruiser by any means (heads/cam/big stall/Pro Stars), but it'll get me from one place to another with no problems.

Well I had to drive my car 3 hours to get it to San Antonio. Before driving it, I looked it over and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The tires were all at about 24psi, so I aired them up to 30psi. At first, the drive was fine. But as time went on, it started pulling more and more to the left and the vibration was insane. I pulled over about 2 hours into the drive to let 4psi out of the right tire to try to help the pull problem, and it helped, but it was still very noticeable.

The vibration is what really bugged me. It was a vibration that increased in frequency with speed, but decreased in intensity. When I was at highway speeds it was like going over several small bumps, but as I was slowing down, the car would go up and down at a slower rate until the car came to a stop. This led me to believe it was definitely flat spots on the tires, but I didn't see or feel any when I got home.

So I guess I have 2 issues here. The pulling that progressively got worse during the drive, and the vibration.

The tire pressure didn't change, so I don't know what could have changed during the drive that would have caused the pull to the left.

And as far as the vibration goes, would flat spots in the tires be visible or easy to feel? The tires are MT ET Streets and some cheap skinny tires up front. If it is a flat spot, is there a way for them to fix themselves or are new tires the only solution?

Thanks!

99huggerorangeZ

iTrader: (2)

sounds like they are just flat spotted.they should work themselves out after putting a few hundred miles on it, to my knowlege a flatspot isnt permenant some correct me if im wrong.

waterbug1999

iTrader: (3)

do a big *** burnout.

02Z28LS1

iTrader: (2)

i'm no tire expert here, and haven't really had any experience with slicks/skinnies, but if the front wheels are radials (i.e., they have belts in them), then sitting for that long could have possibly caused the tread to start separating from the belts....something like that would not really be all that visible, and could certainly start getting worse after driving for a while (further separation) the way you described it.

i definitely wouldn't do any kind of high-speed runs on them until i'd had the tires checked out by a professional tire shop that knows about those kinds of tires.

SOMbitch

iTrader: (8)

Any weights fall off???? Longshot butI have had the stick on kind fall off and cause vibration....

BandDirector Blk98ZM6

iTrader: (21)

My car is a garage queen that sometimes sits over a month at a time. The vibrations happen to me all the time...and I've even got NEW tires. They just flat spot from sitting in the same spot and it takes 10-20 miles to get it worked out usually.

BADFNZ

iTrader: (19)

Well I drove about 180 miles and they got worse rather than better.

I thought maybe it was a balance issue, but I felt this at 5mph coming to a stop. If the weights had fallen off, there's no way I'd feel it at that low of a speed.

I think this is definitely a knot in the tire.

Lopoetve

iTrader: (1)

take the tires to have them examined/roatated. they should be able to tell you what's up.

80 MONZTA

Sounds like tread seperation to me if it doesn't go away after several miles of driving. I have had this happen to Four tires, all different brands, at different times. One was a Cooper, others were cheaper off-brand tires, but from what I have been told it can happen to ANY brand. I will note that three out of the four were getting kind of old, but still had plenty of tread life left in them. It happened on a daily driver too, so just sitting around is not the only cause of it. I could usually see the problem area, or feel the tread surface, it was kind of raised up where the bad spot was. The side it wants to pulls too is the tire that is bad in front. Only one rear ever did this, and I could not tell what side it was until I did the visual inspection on all tires, and bamm, there it was the passenger side rear tire.

gc302047

iTrader: (4)

this happend to me when i first put some new sumitomos on my car, it was balenced right and everything. it just went away the same day just on the way home from the tire shop

BobP

iTrader: (1)

If you're only driving it once a month, place the car on stands and set your wheels on their sides with the tires at max pressure.

Worked for me with a set of KDs. Still driving them 3 years later.

BobP

BADFNZ

iTrader: (19)

Found a knot in my front left tire. Looks like I'll need a new one. Thanks for the replies.