Rotated wheels, doesn't feel the same.
 

I rotated my wheels probably 1000 miles ago. From the first time I drove it afterward it felt different. Now the car doesn't feel quite as planted in curves and corners. Doesn't ride quite the same. Feels a little loose, but hasn't broken traction or anything, just makes me nervous. I rechecked the front end, everything seems nice and tight, alignment seems good as she drives straight on a good surface when I let go of the wheel. Only thing I can figure is because I did let these go way past when I should have rotated them, that the now front tires haven't worn in on the edges yet and the now back tires aren't as flat across yet. Guess what I'm asking is, does anyone think this is anything to worry about?

First off, I'm no expert. Sounds like you did away with some front wheel camber... if you don't feel safe going into turns, just don't let it get away from ya...

That's kinda my thinking, the now fronts don't have the angle on them and the now backs have less contact due to not being flat, yet.

First let me apologize if this offends you.....

But what do you mean by rotate? Did you have the tires dismounted and remounted on the appropriate wheel? Or did you just switch sides (if using staggered sizes) or do a corner to corner (if all the same size)?

Do you have unidirectional tread? Is it possible that the tread is facing the wrong direction?

Front wheels went on the back, back came to the front, same side due to the rotation arrow on the tires.

Ok had to ask... I have seen it too many times

NP, I can see it happening a lot. Some people do first, details later.

Drove it last night, feels a little better, maybe the tires are starting to wear in.

Here's an obvious question, did you reset the tire pressures?

Usually the fronts need to be around 31-34psi and the rears need about 27-29psi depending on the tires and such.

Yeah, just occurred to me this weekend, they were all just under 30, so I bumped them to 35, it feels and seems to handle way better. I was tired the night I rotated them, had a brain fart. So for now, I seemed to have found the problem I think. Thanks guys.

It's always the small things that seem to cause the most havoc...

35psi in ther rear is likely to loose you grip, ride rough as well as wear out the center of the tread. I'd lower the rears a bit. If 35psi up front doesn't ride too rough, I'd stick with it.

Yeah, that's probably what I'll do.

Still not sure about this guys, I really feel like somethings up. The front end actually feels pretty good now, but the ass end just feels like it wants to come loose. Reason it feels like that is just seems that on a flat curve, the weight transfer seems to be more than it used to. IDK, maybe the tire pressure being low just has me paranoid. Problem is I ran it up to 90 on a straight yesterday and didn't have the balls to go any faster. 2 months ago I took it to 145 on the highway without thinking twice. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Well, lets do some basic troubleshooting. We can rule out the rims and tires by putting them back in their original positions and resetting the tire pressures. See if it goes back to way it did before the swap. If the stabilty returns, then it's something in either the rims, tires, balance, mounting, etc... Then we will take it from there. Or do one side only to further narrow it down.

Just as an example, what if one of your original rears had some sidewall damage due to a pothole or just age and the tire is soft. On the rear position you might not notice, but up front it is a lot more noticable.

See how that works? Basic troubleshooting. We'll figure it out.

Right, good call.

If you ever need to help "wear-in" your tires, a small puddle of water and a little bit of brake holding + gas pushing works wonders, and it entertains the children aswell.

Yeah, its next on my list, lol. Don't need any water though. :devil: It doesn't take much, once they start rolling, let off the brake and walk'er sideways through 2nd gear, he he he.

Allright, finally got them rotated back this weekend, seem to have gotten my handling back so far, though I haven't driven it real far. But it feels way more stable. Question I got is, since I got the car 2 years ago, it will pull one way or the other on the wheel if there is variation in the road surface like when I change lanes. I always assumed it was due to the close ratio steering giving it a mechanical advantage coming back through the wheel. So what I'm asking is, should I have this happening?

Thanks for the help again guys.

Shouldn't be the rack. When a car follows the road it's called tramlining. It's common when you have stiff sidewalls, low profile tires or wide tires.

Whens the last time you had the front aligned ?