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so i had brand new tires put on at les schwab a couple months ago.. car pulled to the right hard, so i had them do an alignment this morning.. come to find out my alignment was perfect spot on. so they said it had a bad tire and it was radial pull..

 

so after 6 more guys drove the car and rotated tires, they finally changed 1 tire..

 

now the car pulls to the left. more so when you gas it. but it does wander left all the time even coasting..

 

they put the new tire on the left front.. the guy then informs me due to unequal length cv axles it has torque steer.. i quickly countered that since subaru's have equal length axles. he then backtracked and said one or the other is just worn more.. i then informed him my 91' legacy has less than 100k miles on it, both axles are original.

 

basically they didn't know what to do about it so they sent me on my unhappy way..

 

my pass side outer boot is torn but the axle doesn't pop or make any funky noises. and i know what torque steer feels like (just gas a honda and you'll know).

 

so my question is, should i take it to a different les schwab and *************** , or should i start by moving that new tire to the back? (the new tire did get rid of my vibration).

 

i know 1 new tire with old ones isn't a good thing for awd, but the old ones had 1k or less miles on them, lol.. so not much of a difference.

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take all tires back and get a different brand tire altogether. They will allow this, they know sometimes tires are just bad they are in this business, they will do what they can to make the customer happy. Do not get same brand tires as those they are probably junk.

 

those tires are probably not michelin, pirelli, dunlop, yokohama or good year. I bet you got some off brand

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i thought about askin about doin just that, but i don't have the $200 price difference for the next best thing :/

 

on another note i moved that "new" tire to the back and the back to the front, pull is gone, drives like new now..

 

my only thought now is that when it comes time to rotate them am i gonna end up with it pulling one way or the other again? :( grrr

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What tire brand did you put on your car? Sounds like the tire you moved to the rear, (and now your problem is solved), has a bad belt or is out of round to cause the pull. Two bad tires out of four is not good at all.

 

Another thought.......are you sure that all tires are aired up to the correct psi? A low tire has more rolling resistance then the others on the car, and will cause the car to pull to the side of the low tire.

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What tire brand did you put on your car? Sounds like the tire you moved to the rear, (and now your problem is solved), has a bad belt or is out of round to cause the pull. Two bad tires out of four is not good at all.

 

Another thought.......are you sure that all tires are aired up to the correct psi? A low tire has more rolling resistance then the others on the car, and will cause the car to pull to the side of the low tire.

 

 

the tire i moved to the rear was the brand new one they put on today, lol..

 

so in effect i have my 2 original rear tires on the front, no pull now.. and 1 original and 1 new one on the back.. they all have the right amt of air :)

i'ma go up tomorrow and either make them give me another new one to match, so i don't have an oddball, or replace all 4 with a diff brand..

 

i put les schwabs branded tires on it.. which most of them are made by goodyear.. so go figure..

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Once this is settled never ever ever go to them again, cause they do not know anything about cars.

 

Subarus do not have unequal length CV shafts. They are just out of answers and are BSing you. There are cars with TS, but quite a few of them have engineered it out. You caught them in a lie.

 

I wouldnt even trust the wheel alignment.

 

You need to have that axle addressed before winter. Winter will destroy the cv joint.

 

Have the front end inspected by someone else, lets rule out issues the idiots may have missed. This can be a bad tie rod, busing, or ball joint. Wandering tells me a b alljoint or tie rod issue.

 

What kind of tires did you buy from them?

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Once this is settled never ever ever go to them again, cause they do not know anything about cars.

 

Subarus do not have unequal length CV shafts. They are just out of answers and are BSing you. There are cars with TS, but quite a few of them have engineered it out. You caught them in a lie.

 

I wouldnt even trust the wheel alignment.

 

You need to have that axle addressed before winter. Winter will destroy the cv joint.

 

Have the front end inspected by someone else, lets rule out issues the idiots may have missed. This can be a bad tie rod, busing, or ball joint. Wandering tells me a b alljoint or tie rod issue.

 

What kind of tires did you buy from them?

 

 

everythings good in the front end, well hell the whole car .. it was garaged and pulled behind an rv its entire life before i got it, has 98k miles on it.. so literally this is the cleanest, newest, showroom condition legacy anyone will ever see thats 20 years old, lol..

 

i trust the alignment, my steering wheel has always been straight.. and the front didn't need anything.. the back was out a tiny bit.. and i have the sheet with the numbers..

 

i'm sure its the tires.. i just have to beat them up real bad tomorrow. but i am going to the other store at the south end of town.. the one at the north end obviously doesn't know subaru's..

 

i think because they put 1 new one on the front with one that had 1000-1500 miles on it, the tread depth difference was enough to make it pull.. so i'll either get them to give me another new one to match the one they gave me today, or just replace all 4 with something else.. its awd it can't have mix match tread depth tires on it.. unlesss they want to buy me a transmission too..

Edited by Meeky Moose
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As a bit of general info, I'll add that it is very easy to get a subaru to torque steer, all you need is any situation where the suspension is deflected a bit and the driveshafts are no longer nice and straight and equal length.

 

For example, there are some roads around here that are dramatically crowned (more due to subsidence than purpose), or if you have a bad strut spring up front.

 

Dave

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ok, so i went to the other les schwab, told the guy what was going on, what the other store said about torque steer and not wanting to actually do anything about it.. he laughed and said it figured..

he refunded all 4 tires. and put on a nice set of falkens.. :)

no pull, no vibration, drives like new car.

 

the old tires were vitrons (junk)

 

only downside is we had to go with a 50 series instead of the 55's cause the sidewall rubbed on the rear struts a little.. so no i have to lower the car 2" to make it look proportionate..

i have 05' wrx wheels on it..

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