Wheel Alignment

[bayjase]

Hi guys

I have recently purchased a set of genuine 17inch sport luxury wheels and fitted them to my 08 is250. I also fitted brand new staggered Pirelli P7 Cintaurato tyres. My problem is the car now constantly pulls left and my steering wheel needs to be to he right to compensate for the pull. If I take my hands off the wheel the car will literally just run off the road to the left. I have had an alignment at both bob Jane and jax who both said it is within tolerance , end of story. Any ideas would be much appreciated, would an alignment at a Lexus service centre with alignment facilities help? Is it unrealistic to think they have a secret up their sleeve or should I just flush that hundred down the toilet right now lol

[Iggy]

I have the same issue with my is250, but it does get better when the tyre pressure is on the higher side 35+psi. Worth a try?>

[bayjase]

Thanks I'll give that a try

[Bluey]

It's definitely more serious than tyre pressure. Maybe put the old wheels back on to see if it goes away again. If so then it would seem to be the rims/tyres.

Increasing the tyre pressure simply put less tyre on the road by pushing out the centre of the tread. It will likely just shorten tyre life, as will keeping the current alignment/pulling issue.

[bayjase]

Your right bluey, it hasn't made a significant difference, unfortunately I sold the old 16 inch wheels ,initially I assumed that it was due to the worn tyres that came on the 17 s so wasn't expecting to need to do any diagnosing because the car tracked like a dream on the 16 s

[fearfulmaster]

I assume that the pull happens all the time, regardless of which road you are driving on.

If you go to a competent dealer, they will be able to diagnosis the problem for you. Let them know what the problem is and they will figure it out. Problem with a tyre shop is that you ask for an alignment, you get an alignment. If the problem is not alignment related, they may not look any further.

Since the wheels are the only thing that has changed and the tyres are new, then it is most probably one or more wheels.

If you don't want to throw more $$$ at the problem just yet and try to figure it out yourself, then there are things you can do:

You can try swapping the left and right wheels. If it is the wheels, the car will probably pull to the right after the swap. Once confirmed it is the wheels, you can narrow down the problem further by only doing a left right swap on the front or the rear pairs.

Check the radial and lateral runout of each wheel. See attached for what I mean. The instruction is not from a lexus manual but the principle is the same. Most people will not have access to a dial gauge and a stand. I ended up using a G clamp to clamp a calliper onto a few bricks. As a result, I was only able to measure the lateral runout. I only measured the outside as I did want to crawl under the car to measure the inside.

If you don't have a calliper or a dial gauge and don't want to buy one, then just jack the car up and spin the wheels with your hand as quickly as you can, if you have good eyes and if the wheels are badly bent, you may see the wheel wobble.

When buying 2nd hand wheels and tyres, another thing to check is whether the tyre is out of round. First mount the wheel onto the car. Then lower the jack just enough so that the tyre is just off the ground. Spin the wheel with your hand and see whether a particular spot on the tyre is scraping the ground. You may have lower the jack a few times to find the right height. I once found a tyre out of round using this method.

I once asked a person in a tyre shop on how / whether they can check if my wheels are bent. He said just put it on the balance machine is give it a spin and let the MK I eyeball be the judge. Not exactly confidence inspiring stuff.

Hope that helps.