Sooo for the longest time i have been having this pulling problem with my car on the freeway and on uneven road surfaces. My car will pull around back and fourth, and the steering seemed very loose. I have been checking underneath the car examining all the joints and bearings, and everything seemed to check out just fine. Well, today on my way home from the gym, i just couldn't stop trying to figure out what in the world was causing this...then it occurred to me to check my air in the tires. Soo i pull up to the Exxon that's on my way home and i check my tires. The tires are supposed to be at 30psi all around, and thanks to the good people at Goodyear, i had 35 in one front, 37 in the other front, 35 in one rear, and 15 in the other rear. WELL, it all clicked because this started happening right after i got my new rims installed....awesome! It's a good thing i caught it before i wore the crap out of my treads, and now that the tires all have the proper air, the car drives perfectly straight, no pulling, and the steering is nice and tight.

I know i know, this thread really has no point, but i just had to rant for a minute. So the lesson for today is: After you have somebody install new tires, CHECK THE PRESSURE afterwards yourself, just to be sure. I know, i may have a slow leak in my rear tire, i'll keep an eye on it but these tires are new so unless i have a nail in there, it should be just fine.

working with tires myself all the time, I know that tire pressure makes a HUGE difference. I always keep a tire pressure gauge in my center console and check them visually once per day and check them with a gauge once a week usually.

By the way, if you do have a leak its obviously coming from either a puncture from something on the road, it's not sealed around the bead completely, or maybe the weights are "pushing on the bead" if the correct weights werent used.


If you take it to a walmart tire and lube exprss (assuming that it is leaking) and its a punture in the tread it'd be $9.50 plus tax to repair.

If it's a punture in the sidewall, it not going to be repairable(it isnt safe even if someone does "repair" it).

If they tell you it's the weights pushing on the bead, take it back to goodyear and have them use "sticky" weights-a type of weight that sticks with an adhesive on the inner part of the rim-if you look at new corvettes I know they use sticky weights. They wont damage your rim either.

Chances are if there was any build up on the rim that wasnt ground off on the inside of the rim walmart will probably grind it off and seal it up for free or next to nothing ($3.50 to mount a tire)











This is assuming that the prices at walmart TLE in your area are the same as here. I've checked in South Dakota, Florida, Georgia, and every walmart ive been in and it's been the same evrywhere I checked, s it should be comperable.

hope this helps

Thanks a lot man, I greatly appreciate the advice! I'll keep an eye on that tire, and if i notice that it is losing air i'll bring it to a walmart tire place. I just gotta find one around me, but i'm sure a search online will allow me to find one close by. Those prices are hard to beat...i wish i knew that before i spent 150+ bucks to mount and balance my tires on my new rims. Goodyear = Uncool.

yea, they should be able to do those tires easily at walmart. Thats where I had my 275/40's put on for the front of my car. They didnt have any problems. I think goodyear and places like that charge so much because they can probably do just about any tire. Most walmarts have more basic and traditional equipment, to do smaller regular style tires. But like I said, those rims and tires u got shouldn't be a problem.

Based on experience, I can also recommend performing the same sort of check on lug nut torque.

absoltely...always do a 50 mile torque check after anytime a wheel is taken off...

If it's a leak from a puncture, i'd go get a tire plug kit...they are quite handy and work well, plus being able to fix it at your convenience and not pay someone.
If it's a leak around the bead, take it back. They might fix it for free, if not it shouldn't cost much. I had a tire resealed on my truck (hit a rut too hard offroading) for $10 at the place I normally use.
If they just didn't inflate it enough, shame on them. Though I wouldn't think that would be the case. I think the Goodyear store that put my current tires on my truck had some sort of inflator that inflated the tires to the correct pressure and stop (I was standing there watching the guy work).


Funny how the simplest things can cause the biggest headaches.

Just to add to this, the tire plug kits do work if the punctures not to large, although the only proper repair is to dismount the tire from the rim and use a plug/ patch from the inside. Keep in mind also that once a tire is repaired most tire companies wont stand behind the speed rating of the tire anymore. Word to the wise to some of us that sometimes run up into the triple figures!!

Yea unless you have access to a tire machine, you really cannot fix it right...especially if you wanna go fast, and chances are, we all do

Stay away from products like tire slime...chances are it will not fix it and it will just waste your money and make a mess for whoever does have to fix it right...
I HATE that stuff!

Thid reminds me of a fine memory. Back in ''77 the first dealership I worked in we didn't have a hoist, jackstanded everything, and we didn't have a tire machine. We used a mechanical tire bead breaker two tire irons, and a heavy leather hammer to break them down and remount them. we used a bubble balancer to balance them. we did tire repairs to mounting a full set of new tires. Of course back then, everything had steel wheels and narrow tires. Thankfully we've come a long way since then! It was hard work, but also fun back in the day. Dave

I still use that method on our trailer tires in my landscape business. We find used tires for nothing all the time...they're only 15 inchers........any we put 'em on dual axle trailers that wear the mess out of them...and fast like. We don't balance them, but I've been considering getting on of those bubble-balancers anyways........they actually really acurate, considering.

Dennis

Good enough for a trailer anyway!!

..exactly.

Dennis