Car pulling under acceleration

[Midjetv8]

About 2 or so months ago I installed BC racing coilovers, rear LCA's new wheels (Enkie rpf1's 17x9 +35) and tyres (Bridgestone re003) all at the same time. Ever since the install I've had a constant problem where the car has been pulling left under acceleration, to the point where I can change lanes just by accelerating. Yet tracks perfectly straight just cruising. Had the suspension aligned and checked twice by one of the better shops around so I've sort of ruled that out for now. About a week ago I swapped the rear wheels around and it starting pulling to the right rather than the left. Pressures were all equal, wheels are of the same offset, But the direction of pull changes just by swapping the rear wheels around. Bare in mind, only under acceleration. Took it back to the joint where I had the tyres installed hoping there would be a fault with one of the tyres but they said the tyres were fine. As a last attempt I swapped the front and rear wheels around hoping it would fix it but it is now pulling to the left again. Has anybody experienced anything like this before? Tempted to just buy new tyres, but I don't feel like throwing $1300 worth of tyres away. Any advice form someone more mechanically minded than myself would be much appreciated. Cheers in advance

[DJCarbine]

Are the tires directional?

[Stang70Fastback]

Are they the same brand and size tire on both sides, do they have the same amount of tread, and are they directional?

EDIT: DJ beat me to the directional part, lol.

[Tcoat]

Let's get even more basic. Do they all have the same air pressure?

[Stang70Fastback]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Let's get even more basic. Do they all have the same air pressure?

Someone didn't read the OP carefully :P

[Ultramaroon]

I suggest getting a second opinion on alignment. The first shop's rack/equipment may be out of whack.

[Midjetv8]

Originally Posted by DJCarbine

Are the tires directional?

They don't appear to be directional. At least it's not mentioned on the tyre nor Bridgestones website. The tread faces in the opposite direction on each side of the car but there's no way to correct it.

[Midjetv8]

Originally Posted by Stang70Fastback

Are they the same brand and size tire on both sides, do they have the same amount of tread, and are they directional?

EDIT: DJ beat me to the directional part, lol.

Same brand and same size, have worn evenly. Have less than 2000km on them.

[Spartarus]

Originally Posted by Midjetv8

They don't appear to be directional. At least it's not mentioned on the tyre nor Bridgestones website. The tread faces in the opposite direction on each side of the car but there's no way to correct it.

If the tread is directional, the tire is directional.

If they tread faces opposite ways, that's your problem. Whoever mounted them, mounted them wrong.

Check all 4 corners, you may be lucky and you have them swapped on opposite corners. Otherwise, if not, the only solution to that is to pull the tire off the rim and remount it.

There will be a tiny arrow indicating direction of rotation , but it may be on the inboard side if the tire is backwards.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Stang70Fastback

Someone didn't read the OP carefully :P

Oh I read it but the majority of the time when a car pulls it is simple wrong pressure in one tire. Worth a second check.

Not an issue now that it has been determined one side has the tires on backwards! If the tire place can miss that then I would not be going back.

[guybo]

There's a couple things that look to me are likely culprits. If tires aren't mounted properly, they can be ruined. There's a special goop they use on the bead to lube it up when they mount the tire to the rim. If they use the wrong goop or none at all, the tire can be damaged internally and show nothing outside. The fact that the pull moves with the wheel tells me that this issue is tire or rim related.

You might have a bad rim or one that can only be road force balanced. Find a shop to have the wheels road force balanced and inspected carefully (with the tires not mounted to them so they can look at the inside of the rims). Have them dismount the tires and remount them- all of them, don't be cheap. If the tires were incorrectly mounted, it may be reversible. You could have gotten a bad tire too and you'll just have to try to get your money back on it.

If it was alignment, the problem would persist no matter what position the tires are at. Like others have said though, if the tires are directional, if one is mounted in the wrong direction that might be the problem. Running a few hundred miles on a directional tire mounted backwards can also ruin that tire.

[Stang70Fastback]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Oh I read it but the majority of the time when a car pulls it is simple wrong pressure in one tire.

Two winters ago, I was stuck in heavy traffic with my BRZ and noticed that when I accelerated the car pulled right, and when I coasted the car pulled left. Pulled over to check my tires, and discovered that my left rear was COMPLETELY flat. Somehow managed to embed a MASSIVE nail in it while driving at 4 MPH

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by Spartarus

If the tread is directional, the tire is directional.

I agree with OP. I don't think these are unidirectional tires. I can find no mention of rotation requirements.

[pantdino]

Originally Posted by guybo

There's a couple things that look to me are likely culprits. If tires aren't mounted properly, they can be ruined. There's a special goop they use on the bead to lube it up when they mount the tire to the rim. If they use the wrong goop or none at all, the tire can be damaged internally and show nothing outside. The fact that the pull moves with the wheel tells me that this issue is tire or rim related.

You might have a bad rim or one that can only be road force balanced. Find a shop to have the wheels road force balanced and inspected carefully (with the tires not mounted to them so they can look at the inside of the rims). Have them dismount the tires and remount them- all of them, don't be cheap. If the tires were incorrectly mounted, it may be reversible. You could have gotten a bad tire too and you'll just have to try to get your money back on it.

If it was alignment, the problem would persist no matter what position the tires are at. Like others have said though, if the tires are directional, if one is mounted in the wrong direction that might be the problem. Running a few hundred miles on a directional tire mounted backwards can also ruin that tire.

I have read in multiple reliable places that running a tire in the wrong direction, will NOT damage it. That was only true of the very earliest radials