I got an alignment a few weeks back and my VDP drove amazingly well. Today, I installed 20 inch rims and tires and now she is pulling slightly to the right. Is this something I will just have to live with or do I need another alignment or???? Im a noob so any ideas are greatly appreciated.

i did manage to convince my gf that a jaguar can switch lanes by itself..gotta love the blondes :<}

 

Yes, an alignment with the new wheels and tires is probably in order.

 

Before doing the alignment with new wheels, it maybe worth just trying to balance the wheels first - if they are out of balance, that can also cause the car to pull one way - which can also easily be checked by rotating wheels left to right and vice versa - that is if they are not directional tires.

 

Tires are vredestein sessanta..not really sure what directional tires means...

as for balancing them, i had them all at 40 psi so wouldnt they be balanced?

 

surprisingly the ride is much improved with the bigger tires. I was expecting a rough ride, but it is as smooth as ever. It could be bc the 16 inch tires that were on it were worn on the inside edges, but im impressed minus the pull to the right..

could you explain balancing more if it isnt just making sure the psi is the same in all of them?

 

I for one really like your reply...

Actually, what he was replying to is your Wheel Balancing. That is when you have tires installed on rims, they add weights to make the tires and wheels balanced when spinning. If they are not balanced, then they tend to jump around when you are driving. Kinda like bouncing when you are not hitting anything. If you look at your rims, you will notice some lead weights mounted around the perimiter, those are to balance the wheels & tires.

 

On another note. When I bought my car, it had pretty worn tires mounted on it. My car always changed lanes without my wanting it to. Any time I hit a groove, it would pull quite hard. I aligned it twice and it was still there, so I assumed it was something loose in my front end, but I had it inspected three times (because it was so bad). Each time, they could find nothing. I had the rack bounce test, etc... I asked a number of times if it could be due to the tires and the tire shops always said no way.

Long story shorter than it was going to be. I installed new tires, and it does not pull at all! Not even a little, even on deeply rutted roads. My feeling is that tires can make a huge difference on whether it will pull or not. If it's always in one direction, I would definately get the alignment re-checked.

 

Rotate the wheels/tires front to rear (put fronts on rear, rears on front) - if the pull goes away or changes significantly, it's a tire. If pull is still there, it's alignment - the new tires may have exascerbated an existing alignment issue.

I have noticed that the XJ is very finnicky relative to alignment - when it's right on, it is a beautiful experience... when it's just a BIT off, it can be very annoying.

 

lol never said i was car smart lol! the rims do have the weights you referred to. What would you guys recommend. It always only pulls in one direction. Should I get the alignment re-checked first or do the front-rear tire rotation first?

i can't do either bc of lack of tools and proably knowledge so where should I start?

 

I'd do the front rear tire rotation first - if that does not solve it, try the alignment - why don't you try and get the shop where you got the wheel/tires from to check the balance for you for free - or do an oil change at a shop that throws in free rotation with the oil change if you can't handle it yourself.

Good luck!

 

I agree, rotation is usually cheaper (great advice 'QuadManiac', I forgot that), and sometimes free. There are many shops offering free hoping to get you to buy their tires. Of course, when they see your brand new tires, they'll realize they may have to wait a bit.

Where did you buy the tires? If you got them at LesSchwab or BigO or one of the larger places, they normally offer FREE rotataion and balancing. If it was private party, then LesSchwab might do it free anyways. They do free flat repairs.

PS: I was not making fun of you asking about the weights. There are many things I don't know about the car and I ask even if I know it may be simple. Otherwise, I'll never learn anything about it.

 

oh no i didnt take any offense to what you said..im here to learn and expect some poking fun comments as I am definitely an amateur! These tires are the best I have ever owned, but they are really hard to find. I actually got them from a powerseller on ebay with perfect feedback. Anyways, I have a place that rotates them for like 20 bucks and a place that does alignments for 50 so ill try both and report back with my results