Hi all,

Previously I'd complained to my dealer and mentioned on here that my car (6 months old) pulled to the left. I checked the pressures and the alignment at a small garage (they said it was fine so nothing to pay. The stealer wanted to charge me £110 as they said it must've hit a kerb.) With my girlfriend's love of hitting the kerbs/potholes I thought that it must've taken a knock and coupled with the camber of the road just decided to live with it.

Anyway, I bought some used 195/55R15 wheels and tyres and fitted them this morning. The theory being that there'd be a bit more give in them and more wall for the next time the missus decides to negotiate the local multi-storey :-) When I took off the rear near side wheel it wouldn't stand up like the others. Not even close, being clearly weighted heavy to the outside it just topples over. With the new wheels on it drives perfectly, I went straight to the garage to tidy up the pressures as they were all slightly different. No more pulling to the left.

So, my question is, could this one wheel/tyre have caused the pulling to the left? It seems to be obvious that there is a connection. Do you think it's more likely to be the wheel or the tyre? It has been slightly kerbed (of course it has!!!) but should I take it to the dealer and see if they can analyse what's wrong and repair/replace?

It could be a dodgy tyre - maybe delaminated internally?

Not sure about that. Done 6,000 miles on it since I noticed it pulling so would hope not. I'm going to take it along to the local dealer to see what they say. Cheers.

In my experience, the result of a wheel that's badly hit or bent could only cause the steering, or even the whole car, to shake. That's due to upset balancing of the wheel. If you don't have any shaking, the wheel itself should be fine.

On the other hand, a bad tyre can cause shaking (due to bad balancing) as well as pulling to one side. This can be due to a defect in its structure, which is invisible to the eye. A defect can happen during manufacturing (rather rare), or perhaps just internal damage picked up from kerbing.

Judging by the amount and position of the balancing weights on the offending wheel you mentioned, I would assume that this particular tyre had not been up to par with the rest all along, hence why it needed so many weights in such a different position in the first place, when compared to the other three.

Unfortunately, after 6k miles, I very much doubt the dealer will be of any help at all. They're hardly of any help anyway, but worth a try.