Just put on new tires last night and realize the car is pulling moderately to the right (drifts is a better word) but it's annoying. Do you think I need to align it? It drive straight as an arrow before the tire change.
It shouldn't pull/drift. Just got my 4 changed and no untoward behavior. But my results aren't yours. Could something have happened when the car was lifted? (Sure.) Were the tires wearing evenly before the changeover? You are sure it isn't the crown of the road pulling you sideways? (Try running for a bit but on the "wrong" side of the same road. Safely!) How long since an alignment? Did they check the wheels for true? (I once had 3 of 4 bent alloy wheels.)
Got an alignment and it fixed it mostly, rear was out a bit and can't be changed so it's much better.
My shop didn't really want to get into that, must be a little involved. I got the alignment done for $50.
Did they balance the wheels (dynamic/static ??) after fitting the new tyres? Sounds like there might be a pressure problem, also!
Probably just dynamic (on the balancer right)? Pressures are all set to 40 psi and it's much better. The crappy streets we have in Southern Cal are mostly to blame as well.
It's so appalling I can't even mention the brand here. They do get really noisy when turning at parking lot speeds to the left and right.
Honestly since I got the car aligned, the only thing that is suspect is they are noisy when turning slowly, the tread pattern is kind of aggressive on the edges. I don't think it's a defect, just a cheaper tire. At least there's a 50k mileage warranty on them and I only paid $340 for a set of 4.
If it wasn't drifting to the right prior to this, then I'd have the tyre size checked, and perhaps, check the pressures, if its not gauged properly. If all checks well, have the ball joints, and even the brake pads checked for uneven wear. If the pads on the right appears different from the drive side pads, the hydraulic system on the driver side might not be pressurizing the brakes properly.
I just got new tires and mine does this also. Everything is correct except it drifts to the right. I'm going to get an alignment next week. My uneducated opinion is that the old tires got into a wear pattern where the car wears the tires such that it will track straight and the new tires are absolutely correct so when they go on the car will drift. If the OP is like me and replaced his tires a little sooner than absolutely necessary maybe the uneven wear would have shown up on the old tires. My old tires looked like they were wearing evenly but maybe if I let them go down to the minimum I would have noticed some uneven wear?
Paprius4030: I had a huge bubble on the rear sidewall right after I bought the car (also 2 horrible bald rear tires that came on the car). I really couldn't wait safely to get new tires. Still peace of mind even if they are cheap. Dealer was just trying to save on reconditioning fees by rotating bald tires to the rear of a used vehicle.
We had a pull to the right (previous car), and the tire shop swapped the front tires left to right, pull disappeared. They tried to explain to me about "conicity", was over my head.
Allow me to offer my 2c worth. I picked up a nail in the right front tire sidewall of my 2017 Prius V, so the tire had to be replaced. I went to my fav Discount Tire store and bought a replacement - same make and tire number, thinking it would better integrate with the other 3 factory tires. Well, upon driving away I noticed it would drift to the right. Confused since the new tire had 0.1 more tread than the other 3, it should drift left, if at all. I took the car to the dealer who did a complementary 4 wheel alignment which showed all 4 wheels were within spec. I went back to DT and they rotated the right front to the right rear. It still drifted. Then I had them rotate the left front to the left rear and the drift stopped. So, we went through a couple additional rotation gyrations we concluded the original left front was faulty. DT tire attributed it to "radial bias," a rare failure mode when the steel belts shift ever so slightly in use. It is rarely discovered until the shift is excessive, or its sister tire (in my case the right front) is replaced (evidently the sister tire wears differently and automatically compensates for the bad tire). So I purchased another new tire for the left front and the car drives like factory new again.
