DooMer_MP3
Member
Well I put my winter wheels on today. Blech. I've got 195/60R15 Cooper Radial GTs on 15 inch steels. Total cost was about $380 US. My girlfriend's dad (the mechanic) has helped me through all of this by mounting the tires and getting discounts.
Its really quite sad how much the handling has changed
... The Dunlops are insanely better than any all-weather tires we could ever put on our cars. Oh well, at least we'll save on wear and tear.
Anyhow, I talked to my girl's dad about the issues with the car pulling to the right. Now, my car pulls to the right, but it also pulls to the left when on the left side of the street. He confirmed the fact that our cars are going to do this. He said our alignments are fine, and it is partly caused by torque steer with all front-wheel drive cars. He also mentioned that most daily driver cars are set up to handle a 2-degree angle for the road (due to roads being angled for drainage), while our cars are probably tuned to be flat. This would allow the tires to rest completely flat on the ground and give us the best possible traction and even tread wear.
I think everybody that is freaked out about their cars pulling need to realize that there are tradeoffs with everything you do. Stiffen the suspension, add low-pro tires, and you get a bumpy ride. Adjust the camber to be flat, and you get some pulling. You just have to deal with it...
DooMer_MP3
P.S. Did I mention how ugly 15" steels are? Blech!
Its really quite sad how much the handling has changed

Anyhow, I talked to my girl's dad about the issues with the car pulling to the right. Now, my car pulls to the right, but it also pulls to the left when on the left side of the street. He confirmed the fact that our cars are going to do this. He said our alignments are fine, and it is partly caused by torque steer with all front-wheel drive cars. He also mentioned that most daily driver cars are set up to handle a 2-degree angle for the road (due to roads being angled for drainage), while our cars are probably tuned to be flat. This would allow the tires to rest completely flat on the ground and give us the best possible traction and even tread wear.
I think everybody that is freaked out about their cars pulling need to realize that there are tradeoffs with everything you do. Stiffen the suspension, add low-pro tires, and you get a bumpy ride. Adjust the camber to be flat, and you get some pulling. You just have to deal with it...
DooMer_MP3
P.S. Did I mention how ugly 15" steels are? Blech!
