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Something seems weird with my handling after the Azeni were installed yesterday. I have very little experience with performance oriented tires so I'm looking for any input before I bring my car back to Hubcap Heaven to have them look at it.

I did some mellow driving right after the install. Got on Hwy 64 and accelerated at a moderate rate. I have a Subaru so it's AWD. It felt like I had torque steer, which I've never felt on this car before, either with Potenza's or Continental ExtremeContacts. I accelerated even harder and had to fight the wheel a bit. I let go of the steering wheel and the car tracked right. The road had a slight pitch to the right so I figured I was just tracking the road.

Today I went out to do more 'spirited' driving. I noticed that I was applying pressure with my left arm to keep the car from veering right. I let go of the wheel while I was driving and the car pulled hard to the right.
If I coast with clutch in the car goes straight. I hit the throttle(clutch released) and it goes to the right immediately. I coast with the clutch in it goes straight, then I let the clutch out without throttle and it pulls right.

So, I don't know what's going on. Coasting it stays straight. Any load, either slowing down or speeding up and it goes right. The car handled perfectly before the tires were swapped out. I was thinking alignment but when I coast all is well. Does anyone hae any ideas on what is wrong?

Thanks, CHris

Having never driven a subaru before and not knowing what tires you were used to or how severe the problem is without driving the car...

Most roads have a crown in the middle for water runoff. This can tend to draw a car towards the curb. With the azenies, you've got much better grip and I'm sure part of what you're feeling is more road feel. When I drive the azenies on the same roads I normally drive my 420 treadwear brick tires, the car finds cracks and grooves in the road and tries following them.

If the problem is severe, you could have a bad tire or bad balance, but HH has a very good reputation for doing a good job. I'm sure you'll get some input from the subaru crowd that will be helpful.

If the problem didn't go away when you had the clutch in, I'd say it was a bad tires. Have you tried adjusting the torque to see how that changes the ride?

phil

You've probably already done this, but make sure the air pressure is the same on both sides.

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In need of car.

Thanks for your input guys.

The stock tires are 140 treadwear rated and tramline pretty good. I have a lot of gradual changes to make while driving with them. They track any groove in the road but have been pretty good about not following the runoff pitch. If I let the steering wheel go while driving with the Azenis I'll be on the shoulder within 40 feet.

HH set each tire to 35lbs. Stock tires are suppose to be at 36f/30r. I did check the tires and found that they were set the same. I added air to bring them to 38lbs front to see if that made any difference....no change in handling.

I'll be bringing the car over to HH to see what they think.

Regards, Chris

I'd switch the positions of the front tires and see if teh pull changes sides (that would point to a bad tire). If it still pulls the same way, then it's likely a car issue rather than a tire issue.

Scott

I had the identical experience with a set of Yokohama A032's a few years ago. Grover McNair kept switching tires to isolate it, and it did indeed turn out to be a bad tire. TireRack replaced it and paid for the troubleshooting. It is the wierdest feeling, and you can go nuts trying to figure out what it is. This was on a Miata, by the way.

I feel sorry for Hubcap Heaven, since they just went through four tries to get a set of Dunlops Sport SPs balanced out for Cathie on her Sebring convertible. After replacing one tire, Goodyear had us go to a Goodyear dealer, where they agreed that there were two more out of round and one on the borderline. To their credit, they replaced all four with Goodyear Eagles, since we refused to have any more Dunlops.

I've heard of other STi's doing that because of the way the front diff works. You might get somewhere doing a search at www.nasioc.com

It may be tire pull. Here is info from Tire Rack. http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/ ... repull.jsp

It could also be that the very stiff and responsive new tires simply amplify an existing tendency of the car/alignment.

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Dick Rasmussen

FS 50 2018 Mustang GT

Just for grins and giggles: Were the tires mounted with the right side out on both sides? Azenis have a directional assymetric tread pattern, and would handle funny if one was mounted inside out.

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SPIN or WIN!
there's no glory for going slow.

Tires were mounted properly. The side marked Outside is in view on each wheel.

I have an appt with HH at about 11:00 today. We'll identify the source of the problem. From what I read on the Tirerack link it looks like tire pull, but we'll see. I didn't have the proper sized tool to get the McGuard lugs off or I would have swapped fronts last night.

Thanks for your input, folks. I'm still hoping to be on the Azenis tomorrow in Sanford. They're wider than my RE070's so I KNOW I'd be faster (placebo effect here).

Wow..some relief. Swapped the front wheels and the pull followed. It's a bad tire. New tire will be in Monday so for now the 'bad' tire is on the rear.

The guys at HH are great to work with!

That happens alot with the tires I see roll out the door as well.

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beware of EV powered Ford EXP's they are quiet and come for you when you least expect it... hide behind an aluminum light pole...... ya that will help