Tires or Alignment

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Jeremiah1981

Jeremiah1981

Master Shake in Training
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Okay, when I bought my Dart, the owner told me it would need new tires. It has 195/75/13's now...no big deal. But when it runs, it wants to move to the left, so it constantly needs steering.

The other day I was looking at the tires, and they are bad...especially in the front. In the front, the metal is showing. So I was wondering, if I replaced the tires, will that help this? I am planning on doing the alignment as well, but I just wanted to see if it would help.

Thanks in advance.

-Jeremiah
 
Sounds like the front end is out of alignment. Are the steel bands showing on 1 side of the tire only? If so, it is out of alignment,
 
It is probably doing that because it needs an alinment. If metal is showing get new tiers imediatly. Especialy on the front, have a blow out on the front at any kind of speed and you will crash. An alinment with regular tire rotations shoud fix the uneven wear problem.
 
Replacing the tires will take care of the metal showing. Some times a belt on one tire (usually the right front) will shift causing the car to pull left. If a belt has shifted, replacing both front tires will take care of that.

Before you go off to the alignment shop, check the ball joints and the wheel bearings. If either of these are a problem, it will make setting an alignment as tough as nailing jello on the wall. A really wobbled out suspension bushing will also cause this, but it hasn't been as dramatic in my experience. Checking it out beforehand will at least give you an idea if the alignment shop is trying to sell you a bill of goods rather than simply fix the problem(s).
 
Thanks everyone.

Burntorange70 said:
It is probably doing that because it needs an alinment. If metal is showing get new tiers imediatly. Especialy on the front, have a blow out on the front at any kind of speed and you will crash. An alinment with regular tire rotations shoud fix the uneven wear problem.
Click to expand...


yeah, she is in the garage until I get new tires
 
Put the rears on the fronts and see if it still pulls. If so, you need an alignment and probably front end work. If the tire went to the belt on the inside edge, which is typical, my money is on worn balljoints and a trashed LCA bushing. This is a very common failure mode on Mopar front ends. An alignment shop will be able to help you identify the worn components.

BTW you likely have 195/75-14 tires on your Dart. Only the early A's had 13" rims and 185/80-13 is a more typical size. Either tire is super common (cheap) but you should get the front end repaired before wasting money on tires.
 
if you ever have any doubt about your front suspension it is always a good idea to check every thing over very thoroughly and replace anything questionable, tie rods, ball joints, pitman arm, idler arm, control arm bushings,can all cause uneven tire wear or worse! case in point when I got my 66 barracuda it drove fine didnt pull rattle or wander but once I got it on the lift I found it needed a lower ball joint, lower controll arm bushings, idler arm, and pitman arm, brakes, tires, and suspention should never be left to chance!
 
90 Percent Of All Vehicles That Come To My Shop Due To A Drift Or Pull Can Be Attributed To A Defective Tire. If Steel Is Showing You Can Bet It Will Pull To That Side Almost Always. We Hardly Ever See Side To Side Caster Differences Anymore, With Exception Of An Older F-series Once And A While. Replace The Tires That Need To Be And Get It Aligned By A Competent Shop. Always Ask For A Printout Of Your Alignment Just To Keep Em Honest! Good Luck! Dave
 
I'm gonna back up Dave on this one. Tires and an alignment with a print out. A good alignment shop won't balk at a print out and good alignment guys usually do it even if you don't ask. And I'm gonna throw my two cents in, too. Please, remember that regular tire rotations are an important step in maintainence for two reasons: 1.) keeps the tires on a even wear pattern by swapping corners. (Remember to cross to the drive axle.) The tire manufacturers usually want to see tire rotations for warranty purposes and recommend 5000 miles intervals (pain in the a**!). I do mine every oil change. Might want to rebalance, too, after 10,000-12,000 miles. 2.) by taking the tires off the car at certain repeated intervals you keep an eye on wear items such as tread pattern, brakes, suspensions components, etc and can usually get to these things before complete failure. #2 is the reason I do mine at every oil change.
 
C130 Chief said:
BTW you likely have 195/75-14 tires on your Dart. Only the early A's had 13" rims and 185/80-13 is a more typical size. Either tire is super common (cheap) but you should get the front end repaired before wasting money on tires.
Click to expand...

It is an early A...1966 dart. I will be taking it to an alignment and replace all the tires. When I bought it, one of the stipulations was to replace all of the tires. So it is in the garage for now, I just wanted to make sure. Thanks for the info everyone.
 
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