New tires = alignment

[Jeff Moffo]

Good Morning,
This may seem like an obvious question and answer.  Nonetheless, I just had my four tires changed on my '76 Coupe to 235/75/15 Coker Classics.  Car rides great...except now...the alignment is off.

Is this "normal" for simply replacing tires? 

I never had that problem before, and the shop that usually works on my car no longer performs alignments.
They have done previous work on the older tires (balance, etc) and I have never had a problem.

Should an alignment after four tires always be the general protocol?

[Jon S]

When you say "alignment is off," is the car pulling to one side, tires squealing on turns, etc.?  Were the old tires also Radials?  Need more information.

[Dan LeBlanc]

If the car is pulling now and it didn't before, it could be perhaps something as simple as the tire pressure being off on one wheel.  I had two new tires installed on my F350 last week.  They were put on one side of the truck.  It would pull when I applied the brakes.  That truck never pulled before.  The tire shop had only inflated the two tires to 35psi when they should be 65psi front and 80psi rear.

Adjusted the tire pressure, drives well again.

Perhaps when they installed the Schrader valve after seating the bead, they forgot to top off the air if they were in a hurry.

[76eldo]

If the car received some old or mismatched tires it could throw off the alignment. With a brand new set of tires nothing should change enough to make the car pull unless the pressures are off as previously stated.

If the old tires had some uneven wear or the car had not been aligned for long time it's being proactive to do an alignment to prevent uneven or unusual wear to the new set.

Hopefully it's just an air pressure issue.

You might want to try swapping just the front tires, right to left to see if anything changes.
Could be a bad tire although that's rare.

Brian

[Jeff Moffo]

"old" tires were radials.  A cheaper set previous owner installed.
The car is basically pulling to the left side and there are no issues at all when breaking.
I'll have to check the pressure...should have thought of that a bit sooner!

[Bobby B]

Jeff,
Hi. Adding new tires doesn't technically affect the alignment in any way. Most likely your old tires were worn in to your existing "Bad'' alignment (or need for alignment), and you were used to it because it happens gradually.  Go see Bill over @ Euro-tire in Fairfield on Rt.46. You'll get the best alignment you ever had.
                       Bobby

[David Greenburg]

I always get an alignment when having new tires installed in order to protect the investment in the tires. 

[bcroe]

I always get an alignment when having new tires installed in order
to protect the investment in the tires.

Alignment is good; some cars need a lot more attention than others.  It is possible to align those
old cars quite easy with a couple simple tools and a flat floor.  No more wondering if you are spending
too much on "flat rate" alignment jobs you don't need.  My tires wear square and the car drives straight,
which is my definition of good alignment.  Check any time; often only the slightest adjustment is needed,
or none at all. 

The later models (McAwful Struts) are a different story.  Bruce Roe

[66 Eldo]

If the tire pressure is good then swapping the front tires as mentioned earlier is the next step. If no change then its most likely an alignment problem. I've seen old tires with a radial tire "pull" or "push" make a car drive relatively straight correcting an alignment problem from a driving perspective. Then new tires installed and the car pulls.

New tires can have problems too so don't overlook that possibility.