This summer I purchased some wheels/tires online. I love the wheels and have had no vibrations, etc.

Within a couple of days after putting on the wheels I hit a racoon. The next day I noticed the car was pulling slightly to the right. I figured I needed an alignment - that something got knocked out of whack when I hit the racoon. It wasn't bad, so I didn't get around to it for a few weeks.

This week we did a couple of legs of MTTS (awesome, BTW!) and so I put the runflats on so as not to worry about a flat on the road - and the pulling is totally gone. The pulling must not have had anything to do with the racoon. I simply didn't notice it the first two days and it must be the new wheels.

So here is the noob question: Will having the wheels rebalanced solve the problem? Will I have to have an alignment done every year when I switch to the summer wheels? (And then again when I switch back in the winter?)

Thanks for the help.

Mark S

 

Did you carefully check your tire pressures on your replacement set of tires/wheels? Improper inflation pressures can cause your car to pull to one side or another. Remember-tires cold, car on level ground. You may have bent a wheel too. PB : )

 

I did check tire pressure. I keep a close eye on that.

What would some other symptoms of a bent wheel be? Would I feel vibration at a certain speed?

 

I doubt the (poor) 'coon would be able to bend the rim (soft targets don't have that kind of impact--- pun intended)... I've done that, but I had to hit a curb. You can get the integrity of the rim checked out if/when you do a wheel balancing (I felt nothing after I had bent mine, although the damage was perhaps more cosmetic than severe).

It's possible the 'coon knocked off some of the wheel-balancing weights on the rim, so a wheel balancing might help.

By the way, what happened to the raccoon?

 

Jack the car up with the wheel in question in the air. Set up a rig with a pointer-a pice of coat hanger will do. Get a heavy base-a block of 4"x4" will do-anything you can tape the piece of coat hanger to. Bend an L in the hanger. You tape the hanger to the base so one end is pointed at the lip of the wheel-get it close, almost touching - he using a a 7 to represent the the piece of hanger, the top left of the seven is pointed at and almost touching the wheel-the bottom of the 7 is taped to you block of wood or what ever you use as a stable base to tape it too-you just want it held perfectly steady. Now you spin the wheel by hand-(the engine is OFF and the car safely supported on a jack stand at this point!), as you spin the wheel the distance between your pointer and the edge of the rim should remain constant, any variation in the distance between the pointer and the wheel rim is a measurement called "runout" They should be little to none. If the distance between the pointer and wheel varies you have a problem-abent wheel, an improerly seated wheel, etc.

I think the earlier post is right-the wheel is probably not bent-the racoon likely got the worst of that encounter and is propably ready to be an ingredient for one of the receipies for the Road Kill Cookbook. A lost balance weight is a possiblity, but not too likely to cause a pull. Try switching your wheels from one side of the car to another, see if the pull follows the wheel-look at and feel the surface of the tread and sidewall off the tires in question to check for any surface irregularities which might indicate and internal structural problem with one of your new tires. You are checking for any swelling or bubbling or visible damage. PB