[WPIS300]

Hey,

I've been an avid reader of this board for a long time, but haven't posted much before. I hope you guys can help me.

I was coming back from Los Angeles to San Francisco on thursday when I got a flat tire on highway 5. I was going around 90 when that happened, and the inner part of the rear right tire totally stripped off. I called Lexus roadside assistance, and someone was there in 20 minutes to help me change the tire.

On friday, I went to Serramonte Lexus to get a new tire. They were really nice about it, and gave me the tire for free.

The problem is that as soon as we changed the tire on highway 5, I noticed that when I accelerate, the car would push to the left. After Lexus checked it out, they said the pressure was too high on the tire, and lowered it. They said this should solve the problem. It did help, but I notice that when I approach about 80, the car feels wobbily and not very stable. Maybe I am just focusing on it more than before, but I could swear that the car didn't feel like that before. Any thoughts on why it might be doing that? Thanks for your help.

 

[antonio]

bent rim

 

[shadow1980]

Had the samething happen to me on my bimmer...it probably needs to be aligned and balanced..bmw says never to rotate the tires because they will get out of alignment easily..sounds wrong but it was true..if the dealer just stuck a new tire on it, may need to go to wheel works to get it done properly..hope this helps.

 

[cnk]

I would also get my alignment checked out as it may have been thrown off when the tire came apart from the rim.

 

[WPIS300]

Thanks for your replies. I should have mentioned that when the flat happened, the spare rim and tire were put on, and are still there. At the dealer, the dealer then removed the flat tire, put on the new one, and then put that rim back in the trunk as a spare. So it shouldn't be a bent rim. I'll check about the alignment. Any more thoughts?

 

[mystic]

Wheel balancing

 

[is300soon]

Originally posted by MYISRULZ:
bent rim

ya listen to this fool, he is on his 5th set of rims, what a dill hole

 

[Daniel]

This is a stupid question, but you did get the same tire, right? Because I know there are people who would just go out and get a competely different tire while keeping the other three the same.
Also, how old is the other tires you have? If you have three tires that are heavily worn and a tire that is brand new, then you may have this problem. Unlikely, but possible.
If your wheel is bent, you would most likely see a deflated tire soon, as it happen to my Eclipse before.
If the tire is balance correctly and the alignment checked out fine, then you want to have someone check out the tire. It is possible that the tire is not perfectly round, and once you get up to those speed, any imperfection will show.

 

[WPIS300]

Yeah, Lexus installed the same tire. The other tires have about 5000 miles on them, don't know it that will make a difference, gonna have Lexus balance and align the tires tomorrow, will tell you how it goes after that.

 

[MNSpectraBlueIS]

Well, if three of your tires have 5000 miles and you have two with almost zero (the spare and the new tire), then I'd put the two 'new' tires together on the same axle. 5000 miles isn't much and probably wouldn't make a driveability difference, but since it is a pretty easy fix, you might as well make the change.

As for your current driving problem, I'd say it's either a wheel balancing problem or else something got bent when the tire blew apart. Have the dealer thoroughly check all the suspension pieces on that axle for bent/broken components.

Rob