Unequal steer tire pressures make a straight truck pull
Before a truck goes on the rack for a pull, there is a check that takes two minutes and sometimes ends the conversation: the pressures in the two steer tires.
A steer tire that is meaningfully lower than its partner has a slightly smaller rolling diameter and more drag. The truck drifts toward the low side, exactly as it would with a small alignment error, and the driver corrects for it all day. Left long enough, the low tire also wears its shoulders faster, which produces a wear pattern that looks like the kind of thing an alignment would cause.
A truck can therefore arrive with a pull, wear that seems to confirm it, and nothing wrong with the alignment at all.
The order that saves money
- Set both steer tires cold, to specification. Not after a run, when heat has raised them unevenly.
- Drive it. On a straight, level stretch. If the pull is gone, the problem was pressure.
- Find out why one was low. A slow leak at the valve or the bead is worth fixing before it repeats.
- If it still pulls, align it. At that point the measurement means something, because the inputs are right.
The same logic applies to a pair of steer tires that are different brands, different ages or different tread depths. Mismatched steers can pull on their own, and an alignment set against them is set against a moving target.
Book it early in the day
A truck alignment takes a good part of a morning or afternoon. The store opens at 8:00 AM. Pair it with trailer alignment where the trailer is due, and with tire and wheel balancing if there is also a vibration. The national heavy-duty truck alignment page covers what the measurement includes.
Other stores nearby
Springfield and Springdale, AR also align trucks.
About this store
The Joplin store runs seventeen services and is managed by Travis Reeder.
See the national heavy-duty truck alignment page for all 40 locations.