all of a sudden i have a big vibration in the steering wheel and car is pulling to the left. it feels like i'm riding on a flat tire but it is properly inflated. these are the stock contis on front that have 50000 miles. I've already ordered new Hankook Evo's so i will know for sure in a few days if it is the tire. Dont plan on driving it until then. Any other ideas what it could be?

 

My original Conti-all season tires on my 07 had slipped belts at 17,000 miles....how in the world did you get 50,000 miles out of those???????? & my wife's 08 still has the original Conti-all season tires on it.....& based on the current tread depth (<11,000 miles on the odometer)...no way she will make it to the 20,000 mile mark!!!!



Oh, yes.....big time vibration when the belts slipped on mine.

 

It's probably time for a new battery.

 

You'll know if it's the belts the instant they deflate the tire to change it. Personally, I wouldn't push a tire to that age / mileage. They are entitled to fail at that point. Good move parking the car until the Hankooks arrive.

 

i have no idea how the tires have lasted that long, funny thing is they have worn perfectly and there is still tread left. I just bought the car a few months ago from the original owner so i know they are the original tires on front.

 

how did you know that? your right it, has the original battery too.

 

me neither, haven't had the car long and hadn't gotten around to ordering new shoes but the sudden vibration was a wake up call.

 

I picked up my SSB SRT6 coupe a few weeks ago. It had 17,500 miles and was shod with the OEM Conti all season tires. The fronts had plenty of tread left. The rears were almost at the wear bars. I swapped out the Conti's for a set of Dunlop SP Sport MaxxTT's as soon as the car was registered (same day). I really wanted a summer extreme performance tire rather than all seasons. And I figured the Conti's were 5-6 years old. Even if there was tread left on them, the rubber would have dried and hardened over time. I wanted to DRIVE the car without worrying about tire failure.

A week after the tires went on, the car went into my dealer for oil change, coolant flush, engine & cabin air filters, alignment, brake check, and general fluids check. Now I feel reasonably safe driving my "new" used car.

Also, I'm a bit of an obsessive personality. I keep a high quality air pressure gauge in the glovebox of all our cars and I give the tires on all of them a visual check and pressure check weekly or if temps change radically. I'm probably the only person I know that actually does this. It drives me nuts when I see people riding around on under inflated tires or thumping down the road on an unbalanced tire.

 

YouTube - WD-40 Tire Inflation

 

well i was right, new tires and no more problem.