Single tire replacement -- car pulling to one side

[Silvestris66]

Last September, I picked up a nail in the right rear tire of my XC70 with less than 5k miles on a new set of Michelins. I had bought the tires from Costco, so I went back there, but Costco couldn't get a replacement tire, so they told me to buy a new one online anywhere I could, telling me that Michelin had COVID-related supply chain problems.

I finally got a replacement tire from TireRack.com and had it installed today. They also rotated the back tires to the front, so now the new tire is on the front right. As soon as I left the tire place, I noticed that the car was pulling to the right, especially on acceleration. Is this a case where I'm going to have to replace two tires instead of one? I would have thought that I could get away with replacing a single tire if I had less than 5k on them.

This whole thing has been a nightmare. Costco dicked me around for months telling me the tire would be there in next week's shipment. It never was. It took them four months to finally admit they couldn't get a replacement. I'm lucky it's a second car, so I haven't had to drive it much. I'm at my wit's end with this. I don't know how many hours I've spent just trying to deal with the problem of one construction nail in my tire.

[pbierre]

Since there was hardly any wear on the tires, the simplest solution would be to undo the tire rotation. That way, the fronts will be back to where they were.

As a general rule, you don't rotate tires until they've driven 15-20K miles.

Also, if the nail or screw is at least 1" distant from the tire wall, the tire can be repaired with a plug. Big O charges $35 if you bring the wheel already unmounted. Any closer to the tire wall, a plug will not tolerate the constant flexing of the tire shape, and the tire must be replaced.

[Silvestris66]

The large construction nail was right at the outer edge of the tread, so Costco service dept. pronounced it non-repairable, and they were going to replace it under road hazard warranty.

I guess I'll take it back to the tire place and ask them to undo the rotation.

[Xfingers]

Make sure the tires are all at the same pressure? If the new one is underinflated, it could cause the car to pull to one side or the other.

When I first test drove my 02XC, I noticed the car pulled to the right. The seller said the tires needed air. Later, I test-drove it again and the car tracked straight as an arrow.