Tires: Tire problem and warranty, alignment problem, pep boys

Question
Hello...our 2000 Neon has been shaking in the front and pulling to the right.  Took to reputable service station who said it the tires had a problem (balance was OK and they rotated them which helped a littled).  They said it did not need alignment.  Tires purchased 5 years ago from Pep Boys (Futura/Touring HR P195/60R15), with only 34,000 miles on them.  Invoice does not show milage warranty.  Should I take car back and get tires replaced (and hope for some kind of settlement)?

Answer
Chuck,

First thing to do is to establish why there is a pull.  Swap the front tires left to right.  Did the pull change direction?  

1)  If the pull did not change direction, then it is not the tires and the vehicle has an alignment problem.  The fact that rotating the tires didn't change the pull much would suggest that this is what is going to happen.

2)  If the pull did change direction, then it is the tires.  If the tires had this problem as soon as they would put on, then you could conclude there is a problem built into the tires.  It's called conicity - root word cone.  It is the combination of the conicity of the 2 tires that would cause a sideways pull.  A pair of tires with opposing conicity would not have a pull problem.

You should be aware that it is possible to wear a pattern into a pair of tires that would cause conicity - and after 34K miles, this is quite possible.

3)  If the pull disappears, then it is both the tires and the alignment (and the alignment could have cause a wear pattern that would change the original conicity of the tires).

If it is the tires and since there isn't any wear warranty on the tires, I would think that Pep Boys would be unlikely to give you any sort of settlement.

Good Luck.