We bought the vehicle w/ 11000 miles on it.
It pulls to the right, gradually getting worse, until we take it in for alignment. At both the dealers and the neighborhood tire place, they said the tire wear pattern did not indicate mis-alignment.
Both have suggested “tread pull” ( don’t recall the exact term used ), and rotated the tires, and done alignments.
It gets much better for awhile, but gradually returns over a couple of months, and gets worse and worse until it’s sorta dangerous to drive.
Anyone have clues as to what could cause this?
oh yes - and they checked “camber” and other such stuff. The neighborhood shop (whom I trust) said they put in a very small shim. Ended up with the same sort of results - never completely quit pulling to the right, and gradually got worse.
If I had a Subaru question, and I’ve had several, I’d follow this link: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/
Some of THOSE guys really know their Soobs.
It’s difficult to say without knowing the alignment specs. It is quite possible to have a car with normal treadwear patterns and the alignment be off.
If the caster is off or if the alignment has only been off a comparatively short time there may not be any wear issues at all. And caster will not show any wear patterns except possibly over the very, very long haul.
If the car is suffering a tire pull then rotating the front tires side to side instead of front to back should clear this up.
The camber being off and a shim added is a bit suspect. This can often point to something bent in the suspension (usually a lower control arm) or something a bit more serious. (as in a wreck)
You might take a tape measure and measure from the front edge of the rear wheel (not tire) to the rear edge of the front wheel on the same side. Repeat this on the opposite side and compare the measurements. They should be very, very close.
This is not an issue of a slow leak in the tire is it? If the problem were due to a tire pull then it should be present all of the time and not require several months to resurface.
Hope some of that helps.