Pulling to one side

[Souster]

Hi guys, recently bought a 300tdi 90 96 truck cab and when driving it home i noticed how badly it was pulling to the right hand side. All discs look like they are wearing evenly.

It has got wrong tyres on the side it is pulling on the rear, the back right is a fair bit smaller and the front right is an each bigger than the other side. I have no other wheels to try it out any other way.

What could it be? Could it be the tyres, as if its not, i want to get the brakes sorted before tyres.

[Tanuki]

Simple checks: tyre pressures all round; look for unevenness of the tread [can mean the tyre's delaminating], sidewall-bulges [impact damage], and get the tracking checked.

Try swapping the front tyres from side to side and see if it makes any difference - they can develop 'odd' wear-patterns.

Your initial report suggests you have mismatched tyres - this is not good. I always worry about different-brands of tyres on an axle - in extremis they can have different grip-characteristics that can easily flip you off into the foliage and the land of insurance-claims when panic-braking is needed.

More complicated - strip the brake calipers and make sure the pistons/pads are truly free. A 'dragging' caliper can cause a significant pull on the steering. I generally expect discs and calipers to need replacing every 6 or 7 years/50,000 miles - rather more often if the vehicle's been doing any wading.

Also check the vented discs - after mud-wading the ventilation airways can be completely blocked - do a few hard stops from 80MPH like this - specially if towing - and the discs _will_ both warp and suffer from metallic surface-changes that make grab/drag/judder inevitable.

[dirtyninety]

The odd sized wheels will make it pull to the side.