Steering feels different after aftermarket wheels and tires

Stock 23 Tacoma Sport 4x4. 9400 miles.

At roughly 7000 miles I swapped the wheels and tires to aftermarket Blackhorn wheels 17" +12 offset and Wildpeaks 265/70/17. The wheels seem to be balanced fine and no rubbing but I notice a slight pull to the right on some roads, sometimes I am convinced its just road crown but would like to know for sure as it is starting to bug me. I noticed this very little on the stock wheels and tires but definitely more now, is the steering on these trucks just very soft?

On another note at slow speeds or coming from a stop the steering wheels seems to turn itself and I have to over correct to move the wheels. Might just be because I am new to trucks but would love other opinions.

 

Probably just the crown of the road. Plus you changed to offset and went to a more aggressive tire. It will feel different over the soft sidewall street tires it came with. Mine tends to drift a little right coming off from a stop, if I'm not paying complete attention.

 

Not the trucks fault at all. you just changed the tires and rims, tires might have different characteristic’s in the ply’s could be the rims. We’re the tires road forced balanced?

 

Drive on a flat road. Which way does it pull. Reverse direction. Which way does it pull. Also have the front end alignment checked. Get as much caster as they will give you (3 + degrees).

 

Good points, I am planning to take in in to Toyota while I still have my warranty to see what they think, It's a solid dealer. Not sure how much help they will be though.

 

Balance won't have anything to do with the truck pulling to one side.

 

I noticed the steering had a much more floaty feeling after going to a wider after market wheel. I got used to it after a while.

Just make sure your alignment is in spec. The wider wheels can make a bad alignment seem worse.

 

Alignment should be covered for 1 yr or 10k miles if I remember correctly

 

Check tire pressures as well...that can cause a pull to one side.

 

I went with this on my first 3rd gen truck. After getting less positive offset wheels than stock and new tires, the truck started pulling to the right and generally didn't drive the same.

As mentioned above changing wheels with more offset will exacerbate a borderline good alignment. You will need to get a new alignment and shoot for as much caster as the tech can give you.

 

changed the tire size. Change the wheel offset. Yes, feasible change everything in the way it drives and handles.

 

Your warranty won't touch modded wheels and tires. I'd suggest an alignment.

When you change the only part of the vehicle that actually touches the road, you are going to change how it feels. Changing the offset will change your scrub radius, so it'll behave differently.

 

From my personal experience, the more aggressive you make it, the more it wants to tramline.

I felt it after switching to wildpeaks, and then again after swapping to a wheel with different offset, and then yet again after switching suspension, and then even yet again after pulling the sway bar.

You can make it a bit easier on yourself if you have the caster set a little higher. That will help fight the road wallow.

 

^this

 

I have found that most vehicles slowly drift to the right in stock form. I have heard that it's intentional so that if something incapacitates the driver, it takes them off of the road on the safe side instead of into the oncoming traffic side. Then there are vehicles like my Jeep with a solid front axle, which has a bit of cross caster built in specifically to try and combat road crown....it's been a while since I drove it and I don't remember if it actually slowly pulls left or right, but I know for sure it doesn't just drive straight. In theory on a flat road, it should steer slightly left, on a crowned road it should either track straight or to the right depending on if the crown is greater than the cross caster can compensate for. I don't recall how it actually drives though since it's been a few years.

Your aftermarket wheels put the tires significantly further out, which increases the effect that the tires have against the vehicle. The wheels increased the scrub radius, which will increase that pull to the right. In other words, this should be relatively normal. I prefer stock wheels mostly for this reason, they fit the vehicle best. That said, more driving time and you'll probably just get used to how the new handling is.

 

Don't understand why you wouldn't go back to the shop you got the tires and wheels first. See so many posts of people looking for answers on a forum or through a dealer instead of going back to the start of the issue.

 

Everything was ordered online separately, I just had a shop mount and balance them. I put them on the truck my self in my garage. The problem isn't massive, if it needs an alignment ill find a shop the specializes in that not just a tire shop. Just looking for opinions friend.

 

CHeck alignment. If good, then it's just a difference in offset and tires. Believe it or not, those things matter.

 

OK thanks for explaining.
Did not mean any offence or bad feelings

 

I have zero proof besides my own input, but when I went to larger KO-Bros vs. Sports OEM's, I thought the truck felt a bit different. I kind of expected it as they are bigger more aggressive tire, but no worries that change was years w/o any issues.