Driving to work this morning, I was about 10 miles into a 27 mile commute on a gently winding four-lane road going to work. It's cold outside but the car's good and warmed up by now. I got the chance to get around slow traffic, and changed from the left lane to right lane. Something felt like it grabbed and sent me way off onto the right shoulder, almost off the road.

I was able to recover and pull over to check things out. Flat driver's side rear tire. Fine, they're old and I was getting them replaced this Friday anyway.

Put the spare on, and about 10 more miles later near the office on another four-lane, winding road. I'm already driving slow because I'm on the spare. Tried to take a gentle right sweep and same thing happened. Almost sent me off a cliff. Again I recovered, but now the spare is flat. I've driven on this spare before and it was well worn but not dead.

I assumed that both flat tires were the cause of the lurch to the right, but now I'm wondering if there's something more that's causing it. I'm posting in E/T/D forum because I suspect it may be rear differential related. I really had to fight it to get it straightened back out. Anything else that could cause it? Would a simple diff oil change solve it? It's been a long while since it's been changed.

No warning lights or anything. Any ideas?

 

check the wheel wells for something rubbing. how are the tires flat? worn through? Tires don't just wear through and blow up, are they sliced?

 

Tires are just well into the wear indicators. No rubbing issues, it's the driver's rear. Car's not lowered or anything so there's plenty of room around it. In order to pass inspection, I ordered replacements from Tire Rack. They showed up yesterday and I was going to have them put on Friday. I checked the flat tire for any cuts, punctures, etc. Wasn't a thorough check but no obvious cuts or anything. Thanks for any ideas.

 

Seems to me something has broken in your suspension, or as a lot of play. Rear Sway Bar is the first thing I'd check.

 

Thanks for that. I'll go over everything today. I did a better inspection of the tire, and it had a lot of wear and a bit of a scrub on the inside of the tire. The other three, although heavily worn, seem to be pretty even.

 

Also check the inside of the tires. Are there any markings? I made an amateur mistake one time, my sister called me telling me she had a flat tire. So I was like ok I'll come find you and change it for you. I get there take the tire off put the spare on blah blah, then she drives about 10 minutes and calls me again and says it's flat again. Took the spare off and saw that the coil spring on the strut had snapped and a sharp part of the spring had been cutting into the inside of the tires, causing them to go flat. I have no idea how I miss that.

Also spray soapy water along the bead of the tire. If it's leaking it will bubble pretty good.

 

Got the new tires put on today and the very brief drive home (two miles or so) no issues. I checked most suspension components, particularly sway bars and nothing seemed out of line. The inside wall of the old tire was in good condition but I didn't really pay much attention to springs. I'll look at those as well.

Thanks for all the help.