I plan to speak to a mechanic about this; but I find this forum very helpful.

Last week I swapped my winter tires for my summer tires. I did this myself...

Since doing so, the car INCONSISTENTLY pulls to the left. Not a gentle drift, but pulls. It's more pronounced when there is a natural slant/berm/angle on the road (for rain run-off).

Could there be an issue with the rims? Even though inconsistent, could this be an alignment issue (steering wheel does not vibrate)? Wheel balancing issue?

Tire pressure is equal on all tires.

 

it seems to be a wheel balancing issue..
get it taken care of asap, unless u want to spend on new tyres....

 

Yeah sounds like wheel balance

 

Check also and make sure your lug bolts are all torqued correctly.

 

^ what he said. Also are your summers OEM of aftermarket ? I've heard of this sort of issue arising from a lack of use of hubrings (with aftermarket wheels) ...

 

The rims are OEM (the 5 spoke chrome special), not sure about the tires - Hankooks (Ventus HRII). Fair amount of tread left on the tire, and at first glance the wear looks even overall.

 

Um... There's no such thing as an OEM 5-spoke chrome wheel: all OEM 5-spoke wheels are painted silver. As such, your wheel can well not be Audi-specific, so you should check for hubcentric rings as Avantquattro pointed out. Make sure none has accidentally fallen out.

There is also a chance that what you're experiencing is normal: summer HP/UHP tires tend to have much stiffer sidewalls compared to winter tires, so they'd track road imperfections much more readily. Since you say the pull is both inconsistent and more pronounced when the road is not even, you *may* just be feeling the difference in tire constructions.

 

Aren't the OEM "fat fives" chrome or at least polished ?? I'm thinking about the heavy *** forged ones that came on the 4.2's (A8 and some A6's) as well as on TT's (but different bolt pattern). Good point about the possible tramlining of the tires caused by both the stiff sidewalls and tread pattern of some hi-po tires.

 

Not that I remembered about the Fat Five when I wrote my response to be honest, but they are definitely not chrome-plated. I'm not sure if they're polished either: I know of one person who has polished his set from factory painted, but maybe you're right, that some of them come polished.

 

Here's what I was talking about (thanks to winston@podi.ca) ...