ramblinmanva

I have a 2018 F150 with about 11,000 miles on it. I did a first time tire rotation recently (local mechanic). My tires and everything else is stock equipment.

Since the rotation, the truck seems to be pulling to the right quite a bit. Also, the TPMS is consistently 3 pounds higher on every tire than what my manual gauge is reading. Before the rotation, the gauge was always within 1 pound of TPMS.

1. Would the rotation have done anything to the accuracy of the TPMS? I wouldn't think so but it would seem so.
2. I've read about tire conicity but never had one in my 45+ years of owning cars (or at least that I knew about enough to cause a problem). I guess it could have happened. Does the dealer diagnose this for free? I'm about to hit 12,000 miles when the pro-rating of the warranty kicks in.
3. Further to # 1, I don't think resetting the TPMS is needed on a 2018 Ford from what I see in the owner's manual. My tire pressure is supposed to be the same in all 4 tires. The shop said they reset it anyway, but apparently just driving should have reset it sufficiently. Do I understand the resetting correctly that it should not impact the accuracy? Just the location of the tire if needed? (Why wouldn't you want this accurate even if the tires can be the same pressure?)

Thank you.

Ricktwuhk

1) No.
2) Ideally, you'd want to rotate more often than 11,000 miles. 7,500 or less. When I rotate, I also have Discount Tire (free rotations, free balancing, free flat fixes) re-balance my tires. Is it possible that your mechanic rebalanced your tires? Do you know the pattern that he rotated? As you note, the dealer SHOULD be willing to pull the tires and diagnose the issue IF they can notice the same as you do (if they don't notice it in a test drive, they will either refuse to pull the tires or they will charge you unless they find a warranty problem).
3) Driving approximately 20 miles (at 1 time) should sync the TPMS up to the correct wheels.

ramblinmanva

Thanks for the response on info.

My vehicle hasn't been doing any shaking or vibration. I thought that was the sign for needing a balancing...but I'm a novice and may misunderstand. I'm pretty sure they did not balance the tires when they did the rotation.

Thank you.

RLXXI

To answer the pull, it's called a radial pull and is quite common. The only fix is to replace the offending tire or rotate it off the front.
.

ramblinmanva

To update on this, I purchased a new digital tire gauge. Consistently, I found my older/cheaper stick tire gauge was 4 to 5 pounds lower than the digital. The digital exactly matched the TPMS. I let some air out of a tire, checked TPMS and digital and they still exactly matched.

I let about 5 pounds out while cold to bring the pressure down to what it is supposed to be per what's on the door. Since then, I may be crazy, but it seems 98% of my concern has been resolved. I may be over-thinking it now, but the steering wheel never seems quite centered when it is going straight. It is slightly turned. But at least i'm not pulling to the right constantly except occasionally for what I think may be road crown issues.

PARIAH

^^^ good news for the most part. How far from centered is the steering wheel?

Also, what brand and model gauge did you get?

ramblinmanva

I bought this one:


I trust there must be better ones, but it exactly matches the TPMS. Also, I let air out and immediately checked TPMS (no driving around, etc.) and it was immediately accurate.

Speedfreak400

This. Its is beyond comprehension in this day and age where you could have some many defects in the mfg of a project.

Wolvee

I've seen the older brake hoses start to collapse after a break job. While fixing other stuff, someone might hang the caliper wrong or twist it just enough to finish off the integrity of the brake line. The lines collapses while you're driving either a little of a lot causing it to lock up or drag which will cause it to pull to one side.