Tires Or Alignment Causing Swerving On Grooved Pavement?
 

Hi everyone,

Recently, we got new tires on our 2008 Civic Hybrid. The tires are from Costco-- Ecopia EP422 Ground Touring A/S 195/65R 91H. Wheel torque was set to 80 and tire pressure set to 32 for all wheels. We also had alignment done at our Honda dealer.

There's a stretch of highway we sometimes take that has deeply grooved pavement. Normally, there's no big deal driving over this but since the tires and alignment, it consistently swerves as if being blown by heavy wind -- only on this stretch.

I've read that this is known as "trammeling" and can happen for a number of reasons:

-The wrong tire size
-Improper alignment
-Improper balance

I'm no expert on tires, but I believe the OEM tires were 195/65R 89S, and if I'm interpreting the specs right, the 91H set that we got from Costco should be fine as they support a heavier load. People on TireRack.com seem satisfied with the brand and model of tire for the Hondas.

Could Honda have screwed up when they aligned the tires? Or is this just the need for a breaking-in period for new tires?

Thanks!

Mike