New to me 1994 940t with 193k miles, tons of records, great overall condition. After driving well for some 40 miles on the interstate, rightward pull became noticeable and worsened greatly over the next 10 or so miles, accompanied gradually by severe steering wheel shake. Not a tire issue, not a stuck caliper... Ideas?

happened to my 940,,,,youhit a pothole & blew a belt in your tires.

Tires were old, Cooper brand, the car had not been used much for several years so that freeway half an hour did the damage. I don't remember hitting a pot hole but who knows...

ibought 2 Cooper tires for the rear of my 245,,then 6 mos later the shop owner died,,,& the right rear tire blew out while turning at a local corner going 5 mph...Cooper was TOTALLY IRRESPONSIBLLE & REFUSED TO DO ANYTHING WHEN i CALLED.Finally found a dealer 15 miles away & they said theyd give a 75PC discount on another 1,Ahole useless dealer looked at it & said it was MY fault!!ridiculous,,I want to buy american & they screed me,,,F them & any other smal dealers ike that

I think it's good practice when taking possession of an older car to check the DOT numbers on the tires to determine how old they are.
I recently bought a 65 544 with the odo reading 86K. After a lot of work to get it roadworthy, I took it for a long run at road speed. I had replaced the rear tires but the front ones looked good. On my way home after about 100 miles the right front went flat very fast at about 60 mph. The 544 was no problem to safely get it to the shoulder to put on the spare. The flat tire was a Cooper steel belt redial and it was in shreads.
Checked the DOT number and discovered the tire was 40 years and 8 months old! Needless to say I wasted no time buying two new front tires. Tom

hi fredneck- good advice on checking age of tires. just checked rear two douglas radials from Walmart on my 92 245. in the oval next to the dot number is 3012 and 2312 which means the former was produced during the 30th week of 2012 and the latter during the 23d week of 2012. so 6 years old. Michelin in sc says replace tires after 8 years. shysters at highway clip joint chain stores say 4 years. sounds like someone is trying to make a homerun. bet Michelin knows more about tires than the cleaners. what think you? thanks tons oldduke

Hi Oldduke,
I think on most old cars that are kept in garages away from ultraviolet light, 15 years is a practical limit. The great majority of these cars are driven only occasionally for short distances and at relatively slow speeds.
On the other hand, my cars, a 36 Ford Tudor, 52 Chevy pickup and a 65 Volvo PV544,all look stock but are modified to be safe at interstate speeds. I drive them fast and long distances so i'm reluctant to go past 10 years.
No trailer gueens, Tom

hi bb- could have been a pothole strike to the tire that damaged the belt or caused a belt shift. also could have been normal driving, low inflation, or thinning tread among other things which caused the belt to shift which would stress the belt and could tear it which would lead to the failure . seems to be a problem common to radial tires. the older bias ply tires didn't have this problem but they gave less mileage life and poorer gas mileage. the bias ply style went out in the early 70s on cars, replaced by the radial tires. the original radials had fiberglass belts which didn't seem to have this belt shifting problem as much. all the radials I have seen for the last 30 years have been steel belted. what I have noticed also is that belt shifting happens more frequently when the tread is thinning or wearing unevenly which transfers more road stress to the belt. as soon as you notice that road bumping and the tire is out of round, explosion is not far away. if you saw the movie thunder road you know what happens when the tire blows out. regards oldduke

It was the left front tire after all... Internal belt separation made for a balloon that increased the size of the tire, made it pull to the right...

hi ted v- actually that is a moderately common cause of the malfunction you report. but it strangely is rarely suspected in practice. have had that problem at least 5 times since the war with a variety of car models. seems fairly common with radial style tires. once the belt shifts, it stresses the tread until a bubble appears and the tire goes out of round, rumbles like hell and explodes if you push it.sometimes the belt breaks and the wire strands rapidly deflate the tire. one is inclined to look at everything else, calipers, joints , bushings, tie rod ends, etc . this invites shysterism if you go to some mechanics and dealers. two rules- for front end problems inspect the tires carefully first, and pull the ripcord if some joker tells you you need fresh blinker fluid or you need to replace the muffler bearings. give em hades. regards oldduke