'96 2WD instant wobble and pull?

[khigh]

Full disclosure - this is my Silverado, but figured this would be the best place to ask.

My '96 Silverado is my smoothest-riding vehicle - freakishly so to be 21 years old. It rolls like greased bearings. Enough so that while it's not as "nice" as my others, it's my preferred highway vehicle to go to my country home about 80 miles away as often as not.

I was coming home from up there today - everything smooth like butter - just effortless on the freeway. 80 miles, 70+ of it highway.

I get home, get caught up with some chores, pop out for some errands.

And it's got the most horrible wobble I've ever had coming up through the steering wheel and a distinct pull to the right. This was at 6:00 exactly, and I just missed my mechanic on the phone. I've had a wheel fall off before and I wasn't altogether uncertain that it wasn't about to happen again.

I stopped and looked - initially thought I had a flat - everything's fine. Asked my barber to watch me drive and he didn't see anything untoward.

WTF?

The only thing that makes any sense as a generality is that something heated up on the freeway drive, and broke while it cooled. But what?

Could a tire be involved? I'm equidistant between the mechanic and the tire shop. I don't have a matched spare, so if there's a chance I might need a tire, I'll just go to the tire shop straightaway.

Thanks for looking!

 

[khigh]

Someone mentioned that it could be a "slipped belt" in the tire. The symptoms sound right and I could kind of see it being a heating/cooling component to it. Looking like I might start with the tire store.

 

[khigh]

So, yep. The tire broke internally.

Bonus! Since it's neither a tread wear issue nor a road hazard, I get to pay full price to replace 20K mile truck tires (both fronts).

I'm not sure if that's more a Kaufman Tire issue or a Goodyear issue, but I'm happy to never use either again while they sort it out.

 

[RicanGM]

Thank you for reporting back what the issue was.

 

[khigh]

As an aside - after having it for 16 years, The Silverado is no more.

Traded it today on an '08 Dodge Ram with an incredible 30K miles.

I just decided if I was going to be making a 160 mile trip 1-2 times a week I should play the odds on it being a newer truck.

Side effect - the Tahoe is pretty much a full-on toy at this point and I can do whatever I want with no basis in reason.