AGHHHH! Alignment Issues!

Ok, here's the short story.

I was driving home one day when I switched lanes and the alignment felt like it went out of whack. One lane was higher than the other one and when I switced over something instantly felt wrong. The car immideately started to pull to the right. I thought that I knocked the front end alignment out so I drove the car to Firestone and used my lifetime alignment there.

The guy at Firestone told me that in order to fix my alignment that I need to first replace my lower control arm ball joints before he would work on it. I told him I would do it myself and then I took the car home. He wasn't happy (wanted to charge me $280). So after 2 months, I'm selling my house and I haven't got around to fixing the ball joints yet. So I took it back to Firestone and had them replace the ball joints and then do the alignment.

WELL, afterward I pick the car up and it STILL PULLS TO THE RIGHT. I told the guy something was wrong and he said that I needed new tires. Now he's right that I do need new tires because they're pretty worn, but I'm waiting until I can afford a new set of wheels. So I told him that the tires were not the issue and that something is knocked out of whack. He told me that I had a 'radial pull' because one tire is worn more than the other. IF this were indeed true (and it's not) then why did it all of a sudden happen once I switched lanes on the interstate. He said that if I switched the right front tire with the left front tire then it would pull to the left. I'm about to try that and see what happens.

Any ideas what's wrong with my alignment? BTW.....I HATE FIRESTONE!

[begin rant] All alignment places will try to rip you off. You most likely did not need anything done. [/end rant]

If your tires are directional the guy at firestone is an idiot. The front tires do not switch with eachother on a directional tire. They switch with the back tires on the same side. Worn tires can cause pull, but nothing insane. I had one tire with literally no tread, and one new tire in front. Felt little to no pull at all on a flat road.

Since the tires are a little wider they will follow grooves a lot more. My car pulls to the right constantly in the right lane. Pulls a little either way in the left lane. It depends on the road you are driving on. Also, any slack in the steering collumn will exaggerate the pull (you do not need a new steering rack most likely, all of them have some sort of play).

First rule of thumb: don't listen to what any chain tire store people tell you is wrong with your car. If you want to listen, make them show and prove to you what is wrong.

My first inclination is that your tires are merely following ruts in the road. My car is a handful on rutted roads with the 17 x 9s. On a good road, it drives like a dream.

Check your steering rack bolts, theyre what bolts the steering rack to the K member and hard to see. If theyre not tight enough, I would imagine that a sudden steering change could cause the rack to slide to one side of the other in the bolt holes, thus throwing your alignment off. Just something you may want to check into :)

Awesome. Thanks guys. I rotated the passenger side tires (front to back and back to front) to see if the problem would go away. It didn't go away, however it did improve. Instead of fighting with the steering wheel to get the car to stay on the road, I only have to slightly turn the wheel to the left. I think the guy at Firestone might be right that the tires are causing some of the problem, but there's NO WAY that it's only the tires and nothing else. I'll check the steering bolts.

Thanks.

Awesome. Thanks guys. I rotated the passenger side tires (front to back and back to front) to see if the problem would go away. It didn't go away, however it did improve. Instead of fighting with the steering wheel to get the car to stay on the road, I only have to slightly turn the wheel to the left. I think the guy at Firestone might be right that the tires are causing some of the problem, but there's NO WAY that it's only the tires and nothing else. I'll check the steering bolts.

Thanks.

Did you ever figure this problem out? I have a similar problem and I was told it's my tires too so I rotated them and it still pulls right.

I did figure the problem out. I got new tires and wheels and the problem went away. I'm guessing it was the tires because they only had about 30,000 on them but they were like 8 years old.