Sorry Mark but you are wrong. During the alignment the mechanic sets the steering wheel level and locks it with a holding bracket. He then goes underneath the car and adjust the tie rod ends to make the wheels straight plus the toe end.
Six years on your tires may be the problem. The crest on the road shouldn't have changed much over the years, and you didn't notice the 'pull' before. If it's not the tires, have your mechanic check your ball-joints.
Swap your front tires from side to side and everything will be fine. They have developed wear from the previously mentioned road crown, if you swap them, they will fight the crown in the road and the car won't pull.
I promise.
The center of the road is slightly higher than the outside edge to assist in rain water run off, but it will also cause a car to drift to the right.
Wheel alignment does not address steering wheel centering. Splined drive column to steering-box input is going to have to be adjusted. Or, remove steering wheel, turn to center and re-install,
ummmmm the road curves to the right for drainage which pulls your car to the right don't worry about unless its pulling really bad
I just had a wheel balancing and alignment done on my car. My car was going right when the wheel was straight (had to hold it slightly left for it to go straight).
I thought an alignment would fix the problem, though this is not the case. It still goes slightly right. I had the balance and alignment done by Firestone. They did not test drive the car....the guy said the machine brings it within spec for toe...and that should make the wheels aligned.
During the service (and in my receipt-report), they told me that all of my tires are getting low in tread and are 6 years old. Also, they said the left rear is very edge worn. They clearly wanted me to buy new tires from them.
What do you guys think? Are they being dishonest here somewhere? Or, are the conditions of my tire the reason for the rightward pull?
