Alignment

CJANDREWS5

MEMBER
SATURN

2001 Saturn L200 4 cyl; 81,750 miles.
My car pulls to the left in varying amounts. The effect is more pronounced when I am alone in the car. Changes in the road crown direction have an obvious effect as well. I had the alignment done 3 years ago about a week after buying new tires. The car continued to pull left, but not as noticably at first.
I just had to replace the tires again after only 36,000 miles - they were almost completely bald, and the wear patterns also looked like they were affected by the car's misalignment. I had them roated every 12,000 miles. With the new tires the car still pulls left. Is this an alignment problem, or could the suspension be to blame? The difference in pull when I have a passenger to balance my weight makes me wonder.

1 Reply

MHPAUTOS

MECHANIC
31,937 POSTS

Hi there,

When an alignment is done, it is standard practice to inspect all the suspension and steering components before hand, as anything worn will affect the alignment. Wheel alignment is an exact science and should only be carried out by trained technicians with accurately calibrated equipment, sadly this is not always the case, so I would be asking the question about the operator and the equipment before having new tyres and an alignment, has the car been involved in an accident? As frame damage will also affect the results of an alignment.

Mark (mhpautos)