Here's my story:
I got new all-season tires installed last year in June and had a computerized 4-wheel alignment done after I noticed that the car was pulling left. The shop told me that the car still pulls a bit to the left after the alignment and blamed it on tire pull. It was very mild at that point so I lived with it. I then put on winter tires after about 10K km worth of mileage and as far as I recall, there was a tiny bit of a pull as well but not nearly as bad. I have now gone back to the all-seasons and have gone and additional 10K km more on them and the pull came back recently and is way more noticeable now. I took it in to the same shop for an alignment. After an hour of waiting, the guy came back and said that the alignment was dead-on and that everything was to spec. He blamed it on tire pull. This whole time I thought that my tires were directional, so I never did a criss-cross rotation (my bad). So after this odd diagnosis, I swapped the front wheels only to see if the car will start pulling the other way. It didn't. Still pulls left.

What could this possibly be? I think if something was damaged then the shop would've informed me. When I'm doing 120km/h on the highway, and I let go of the wheel in the right lane, it drifts to the left lane within 5 seconds, so it's pretty noticeable. I'd rather do some more tests on my own if I can, before taking it in to a different shop.

Heeelp

 

Alignments on cars, when going by spec, compensate for the crown in the road, but only to a certain degree. If the roads you drive on are crowned at a different angle than what is described to be "average", the car will pull in one direction or another. If your car is pulling left, chances are that the roads you travel are flatter than most.

To prove or disprove this, changing lanes on a road will sometimes affect the pull, as will driving on a flat surface like a large parking lot. If the alignment is dead on and the car's still pulling, it sounds like your mechanic needs to do further diagnosis, and/or drive the car himself.

 

I've driven on all sorts of streets and highways, and the car almost always pulls left no matter what. The steering wheel goes a bit off to the side too. If you're saying that the alignment compensates for the crown, then wouldn't it compensate for it with the steering wheel being centered? (hope that makes sense)

I'm thinking of maybe raising the front of the car off the ground, running the engine in gear, and checking to see if the steering wheel turns left on its own without road contact. Maybe there is something wrong with steering gearbox or something ..?

 

True. I wouldn't go that far though. I'd take it elsewhere for a second opinion.

 

Looks like there is a billion possible causes of steering pull - as described here

I'll do a couple of the checks that they recommend and if that doesn't reveal anything then I'll just take it to another shop for inspection..

 

cant a postive or negative toe on one wheel do it meanin the wheel is bent in or out a small amount.

 

are your tires bald? i had the same problem of car pulling to the right but when i put on new tires it drove straight

 

Ever gotten into an accident with the car?

 

Obviously, if the pulling started ever since you changed tires, it probably has something to do with them.

What kind of warranty do you have on the tires? I would just get replacements if possible.

 

serium1 - The tires are far from bold. I must have only put about 20K km on them.
princelybug - Car is free of accidents
xenonhid - I don't think I can use any warranty at this point (after that much mileage on them). I also bought the tires from a place that's 5 hours away from where I live now..
I'm going to have a mechanic inspect the car during my next oil change. I want them to look at steering components, suspension etc.. If there are no problem then I'll see what happens towards the winter when I put on entirely different tires on steelies.

 

^^ Good Luck Thermos.

I would utilize SEARs Auto's Free 19 Point Suspension & Chassis Inspection Check. I used it and they were great.

I had swaying issue where my car would sway from side to side on freeways, and even after 10 alighments from Firestone (Firestone is Garbage BTW), SEARS affirmed with me there was nothing wrong with my suspension components, thank goodness.

Finally went to Acura of Lynnwood and did an alighnment, WAH LA! Steering is Perfectly straight.

So I would check with SEARS and also get an alignment done at a good shop. Not all alighment equipment / techs are created equal.

 

My car has always pulled, but for the first time it doesn't anymore. Funny thing is I'm not sure what I did to fix it. I've made three changes in the last week.
1) new continental extremecontact dws tires
2) aspec suspension kit
3) ingalls rear camber kit on both sides
of course I got an alignment too, but I always do that so nothing new. They were able to get better suspension specs in the back though with that new ingalls kit.

 

could be a radial pull in the tires