My buddy just got one of our cars a month after I did for a really good price and its clean for its age. Its a 2005 automatic, he bought it as is and to have it safetied it was found he needed a new control arm.


He had it all taken care of but found the car was jittery and had excessive pull. I took him to pick it up after an alignment and it was determined the wheels were way off, toe was off on both rear wheels and camber was off on fronts. The rears were fixed and the right was brought within spec but the left was still off by 1.5 mm or degrees, can't remember what is was.


Either way they explained something is likely bent but they couldn't tell without taking the wheel off and doing further diagnosis, control arm looked good. They say they could fit a ball joint which would improve it somewhat but it was still be about .5 out of spec.


He still finds that its pulling and will be getting it diagnosed at the time of his next oil change. He doesn't know much about cars but told me ask here if anyone knows what type of components can be damaged in that area. He's just looking to get an idea of potential damaged parts and costs but we have no idea what the hell is even in there from a mechanical standpoint.

 

Post the alignment specs

 

I only think he got the invoice sheet and not the spec sheet, I will ask to scan it and email me a copy if he does. They showed it to us as they were explaining it and only the left front wheel was out of spec after alignment.


Its got a 1.5 degrees outward camber (whatever the hell that is) and they said it may not be a problem other than excessive tire wear on the outer edge but its definitely noticeable and annoying.

 

Just something to keep in mind - if the tires were driven on for an extended period of time with the suspension all out of spec, those tires may now be causing some or all of the pulling now that it is close to being within spec.

 

If the driver's side camber is vastly different than the pass side it will cause a drift to the left as the tire has a smaller circumference, because of the angle, than the right side.
You can have him measure the distance from the center of the front wheel to the center of the rear wheel. Should be the same on each side.
You can have him switch the front tires side to side and see if any difference. If still a drift to the left, problems with that corner or excessive camber on that one wheel, conversely, if the drift is to the right, tire.