alignment problem?

[Murphy]

my car has recently started pulling to the right, the steering wheel has also gotten tighter, is this probably just an alignment problem?
at slower speeds the steering wheel goes back and forth with the road, but thats normal isnt it? i just cant remember if it did it before or not
the wheels are also out of balance, that the only thing i know for sure.

[Legacy777]

I'd jack up the car and try and move around the wheels. Something may have come loose, or may be binding.

[lunes]

I deal with this stuff on a daily basis at work... first, check to make sure everything is tight. (do you know how to test tie rods, and ball joints?) then if everything looks straight, and nothing is really bad, check your axle shaft and wheel bearing for resistance (bad bearings CAN cause pulling, but if its that bad it will be very easy to find)

unusual causes of strange front end behavior can include corrosion on the wheels, but that almost never causes a pull to one side... that can be part of vibrations though...

as Josh said, jack up the front end of the car and test things... if you don't know how to test a ball joint, get a jackstand and lift the front of the car, put the stand under the outer flat part of the suspension arm under the ball joint, let the jack down a little (to put pressure on the suspension but keep the wheel off the ground, and then try to pry the wheel straight up from underneath with a pry bar or something similar... if the wheel wiggles up and down it is likely the ball joint... really bad ones like the ones on my car clicked, sometimes its just a little slop... if you can't do this on your own, find a shop that does "safety" inspections and ask them to check your front end, I know that my shop does them free, but that may not be the case there... if you have to pay someone to do it, watch them when they are working... Ive seen a lot of guys do this and exaggerate the problems so you replace more than is needed... but you hopefully have the sense to know if someone is trying to screw with you.

if my excessively long post is confusing, PM me and I might be able to help... good luck with your problem, hopefully you get an easy (and affordable) solution.

[evolutionmovement]

These cars are tough as nails as far as alignments go. The car shouldn't be hunting ruts unless you put some weird offset wheels on. Jack the car and pull on the wheels. If you find any play up or down you have a bad ball joint. You should be able to see some movement in it at this point while moving the wheel. Try also moving the wheel side to side. Any play, see where it is: inner tie rod is inboard by the steering rack and a bad outer tie rod will show play at the wheel spindle end. My guess is more tie rod or in combination with a ball joint. They're not bad to do yourself (unless the suckers have been in there forever), but where you'll need an alignment after anyway, it may be worth having a shop do the replacement as well, plus you won't have to eyeball the alignment to drive it to a shop (which may be a distance away).

[Murphy]

well i had a flat on the right front, i ran over a piece of glass or something, but it had a slit in the tire were it came out at that had been there for quite a while, the tire held air and it didnt look like a deep cut but i gues whatever was in it fell out and it leaked off, pretty fast too
i got it plugged, im trying to wait till i get enough money to just buy 4 new tires, and i balenced it at school, we had to take off and move around the weights at least 4 or 5 times for each front wheel
we'd put a wieght in and run the machine again to check it and it would read 0oz. on that side but double the other side
both front were about 4.00 oz. off inside and out
i wonder if i could have a bent rim

it rides much smoother, so far ive only gotten to do stop and go driving, havent had a chance to really check if it still pulls, it does rut hunt a little still

[evolutionmovement]

Sounds like a bent rim.