Camry 1997 pulls to the right

[seawja]

My car pulls to the right so I took it to alignment. The shop took my car to test drive and confirmed that it really pull right. He said that alignment might not help, the problem might me tires. I just chaged tires 15,000 miles ago, so I don't think that a problem. He said I need to rotate and align my tire, but he is not sure if it is going to solve the problem either. I asked him what might be the problem, then. He said he did not know.

Is he trying to take money from me? If it is not alignment, what else could cause the car to pull to the right.

Thank you very much for every help?

[InstallTech]

Make sure that your tire pressure on all the tires are matched up. That'd be my first check. If that doesn't work, have the tires rotated and balanced. If that still doesn't work, then have the alignment checked. That'd be my best guess.

[Mike Gerber]

Installtech is right about first checking the tire pressure. I would assume the place you took it to did this. I would also assume they made a visiual inspection of the car's suspension and wheels and didn't see anything out of the ordinary. If that's the case, then I would start by switching the 2 front tires with each other. If the car now pulls to the left, you have found the problem. The tire now on the left front (previously on the right) has what is known as a "radial pull". The belts shift internally causing the tire to pull to one side. The only fix is to replace that tire, but it should be under warranty with only 15,000 miles on it. I would go back to the place that sold you the tires and tell them you suspect a radial pull and ask them to switch the 2 front tires for you to varify this. They should do this for free.

Good luck.

Mike