Topic: car pulls, bad tires?

[huzzsaba]

first off, a little history....

I bought a 95 volvo 850 6 months ago.  it seems the car was sitting for a while (how long i dont know)but a few months probably. I had the car checked and it needed brakes and one ball joint.  I got those replaced as well as the steering rack because it started leaking.

The tires on the car are nexens.  they are the budget tires they sell in walmart i believe.  anyways the back 2 were like new and the fronts were at least 70 percent good. the tires looked very good.

I took it for an alignment and the shop did the alignment.  when i got the car back, it was pulling to the left.   the steering however was straight and the car drove straight when holding the steering, but as soon as i let go, it would pull to the left.

I took the car back to the alignment place and they checked it twice and said everything was fine.  I asked them about the tires and they said the tires looked fine. The front end is nice and tight as well.

I gave up that day and just drove home hoping to deal with it another time.  finally today, i took it to get the tires rotated in order to put the bad tire (if in fact it is the tire) in the back.  so after the front to back rotation, the front end feels even worst and now the car pulls to the right!!!

I am confused as to what i should do now.  I feel like i should just replace the tires but i don't want to spend too much on the car because it is barely used but its bad enough to annoy me when im driving it.

any ideas would be great.  Thanks

[capriracer]

Simple test:  Swap the front tires - side to side.

1)  If the pull completely changes direction, the pull is all in the tires.

2)  If the pull doesn't chnage at all, it's all in the vehicle (might be alignment, might be a dragging brake!)

3)  If the pull disappears or changes (other than a complete change in direction), then it's both tires and vehicle.

Be careful as many alignment shops won't fix a vehicle that is out of alignment if the factory didn't provide adjustability.  That is utter hogwash.  ALL aligbnment settings can be adjusted, but sometimes it requires an eccentric bolt or a plate to get the adjustability.

Also, if the problem is tires, you won't be able to get an adjustment from the tire manufacturer.  They don't warrant tires with that much wear for pulls - only when they are new.