Topic: Question but not really 4x4 related...sorry

[RogueDogg]

Issue at hand:
My wifes 98 Nissan 200sx has had a pretty nasty alignment problem ever since she bought it. Now we had new tires put on it and had it aligned and that fixed it alittle bit but it still pulled to the right pretty bad. Now it got to the point it was shaking the car and steering wheel pretty bad at speeds of 50mph+ so I deceided to pull the tires and have a look. I didn't notice anything bent or tweaked and the guy that aligned it said that this is as good as it'll ever get. Now on the front pass. side the inside of the tire is pretty bald *(again brand new tires less than 8 months old)* drivers side front not as bad but on it's way going bald on the inside of the tire. The rear looked great. Tire pressure is good on all tires. So I deceided to rotate the tires took and did the criss cross action and put the front pass. side on the rear driver side and so on. Now the car has a really nasty pull to the left *(drivers side)* even worse than what it was before I rotated the tires and now the steering wheel kinda shimmies back and forth *( like 10 o`clock to 2 o`clock action )* at slower speeds and gets pretty bad at 50mph+. If you were to take and put a mark with the wheel straight at the 12 o`clock position I would have to keep that mark at about 2 o`clock to keep the car straight on the road *( pretty bad I know )*. As you can imagine my shoulders get pretty tired holding the wheel at that position while driving   Ok with that said....
Q:
1). Why would the alignment swing the other way rotating the tires?
2). Do you think anything is bent for it to be that bad? *(nothing visually looks out of whack, Everything feels nice and tight as far as ball joint play, tie rod play so on... )*
3). I THINK the front driver side drive axle might have a slight warp in it but it's very hard to tell, if it does it's very minimal.

Any thoughts and ideas as to what this might be or if ya'll think the dude that aligned the car is a meth addict and just ripped my wife off....anything please help me out...

Sorry again I know it's not 4x4 related but ya'll are the greatest bunch and I know your more than willing to help out in anyway possible....  

Thanks a million in advance....

Brian "ROGUEDOGG" Ford  

[hawaii500_1999]

i don't know much about nissans, but i can give some general things to look at:  
first thing is that i never trust a shop mechanic that i never dealt with completely.(he might be a meth addict)  

so the first thing i would do would be to look at the ball joints, front end bushings and tie rod ends.  

also you might want to check the frame out a bit to see if it is bent.  that's hard to do.  but usually you can tell by seeing some paint chipping away.

does it have independent rear suspension?  if so did the alignment shop align the rear tires.

check on line for some kind of recall stuff on that car.

check the wheel bearings and spindles.

i doubt all of the rims are bent or have flat spots but check them any way.

hope it helps.  good luck.

[RogueDogg [OP]]

I've looked at play in the ball joints, rod ends, etc... everything looks and feels good. No noticeble dents in the frame or scratches or tweaks. The rear is not independant. I think *( trying to remember the print out from the shop )* he aligned the rear as well. I've never had to deal with any shops out here *(Arizona)* and the ones I have delt with *( Dealerships and Joe Blows garage )* I have had bad expirences with them all. If anyone is Arizona Phoenix Metro area knows of and would recommend a shop for my issue I'd be more than happy to bring my work to them. Thanks for your suggestions Hawaii500_1999 they're greatly appreciated.

Brian "ROGUEDOGG" Ford

[RogueDogg [OP]]

Ok found out what was going on. Talked to a Nissan dealership and they stated that if your car pulls to one side and then you rotate the tires and the car now pulls to the opposite side it's in the tires and it's called "radial pull". So after fighting with the local Discount tire dealer and telling them the car is fine it's the tires finally they gave in and replaced the tires and swore up and down that it would not fix my problem. Guess what they were DEAD WRONG. The problem is fixed, car drives nice and straight, feels like a brand new car again. Just thought I'd let ya'll know what came of it all.

Thanks for all your help and suggestions.

Brian "ROGUEDOGG" Ford