Steering wheel not straight after alignment
 

Hello I had my inner and outer tie rods replaced along with an alignment about three weeks ago. All was well and I didn't notice any problems. Last weekend I replaced my front brakes and rotated my tires (front to back). Since then my steering wheel loves to be at 15 degrees to the left at most speeds. Is there an explanation for this?

The alignment wasn't done correctly.

Was the suspension disconnected for any reason when the brakes were done?
Not normally necessary for pads,rotors or hoses.
Rotating your tyres should not affect your alignment either really.
Is there any excessive / irregular wear on one of the currently fitted front tyres?

If the wheel was good after the alignment and before the brakes and the tire rotation then something there is wrong. Is the wheel actually off center or are you turning it to compensate for a pull to the right? Try rotating the tires back to where they were to see if the wheel goes back to where it was.

Thanks for the reply. No suspension parts were touched during the brake change but to compress the piston back into the caliper I did have to use a pry bar and really put some weight on to press them back in.

Also for the symptoms occurring after the brake job is somewhat difficult to determine. I never remember it being this drastic after the alignment was done so I am assuring it somehow was caused when I did the breaks. After some more research I am finding that maybe I need to do my bushings and ball joints. I could have possibly messed with them when prying on the calipers.

Check the tires. If one has less tread, it will pull to that side.

Is the car tracking straight?

I have changed braked on a lot of cars, pushing and pulling things. I can't ever remember knocking the steering wheel alignment off.

When an alignment is done, they should inspect suspension parts BEFORE they try to align anything. If they find worn or bad parts, they should stop and replace the parts or tell you to get them replaced before they can align the car. After an alignment, they should also align the steering wheel.

The tires are wearing evenly. As for the suspension parts, I was told by an independent garage that all suspension parts needed to be replaced and would do all for $2500. After taking it for a second opinion the second garage said that only the inner tie rods needed to be replaced. I had them replace both inner and outer as to avoid an extra alignment in the future if my outers went. The second garage also said that the rest of the parts were decently worn due to age but unnecessary to replace at the time. Due to the first garages opinion and my current situation I am considering replacing the bushings and ball joints. The car has 174k on it.

Well just doing brakes isn't going to change the alignment. If it was going straight before the tires were rotated and then started pulling after they were rotated, it would likely be a tire issue.

Try swapping them side to side to see if it switches.

I suspect the garages are trying to milk your bank account somewhat.
It's also appalling for a tyre shop or garage to do an alignment and charge you if they know full well the steering and suspension has critical related components badly worn and requiring replacement.

If it tracked straight before the brakes were done and the tyres rotated , I'm with ES6T, it has to be the tyres causing it or you have affected the alignment when you attacked forced back your callipers hard with your pry bar perhaps?

Put the tyres back to original positions and see how she tracks then.

You can't change the alignment by doing brakes. There's no way doing brakes caused you to loosen and adjust the outer tie rod or strut and it would be pretty hard to bend something yourself.

Hey guys Ill try rotating my tires back and see what happens then. Currently while driving if I let go of the steering wheel the car almost immediately will turn to the right and I have to grab it and turn left to straighten out before going off the road. I will also be driving 1000 miles one way for thanksgiving so I will definitely see some effects of longer term high speed driving. As it is my tires have little life left so I want to figure this out before buying new tires. Thanks for everyones input so far.

After taking the tires off with my dad and going over everything we found that the front driver side control arm bushing was very worn and loose. We are just going to replace that one part and maybe the opposite side until the other parts go. Just a heads up for anyone who is going to replace their bushings. We had to cut out the rubber part and chiseled out the metal. This would have been easier to do if we had removed the control arm. You can get these pressed out at a shop though if you cannot do it yourself.