A difference in wheelbase length could indicate a difference in front caster settings which will cause steering pull but no undue tire wear. Compensating for this steering pull by adjusting toe on one side would cause undue tire wear that you would have noticed. Another way to compensate for unequal front caster angles without causing undue tire wear, assuming that you do not have a solid rear axle is to adjust both rear wheels to become turned a little to one side yet keeping their toe setting within specification. This will make your car dog track a little but when you are driving, you may not notice.
Whether or not this is your situation is impossible for me to say but it is a possible scenario.
If your front caster settings are not equal, ask if the body can be pulled to correct this or else ask if adjustable camber plates are available for your car. I fixed mine by elongating the strut mounting holes at the top of one of the front shock towers. This may not be possible with all cars and product liability would immediately become a concern. Your mechanic might not want to do it.
I have not found camber slightly out of spec to have an effect on steering pull.
Camber does affect steering pull. Ride a motor cycle and you will see. Caster does not, but it affects stability and steering effort. More caster makes the car more stable, but requires more effort to steer. That is why some cars have two different caster settings, one for power steering and one for manual steering.
Thanks for all the info.
Old 544, it was supposed to be a four-wheel alignment. Unsure now whether it was actually done.
Keith, it was a front-end passenger-side collision, and it’s that corner that’s set back. Though that corner’s never visually looked quite right, we eventually had to stop going back, because it was out-of-pocket, and we only had the one vehicle. Even though I had a “lifetime alignment” arrangement with the 1st shop, I wound up taking it to the 2nd shop this time just because of my work schedule & location. I was considering taking it back to the 1st shop after all, but was unsure whether to do so, because of what the 2nd mechanic told me.
Karl, I appreciate the offer to look at your shop. It’s a 1996 Maxima.
I’ll try to work something out with the body shop as far as the frame straightening, and also follow up on the part numbers & measurements y’all suggested. I’ll let you know what I find.
Thanks again.
Best of luck to you. I am ignorant on front suspension geometry of the Maxima, although I did have a 97 and enjoyed the car. Is it possible that the tech who installed the front struts installed a mounting plate backward, thus creating the 1/2 " differential? And has the squeaking noise been addressed? An old trick for a minor situation like this is a come-along attached to the right front lower control arm and a “pull” by the alignment technician. Very cheap and usually a very effective solution, especially on a vehicle that you may not want to invest big money in to. Just a suggestion.
Keith, motorcycles do not have camber but do have plenty of caster. For the most part, comparing the steering geometry of a motorcycle to that of a car does not reveal much that is useful.
Again, you need to ride a motorcycle and you will learn something.
My experience with motorcycles goes back 50+ years and the only alignment that I am aware of is centering the wheels unless the frame or forks are bent. And I seem to recall that rake and caster are not the same angle.
Well Rod, then you know what happens when you lean the bike. That is what I’m referring to. Camber does affect pull.
Ditto. Camber does affect pull. That’s why the recommendation to dial in more negative camber on the RF on vehicles with adjustable camber; to compensate for road crown.
A motorcycle in a strong crosswind will definitely create some camber. On one occasion I got cambered clean off the road and into the ditch; thankfully never dumping it. 
Keith, I presently own two motorcycles; have mostly owned one at a time but for a while, three of them. When you lean, the handlebars are instinctively turned just a little in the direction of the turn or you would fall over. The lean of the wheels is not built-in camber.
Depending on a few factors turning a motorcycle often involves countersteering; turn left, steer right, etc.
Here’s a simple explanation of front end angles on bikes, motorized or pedal.
A day late but the bad news, according to our Hunter alignment rack console, is that the only angle adjustable on this car is front toe! (Don’t kill the messenger.)
Specialty Products makes aftermarket control arms, etc for cars whose toe & camber angles can’t be adjusted with OE steering/suspension components, but they don’t list anything for the 96 Maxima:
Man, I’m out of ideas!
First off there is no way on a unibody car,the frame rails could be off enough to have the wheel base be off a 1/2 inch and have the body panels fit. You only have 3mm of tolerance. You get out side of that and things start to grow. Like door/hood gaps. My guess is if the tires are wearing even,then you have something else in suspension wore out or the alinement guy did not do something right.
FIY unibody cars are made to be repaired and todays frame tech’s if trained and certified. Can put them back better than new. I wish I sill had all of the before and after pic’s to post on here of the cars I pulled and put back on the road. Also the one’s I clipped.
I wish uniformed people on here would stop with the myth that a unibody car should be totaled just because it need’s some frame work.
The suspension is always suspect IMO. Almost any kind of impact at all usually damages a control arm at the minimum and even a comparatively minor curb strike can do it in.
When hit, the wheel assembly usually kneels under and that creates more positive camber, positive caster, or both. Either one can cause a pull.
I’m not one to consider a car a total because the unibody is damaged. The problem is that it seems sometimes the suspension parts get overlooked along with buckled floor pans and tweaked strut towers.
Using camber to adjust out steering pull is less effective with narrow tires than it is with wide tires. The OP does not mention uneven tire wear which would eventually show up with camber out of adjustment.
Agree with bodyman. Almost every car in a collision will have some frame damage and they are returned to like new condition in body shops daily. The vast majority will never experience any further problems because of it.
oldbodyman’s right… Our right headlight never has sat quite right since, and the gap at the door isn’t nice and plumb. I’m going to see if a different body shop can help me with that.
So, in the end, I checked the distances in the rear of the car, and everything lined up. The problem’s in the front. I’m going to pursue that as above.
In the meantime, I had a 3rd mechanic check the alignment. He found that the 2nd shop had the front wheels toed-in, which he fixed. We also had the wheels rotated & balanced. Between those factors, it’s now only pulling to the right ever so slightly; probably due to that frame misalignment. Hopefully, we’ll find out more from the body shop.
Thanks for your help!
I really don’t think you have a bent frame anyway. From my limited experience with Nissan’s, they use an A frame for the lower control arm. With this design, they don’t need a trailing arm for longitudinal control. But damage to the front end can cause the control arm to be bent.