got a Nissan pickup that pulling to the left. and the right side is bouncing. do I need new tire to get a front end aliment.
You need new shock absorbers, recommend KYB GR-2 shocks. Most modern alignment machines work of the hub alignment so you don’t need new tires, but if you need new tires because the ones you have are worn out, then you should get them.
Year, mileage, maintenance history, driving environment, how’s it used, any recent work or other symptoms, and 2WD or 4WD. And has it been modified in any way, such as raised or had deep dish wheels added. Lots of folks do these things to pickups.
The 2wd/4wd question is essential, as the front ends will be very different, but all the answers are important. The cause could range from frame rot to bad struts to worn out suspension components, and might even include a bent rim or damaged tire.
Post the answers and help will be on the way.
Depending upon the mileage it might not be a bad idea to have the entire suspension checked.
With high miles it’s generally not a case of one thing only being worn; it’s a herd of problems with varying degrees of wear.
One thing for certain that should be checked is ball joints as that is something that can be lethal if or when one of them snaps; and there will not be one second of warning before it does break.
A bad ball joint can cause a pull; that’s why I mention that particular item.
I’ve seen the results of a snapped ball joint, and I agree with the other comments and the recommendation 100%.
I still hope the OP posts back with the answers. There’s just too little information here.
I think what’s going on is that he’s driven on a mis-aligned car long enough to put a substantial amount of asymmetrical wear on the tires, and he wants to know if he can “get away with” just the alignment, or if he needs to replace the tires. (To which I say, replace the tires as soon as you can. A properly aligned car will still pull with badly worn tires. If you can’t afford them RIGHT now, get the car aligned and replace tires at the (very!) first possibility. I’m operating under the assumption that there is no cord showing, and no extensive bald areas.)
I’ve mentioned the story before, but one morning about sunup and a few miles out of town some guy in a late model Dodge Ram was coming up behind me. I’m doing the posted 55 and he’s doing about 65 or 70. In the mirror something did not look right on his right front wheel and I thought it was shadows in the rising sun.
As he started to pass I saw he had about 8 degrees of neg. camber and knew the ball joint was about to go. I rolled the window down and got his attention as he passed. I furiously pointed at the RF wheel and this moron gave me a thumbs up. I could see he had a white knuckle grip on the steering wheel trying to hold it on the road.
As he passed I hit the brakes to get clean away from him. I let him have about a city block lead and I picked my speed up to tail him while keeping the cell phone in hand for the 911 call I was about to make.
He went a mile or so before the entire RF suspension along with the wheel snapped off. The truck chewed up about 150 feet of asphalt before sliding into the ditch in a cloud of dust and weeds.
The wheel and suspension bounced into the barbed wire fence and then did a ricochet clean across the highway before being stopped by the barbed wire fence on the other side.
I just slowed down and passed by without stopping to help. What really ticked me off was passing my daughter a few miles later who was on the way to my house and knowing that she was awfully close to catching that wheel and suspension in the windshield.
That truck sat in the ditch for 2 weeks before getting hauled off. Probably the less time that guy is behind the wheel the better.
I saw a lady pull into a space at the mall with a beat up old Ford Explorer with the left front tire clearly leaning over. The tire had strips worn out on the outside edge to where there were 6"x3/4" areas right to the metal belt, with the metal worn through in spots. The inside edge had no wear at all. The tire was extremely conical. She had little ones in the rear seat.
She got out, grabbed her kids, and took off onto the mall at full walk… probably to buy some totally unnecessary junk. It upset me so badly that I almost dialed 911, but I knew the cops wouldn’t wait in the mall parking lot for her to finish her shopping, and a ticket just wouldn’t have had any impact on her.
In all my years I’ve never seen a tire worn that badly or that unevenly. And on an old Explorer to boot. I’m still a bit angry at myself for not trying to do something about it. But I’m not confident that I could have.
@keith writes …
You need new shock absorbers
How would the shocks affect alignment? Or do you mean the OP needs new shocks b/c the right side is bouncing, so might as well buy and install them before the alignment is done?