I have a 2008 XLS with 35K miles. I replaced the tires in the last 500 miles (even after rotating at each oil change.) I cannot recommend the GoodYear Eagle 2's to anyone!) with Michelin Primacy MXV4..... very, very smooth tire but off topic.

Anyways, I noticed some uneven alignment type wear on the old tires for the last 3 or 4 oil changes and had an alignment done by the dealership about 5K miles ago when I had it in there for recall work. It has always pulled to the left quite a bit, but the tires were wearing so fast everywhere else, I didn't want to mess around with the alignment issues anymore until I was ready/needed new tires that were better.

Flash forward to a week ago. New tires installed, road noise gone, great tire. Take Outtie to Tiresplus for life time rotation (tiresplus in area reco'd by several people) Computerized alignment has issues on left front and left back, new alignment is "perfect" Drive Outtie away. I noticed the difference immediately and was happER. Unfortunately, I still noticed the steering wheel was usually VERY slightly left of center and it always pulled to the left when driving straight and taking my hands off the wheel. Not as bad as before but definately gently compensating to the right with the steering wheel most of the time.

So...here is where I am...I am pretty sure tiresplus did it right, but to be sure, I am taking it back this week to have it realigned and ask them for a prognosis. Unfortunately, I am pretty sure it is something else related to the suspension/linkage/steering/etc... SO if that is decided, I have to ask "WHAT COULD IT BE?"

The vehicle is still under warranty and extended warranty but the closest dealership is 115 miles away and SUCKS for all intents and purposes. I want all the research and ammunition needed BEFORE I take it to them. What do you think could be causing the problem??

Sorry for the LONG post but I wanted to be as detailed as possible.
Thanks in advance for what ever insight you may have. I LOVE my Outtie but I don't want to chew through another set of tires before this issue is fixed.

 

Did the tires plus give you a print out of the alignment specs?? Sometimes if the tech is lazy, they will just get the alignment to "within specs", but not play with it until it's dead on. They should be able to fix the steering wheel issue, if its just cocked to one side.

FWIW, here's my experience with alignment on my outlander so far:

I purchased the car used from a dodge dealer a couple months ago with about 15k miles on it, and immediately after I noticed that it pulled a bit to one side (i think the left as well). well I took it to the dealer to have them align it for $90, and they told me a bunch of stuff was out of spec, and they got everything into spec that they could, except for the the camber on one side... and that might be causing the pull.

So, I asked them how I could get it within specs and he told me that I'd have to buy a set of aftermarket camber bolts, pay to have them installed, and then pay to have it realigned for a total of about $300. I was less than happy, with that news, and I declined their offer, and decided to wait to deal with the issue until I buy new tires in another 10k miles or so. The alignment at the dealer helped marginally with the pulling, but it wasn't completely gone because of the camber issue.

I also asked them why it wasn't possible to get the camber within specs and he said that it wasn't adjustable very much. So I asked how it got so far out of specs and they said that it could have just been something like a big pothole in the road.

 

My alignment shop was surprised that Outlander's from tire camber is a bit strange. Even visually you can see front tires kind of leaning out at the top.

 

BTW I will never go to Tires Plus. Tried them a bunch of years ago. They didn't do anything except find problems that didn't exist and could be "fixed" by buying aftermarket parts from them.

For example I had a Lexus RX back in 2001. Took it to Tires Plus to change oil. They told me my REAR alignment was out of whack, but required special aftermarket parts (that I could buy from them) to fix. I declined and took the car to a Lexus dealer who told me my Rear alignment was just fine... furthermore the rear wheels were NOT adjustable.

 

Ya, except my local DEALER was the one trying to sell me aftermarket camber bolts to fix my front suspension issue. Go figure.