tires, air pressure and alignment

[Mehul Dholakia <mdholaki@BayNetworks.com>]

Hi all,

I had my tires balanced on Sat. Sun took the car out for a long
drive into the mountains. On the way, one of the weights fell off.
(Think it was a weight - heard a thunk while driving and saw something
small fly off in my rear view. Did not stop to investigate).
Since then, the car has had a lot of vibrations. Worse had to
hold the steering turned to the right (~10 deg.) even when going
straight. Took it in today to rebalanace. Sure enough the front left
wheel was way off. The car feels better now but I still have to
hold the steering turned to the right, though not as much as I had to.
The mechanic who balanced the wheels said this was an alignment issue.
However I am more inclined to believe that he did not do a proper job
of balancing the wheels, esp. since this started only after the 
weight fell off. Is this true ? Can badly balanced wheels cause the
car to pull to the right or is it really an alignment issue ? Just out
of curiosity, what is it exactly that causes the car to pull to the
right and can skewing the pressure in the tires - like reducing the
pressure in the right tires - offset the pull ?

Thank you,
Mehul
(1988 Q90)
-----------------------------------------
Email: mdholaki@BayNetworks.com (x 61261)
Phone: (508) 916 1261