A crowned road hides a pull, and can invent one
Most two-lane rural roads are built with a crown: higher in the middle, sloping down toward each shoulder so rain runs off. It is a small slope, and drivers stop noticing it within a few miles. It still pushes every vehicle gently toward the right-hand edge.
That has two effects worth knowing before you book an alignment.
It can invent a pull. A perfectly aligned vehicle on a crowned road drifts slightly right. A driver who spends most of their time on county roads may feel that and conclude something is wrong when nothing is.
It can hide a real one. A vehicle that is genuinely pulling left can feel straight on a crowned road, because the slope is cancelling it out. The fault shows up on a flat road, or in the tire wear, long before the driver feels it.
A fairer test before you come in
Find somewhere genuinely flat and empty: a large level parking lot, or a straight stretch with no crown and no traffic. Drive slowly in a straight line with a light hand on the wheel and see which way the vehicle wants to go. Then look at the steering wheel. If it sits off center while you are going straight, that is a sign worth reporting whatever the road was doing.
The tires settle the question. Wear on the inner or outer shoulder of a front tire is evidence the road cannot fake.
Make one trip of it
If new tires are going on, align at the same visit so they start square. A noise or a clunk alongside the pull is worth mentioning, because worn parts are suspension repair and need fixing before an alignment will hold. A vibration rather than a pull is usually tire and wheel balancing. All three are here. The national alignment page covers what the check measures.
Other stores nearby
Paducah Commercial & Consumer and Paducah Consumer also align cars and light trucks.
About this store
The Princeton store carries all nine Purcell tire categories and is managed by Stephanie Fakouri.
See the national car and light truck alignment page for all 40 locations.