![]() ![]() On many used cars I've worked on as fresh imports from the USA to the UK the parking brake mechanism has seized solid due to lack of use and that can mean that one of the rear brakes (I say rears because I've never found an American car where it operates on the front brakes like some older Saabs and older Citroens) is permanently slightly on after someone has operated the parking brake for the first time in what could be years. ![]() Also very few Americans ever use the hand brake (also known as the parking brake/emergency brake). If you have brake discs (US=rotors) then one visual indication of a seized piston in a brake caliper is if the disc has a blued metal appearance. Other possibilities include a seized brake on the side that the car is pulling towards, but that will often cause a pull even when not accelerating and often a pull when braking. That's plenty of mileage in which one of more potholes of curb strikes could have knocked the alignment out. If the problem remains after that then the problem could well be that the last alignment was done 15k miles ago. If you've recently had a new or used tyre fitted on the side the car is pulling towards then that's also a suspect and swapping it to the opposite side of the car is an easy way to check if that's the cause. The first check you need to make is to ensure that the tyre pressures all round are correct and that the tyres are the correct sizes and in good condition, checks should be made with the tyres still cold and that means no more than about ten minutes driving at typical urban slow speeds if you don't own a pump and pressure gauge.
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