My girlfreind has a 1996 Chevy Blazer with 125,000 miles on it. I was driving behind her the other day and she was turning around a corner. Now I noticed something different that I have never noticed before.
The wheel was at an angle when she turned. She was turning right and I was looking at her passenger side front tire. The top of the tire was angled in towards the engine and the bottom out away from the car. I thought to a degree this might be normal, but it looked like a pretty big angle. I couldnt see the drivers side front tire as I was behind her, but I would assume it was doing the opposite (top out, bottom towards the engine).
My question, should the tire be doing this? If not, is this something I can fix, what is causing it?
Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!
Marc

 

That's mostlikely a ball joint that has failed or is getting very close to failing. They are a weak spot on blazers in general.

I would not drive the vehicle until you have checked out the front suspension. It could be disasterous if things came apart even more and left the vehicle without steering.

If things are bad enough that you can see it without being underneith, then things are very bad. The way to check the lower balljoint is to jack up the front end and with a long 2x4, pry up on each wheel while looking at the lower balljoint (where the control arm meets the steering knuckle). If you see ANY play, replace the balljoint. While you are at it, you should really replace both the upper & lower together because most of the time required to do 1 is the same to do both and they probably won't be too far apart in when they fail.

Good Luck!