oifish

It sounds weird but, if I'm in the left lane the car wants to fade to the left. If I change lanes to the right lane, the car wants to fade to the right. I've had it aligned recently so I know that's not the issue. But I've always noticed the steering wheel feels very loose. I can jiggle the wheel to the left and right a bit w/o it affecting the direction of the car. Any help with the annoyance would be big help. Thanks.

Guest

Sounds to me like a possible incorrect toe setting. If the car is toed out then it will wander back and forth.
Should be set toe in aprox 3/32 for street use. If your pitman on idler arms (or both) are worn, you can be getting geometry slop and causing toe alterations while driving. A good shop generally will not align a car with bad componants, they will check things and warn you if they are bad. A bad shop will just align it then later blame things on the worn parts and tell you that you are SOL.

oifish

When I first bought the car the driver side idler arm was replaced (by a terrible auto shop), but it is a different type than the passenger side. Could this be a source of the wander?