shocks/struts, door trim & door checks, alignment,

Hi everyone:

Now that I've purchased 1995 OEM wheels and tires for my 1999 Camry - it used to have UGLY aftermarket alloys, I'm much happier with the ride and the look of the vehicle. Now I can concentrate on smaller things:

(this is long. Thank you for any bit of advice you can offer to any of these things!)

  1. Alignment. Not that small of a thing, I've noticed the car pulls to the right when the steering wheel is perfectly straight on a straight highway, not a FLAT highway. (They're ever-so-slightly banked to let the rain run. That being said, I'm in San Diego, CA). I can't decide whehter I have bad alignment or not: - Hit a pothole, that's why I HAD TO replace my alloy rims. One of them cracked. - The situation has improved since I've purchased new tires & rims, but has not completely corrected. - My OLD front tires had ~25% remaininig life on them after 17K and
1.5 yrs of driving, tires that were rated for 45K. Rears have ~70% life. That being said, I seldom rotated them; even so, I believe they should not wear that fast. - I've been having this problem since Evans Tires mounted and installed the new tires (the ones with 17K & 1.5 years) and threw in the alignment free of charge. I blame them. Yesterday, 1.5 years after initial purchase, I tried to weasel my way into a free alignment again due to my dissatisfaction. He told me an alignment every 6 months is standard. I call bullsh*t. Opinions?

  1. Shock coils & Struts: I've looked into this for a long time, and I know I kill myself by attempting to compress the coil with a coil compressor from Sears. Price to pay at the shop: 0. Ouch. I know they make EZ-Strut mount kits with the coil and the strut. Can I do an analogous thing and pull the coil, strut, and strut mounts from a Camry at a junkyard?

  2. My doors don't stay open in 1/2 and full positions. I've had the most horrible time trying to pull off the door trim trying to inspect the door-side of the door checks. Can someone provide any hints on how to do this? - Are there two bolts or three bolts? One on the handle, one on the armrest, and one near the door locking mechanism?

- I can't seem to get the clips on the inside of the door undone.

- Is there an order that they need to come off in? Lower door trim, then handle/upper door trim?

Thank you so much, in advance!

Signed, Too many car problems, in San Diego, CA

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