Hmmm - Do you have any "play" in the steering (i.e. loose feeling)? If so, then ball joints could certainly be bad. But if not, and its just the alignment off, I doubt its the ball joints.

I had an alignment problem with my car, and it turned out to be worn out control arm bushings. The rubber bushings just wear and rot away, making it impossible to align the car. I ended up replacing the front control arms, which came with new bushings and new ball joints. But that fixed the problem.

It's a big job and isn't cheap. I did it myself, but it took me most of a weekend due to a series of problems I ran into. A mechanic will charge at least $300 just in labor.

'96 Contour SE, black / opal grey, MTX, every option, KKM intake, resonator removed, Flowmaster Series 40 DeltaFlow, GoodYear Eagle HP's, 115k miles, new paint 7/01. Driven cross-country 4 times.

'70 Corvette Stingray Coupe, Cortez Silver, 454 bored to 462, Muncie M21, too many mods to list, lots of fun. 335 rwhp / 365 rwtq

'02 Corvette Z06, Electron Blue / Black, every option. Stock for now...