Tires: 1999 camry steering vibration, cv joints, alignment problem

Question
I bought a 1999 Camry, 89000 miles; was aligned, has new set of tires; i found aftre buying that when i drive at about 70 mph i feel vibration in the steering wheel and at the floor at by left foot, but not too much. Also, the steering in a flat and straight road, tend to go towards right if i leave the steering free. What could be the problem? is it alignment or wheel balancing? what should be done. I found that tires had pressure over 45  and i adjusted to 30 psi (recommended by Toyota).
Another problem in the car is when i turn on AC, i can hear rattling noise in the engine compartment , only when AC is on but AC is cold. Please suggest;
Thanks

Answer
Mike,

It sounds like you have both an alignment problem and a balancing problem.

The first thing you should do is have the front tires swapped - left to right - if the vehicle pull changes from "to the right" to "to the left", then tires is the problem.  If the pull doesn't change, then it is the alignment.  If the pull disappears, then it's both.

But just to be sure - you are aware that streets generally have a crown in the center to drain the water off, so vehicle tend to naturally drift to the right.  The way to check if it is the vehicle is to see if you get the same effect on the left side of the street.  Obviously you should chose several streets to try this on - and be careful when you do this.

The vibration could be caused by balance, but it could also be internal to the tire (it's called uniformity - although out of round comes closest to describing it and this can be present on a perfectly balanced tire) - BUT it could also be something else.  The fact that you feel it in both the steering column and the seat leads me to believe it is something else.  CV joints is the obvious choice on a vehicle with 89K miles.

AC?  You realize I am a tire expert - right?  I think rattling noises for AC is OK, but the AC clutch is likely the culprit here.