Heavy Steering

Hi all,

I've recently had the lower balljoint go on my 197 which I am replacing tomorrow with a new one, the car is also suffering from bad alignment due to the lower joint going which has resulted in the outsides of my front Conti 5's looking a little worse for wear - being replaced with Goodyear F1's on Thursday (heard really good things about these!)

I recently left the car in a bodyshop for just under a fortnight to have some work done and since having the car back the steering has felt awfully heavy. I've checked the tyre pressures which seem completely fine and was wondering whether or not the car not being run for two weeks with a knackered joint may have something to do with it? The wheels were removed in the bodyshop as I had them painted, could this have knackered the already out alignment even more?