Potholes and other road hazards are inevitable, and you might hit one or two even if you are a careful driver. If you want your car to keep functioning properly, you have to maintain its wheels and tyres perfectly aligned. Any type of misalignment can cause premature and uneven wear, poor handling, and performance. Plus, it can also shorten the lifespan of your tyres and reduce the overall performance of your car. Bumpy and tough surfaces can really damage your car. If you usually drive on bad roads or frequently encounter potholes, most probably, your wheel alignment will be affected.
Most of the time, there will be no visible damages. However, this does not mean that your car is perfectly fine. Your vehicle may be misaligned without you even noticing. Wheel Alignmentis a professional and complete service that takes around two or three hours and includes complete measurements using special machines, so you will definitely need qualified mechanics for this job.
Wheel alignment ensures that each tyre is pointing in the same direction and that all of them touch the road. Remember to check your wheel alignment at least every nine thousand miles. You just need to find the best Wheel Alignment Northampton; they will adjust your vehicle’s suspension and make sure all the wheels are properly aligned.
Wheel Alignment process
A misaligned wheel is often caused as a result of damaged or worn suspension parts. Misaligned cars will eventually suffer from tyre wear, so you will end up replacing your tyres sooner than later.
Furthermore, a misaligned car will need extra fuel.
When you take your car to a proper garage, they will restore your vehicle’s factory settings on three different angles:
Caster angle
Toe angle
Camber angle
Symptoms of Misalignment
How to tell whether your car is out of alignment?
If your vehicle is constantly pulling only in one way, or maybe you notice that your car shakes sometimes. This could mean that all your tyres are misaligned. However, there other signs of misaligned wheels:
Twisted Steering Wheel
Always verify that the steering wheel is working correctly. You might be already driving with a steering wheel out of the center. This is a clear sign that the wheels have to be aligned.
Uneven Wear
Check if the front and back tyres have the same wear pattern. If they look the same, most likely, your vehicle is perfectly aligned. When servicing your car, you can ask your mechanic to examine the tread depth. They can tell you right away if there is a misalignment issue.
Car pulls hard in one way
As mentioned before, this is a pretty common case, nevertheless, sometimes this can also be caused thanks to underinflated tyres. If after confirming that the air pressure is fine, then, most likely you have to realign your wheels.
Vibration
While this can also be caused by unbalanced tyres, vibration on the steering wheel can be the result of misaligned wheels. The vibration basically occurs when your tyres are pulled in different ways from each other.
The symptoms mentioned above are a few of the most common signs of misaligned wheels. Regardless of these noticeable signs, if it has been a while since you serviced your tyres, you should do it as soon as possible. Checking your car’s alignment is totally free, and in case you need any repair, there are several service options. Keep in mind that eventually, an aligned vehicle will avoid future issues and expenses.
