Alignment basics

Wheel alignment is arguably the most crucial aspect of wheel and tire maintenance. Proper alignment ensures your tires are correctly angled, level with the ground, pointed straight ahead, and parallel to each other, allowing them to maintain a straight path while driving. This not only extends the life of your tires but also significantly improves your vehicle's handling.

Signs you need wheel alignment

It’s not always clear whether a problem points to wheel misalignment or another issue with a car. Here are the main car alignment symptoms to watch out for:

Car pulls to the left or right

This is often the first sign that drivers notice. Very slight pulling or drifting to the side is normal, as roads aren’t perfectly flat and there will be some crowning in the road surface. But driving straight should feel easy, without much need for steering.

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Steering wheel off center

When you drive down a straight road, your steering wheel should be in the middle. You can see that it’s balanced, as the logo will sit straight. If you’re concerned about crooked steering wheel causes, then car alignment could be the answer.

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Car shaking or steering wheel wobbles

If you can feel vibrations in your hands, there can be a range of reasons. It may be a symptom of bad wheel alignment, but not necessarily. Car shaking may also indicate worn parts or tyre imbalance. Wheel balancing equalises the weight in the wheels when they spin. This is different to car alignment and needs looking at more often.

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Abnormal or rapid tyre wear

The wear on your tyres is a good clue to the general health of your car. Unusual wear, such as focused on the inside or outside, will give a trained mechanic a picture of how the weight is distributed through the car. Perhaps there’s a tilt at the top of the tyre or excessive wear on the outside edge, showing that car realignment is needed.

We recommends that its tires be rotated every 5,000 miles for normal applications. If your vehicle has a matching full-size spare tire, it is recommended that it be included in the tire rotation. After the tires are rotated, make sure they are inflated to the pressure specified by the vehicle manufacturer.

The steering wheel isn’t centered when the car is moving straight or it won’t return to dead center

The steering is unresponsive and the car is pulling to one side while you are driving straight down a level road

You can identify uneven tire war all 4 car tires (from gradual tear & wear or otherwise)

The ways car alignment is measured

Camber angle is the measure in degrees of the difference betwen the wheels vertical aligment perpendicular to the surface

Positive camber

Negative camber

Caster is the angle created by the steering pivot point from the front to back of the vehicle. Caster is positive if the line is angled forward, and negative if backward.

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Positive caster

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Negative caster

Toe represents the angle derived from ointing the tires inward or outward from a top-dow view - much like looking down at your toes and angling them inward or outward.

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Toe Out

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Toe In

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The imaginary line drawn perpendicular to the rear axle's centreline.
Positive and negative thrust angle.

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Tread wear patterns explained

Edge wear

Center wear

Outside edge

Inner edge

Camber wear

Patch wear

Cup wear

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Under inflation Thin tread wear along tire edges

Over inflation Thin tread in center of tire

Aligment problem Thin inner or outer edge

Aligment problem Thin inner or outer edge

Aligment problem Exaggerated inner or outer wear

Out of balance Patchy tread wear or flat spots

Bent worn-out suspension component diagonal Scalloped tread wear

If you have more questions contact Us now!
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How to read my tires?

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TIRE SALES

ROTATIONS

PUNCTURE REPAIR

TOUCHLESS
INSTALLATION

ROAD FORCE BALANCE

IN GROUND WHEEL ALIGMENT

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