All You Need To Know About Car Wheel Alignment
Why care about your car wheel alignment?
Well, if you’ve ever driven in a car
that is extremely out of alignment, it may seem obvious. Having to turn the
steering wheel just to keep the vehicle pointed straight is a nuisance at best
and a flat-out hazard at worst. But even subtle misalignment issues will cost
you over the long-run in the form of fuel inefficiency and accelerated wear and
tear on your tires.
Here’s all you need to know to protect
your car’s alignment, recognize when something’s off, and communicate with your
auto shop when it’s time to take your car to the professionals.
What Causes a Car
to Need Alignment Services?
Knocking your car out of alignment can happen as suddenly as bouncing over a pothole you didn’t see or sliding into a curb during a snowstorm. But it can happen gradually too as your car’s suspension parts experience unavoidable wear during the course of your day-to-day commutes.
Is it Bad to Drive
a Car that is Out of Alignment?
Short answer: yes, especially if you
thinking wasting money is bad. Long answer: Replacing a full set of tires is
one of those expensive but necessary costs that just comes with owning a car.
The typical driver tries to stretch the lifespan of those tires to the limit
and driving on misaligned wheels can shorten a tire’s life by thousands of
miles. Ouch. But in addition to accelerated tire wear, you’ll also be paying
more in gas since your miles per gallon (MPGs) will take a big hit in a car
that’s expending so much energy just to drive straight.
What Are the Car
Alignment Symptoms You Should Look Out For?
Before you take your car into the
shop, run a quick check down this list at home to have a detailed report to
give to the mechanic.
1. Check tire
tread.
If all four of your tires have been on
your car for the same amount of time, the front two tires should have the same
wear patterns as each other and the same for the back. If they don’t, this will
be a likely sign that the wheels are out of alignment.
2. Are your tires
properly inflated?
The correct tire pressure for your
vehicle will be specified on a label located inside the drivers door jamb. When
in doubt, check with your mechanic, but under-inflated tires may lead you
astray when you’re checking your alignment. Driving on underinflated tires can
create patterns of uneven wear as well as cause the vehicle to pull in one
direction.
3. Does the car
pull slightly or sharply in one direction while driving?
Now that you’ve verified that your
tires are properly inflated, take your car to a flat, empty lot and try to
drive straight while lifting your hands just slightly off the steering wheel.
If the car is misaligned, it will pull sharply to one side or simply drift
toward one direction. Both instances are clear signs of misalignment.
4. Does the
steering wheel vibrate while driving?
Imbalanced tires are the most likely
case for this, in extreme misalignment conditions symptoms can be similar. One
of these signs is steering wheel vibration. In the case of extreme
misalignment, the vibration is caused by the tires pulling in opposite
directions of each other and may be present at any speed. Imbalanced tires,
however, will create shakiness or vibrations at around 40 to 50 miles per hour
and intensify with the increase of speed.
5. Is the steering
wheel “crooked” while driving?
If you’ve been driving with a subtle
misalignment for a while, it may have been easy to overlook this particular
sign. If you’re driving straight but your steering wheel is off-center, that
means that you’ve been subconsciously correcting for the misalignment without
recognizing that you have a problem.
How Often Should a
Car Have an Alignment?
Assuming you haven’t hit a curb
recently, or encountered an especially grisly pothole (in which case, you
should probably get your car’s suspension and alignment checked out to be
safe), we at Unite suggest that you have your car’s wheel alignment checked
every 10,000 to 12,000 miles or every other tire rotation .
As an important part of your ongoing,
standard automobile maintenance, this schedule will allow you to curb the
negative effects of misalignment without waiting for the signs to creep up on
you. When you’ve arrived at the point that your car is noticeably experiencing
the symptoms of misalignment, damage has already been done that you might have
avoided.
How Much Should You
Expect to Pay for Regular Wheel Alignment?
While there certainly may be some
automobile maintenance that a well-equipped do-it-yourselfer can tackle in
their own garage, wheel alignment is not one of those things. Performing wheel
alignment maintenance requires costly precision tools and advanced digital
equipment. So while you’re looking for tire alignment services near you,
understand that the costs that you should expect to pay will depend on these
factors:
·
The shop
·
The equipment used
·
The make and model of the vehicle (European and Asian models may cost
more.)
·
Warranties
·
What other maintenance services are included (such as electrical
services, wheel balancing, oil change, and other preventative maintenance.)
·
Four wheel alignment check versus complete four wheel alignment
On average, costs can range from $40
to $65 for a wheel alignment check and from $80 to $100 for the alignment of
all four wheels.
For alignment check, which
includes:
·
Inspection of suspension components
·
Check and adjust tire pressures if necessary
·
Measurement and recording of camber
·
Caster and toe angles on all four wheels
For completefour wheel alignmentis,
which includes:
·
Inspection of suspension components
·
Check and adjust tire pressures if necessary
·
Measurement of camber
·
Caster and toe angles on all four wheels
·
Adjust all alignment angles to the extent factory adjustments permit
In some instances aftermarket
components will be recommended to enable complete adjustment of all alignment
angles if necessary.
Overall, it’s important to consider
that the long-term savings created by increased fuel economy and the extended
life of your expensive tires will offer a significant counterbalance to the
cost of regular wheel alignment maintenance. Depending on your tires, the cost
of replacing them when they’ve been worn out will be much higher than the costs
of regular wheel alignment.
What’s the
Difference between Wheel Alignment and Wheel Balancing?
While your automotive technician may
also inspect the balance of your wheels during a wheel alignment service, the
two services are very different though they’re often confused for each other.
Here’s what you need to know about how they differ and intersect.
Wheel Alignment
Simply stated, wheel alignment
involves adjusting the wheels’ angles to make sure they are perpendicular to
the ground at right angles and parallel to each other.
Wheel Balancing
Wheel balancing ensures that all four
tires spin without causing vibrations. This is done by using lead balancing
weights to compensate for irregularities of weight between tires. Vibrations
can be caused by as much as an ounce of imbalance.
The Signs
Both the balance and alignment of the
tires affect the handling of your car and the quality of the ride, but here is
how the signs differ when there’s a problem with one or the other.
Signs of Misalignment
·
Uneven or rapid wear on tires
·
Sharp or slight pulling and drifting from a straight line
·
Crooked steering wheel on a straight and level road
Signs of Imbalance
·
Vibrations in steering wheel, seat, or floorboards while driving at
highway speeds
·
Scalloped or cupped tire-wear patterns
At Uniteautomotive, we recommended
that your car’s wheels are balanced every other tire rotation. Approximately
every 10,000 to 12,000 miles.
Simple Wheel
Alignment Glossary
As mentioned, wheel alignment involves
the work of making sure all four wheels are perpendicular to the ground and
parallel with each other, but there’s a lot of precision adjustments that go
into correcting alignment angles. When trying to understand what goes into the
typical wheel alignment procedure, it’s important to have a working knowledge of
the terms your mechanic will be using to describe what they are doing. Here is
a short glossary of terms for your reference.
Camber
Camber is measured in degrees and
describes the angle of the wheel as viewed head on from the front of the car.
It is described as positive or negative depending on the direction the tire is
leaning. If the tire is leaning out from the center of the vehicle, the camber
is positive, but the camber is negative if the tire is leaning in.
- Positive camber: tire is leaning away from center of the car.
- Negative camber: tire is leaning into center of the car.
The tire-wear pattern for a tire which
has a camber that is too far negative will show as excess wear on the inside of
the tread. A camber that is too far positive and the tire will show more wear
on the outside of the tread.
Note: Camber is generally not
adjustable on most front-wheel-drive vehicles so if camber is misaligned on
these vehicles, it’s a sign that a part may have been damaged in even a minor
accident and may need to be repaired or replaced. In some cases aftermarket
component installation may be recommended to make camber angles adjustable.
Caster
Caster describes the angle of the
front wheels’ steering pivot as viewed from the side of the car. Caster, like
camber, is also measured in degrees and is described as positive or negative.
- Positive caster: top of steering pivot leans toward the rear of
the car
- Negative caster: top of steering pivot leans toward the front of
the car
When camber is misaligned, the result
is the tire-wear pattern as described above, but caster actually does not
affect tire wear. The sign of misaligned caster is in straight-line tracking
with the following possible scenarios:
·
Caster differs between both front wheels: the car will drift or pull to
the side with the less positive caster.
·
Caster is equal between both front wheels and too negative: light
steering and a wandering car that is hard to keep straight.
·
Caster is equal between both front wheels and too positive: heavy
steering and impaired quality and smoothness of the ride.
Note: Like camber, the caster is generally
not adjustable on most front-wheel-drive vehicles so if the caster is misaligned on
these vehicles, it’s a sign that a part may have been damaged in even a minor
accident and may need to be repaired or replaced. some cases aftermarket component
installation may be recommended to make caster angles adjustable.
Toe
For both the front and rear wheels,
toe describes the difference in distance between the front of the tires and the
back of the tires. Instead of being measured in degrees, toe is measured in
fractions of an inch and described as in or out.
- Toe-in: the front of the tires are closer to each
other than the back of the tires
- Toe-out: the back of the tires are closer to each
other than the front of the tires
Like camber misalignment, issues with
the toe results in tire wear that is described as a saw-tooth pattern.
What is the Typical
Wheel Alignment Procedure?
The type of alignment and the length
of the service your car will need will depend on its suspension and nature
of the damage or misalignment. The process involves bringing the vehicle’s
suspension back into its proper configuration by securing the vehicle to an
alignment machine, which then adjusts the applicable alignment angles (camber,
caster, toe, etc.).
If your car isn’t four-wheel or
all-wheel drive, on average, your alignment service should be expected to
take at least an hour.