Alignment Shop
Sometimes, regular wear and tear of driving can jolt even the most careful of drivers. Dirt or gravel roads, potholes, curbs, speed bumps, and all other road hazards that can bang up our cars sometimes move our wheels out of alignment. In essence, when you try to have your vehicle drive straight, the suspension has been knocked off-kilter, and the car or truck will slowly move to the left or right.
If your car is not aligned correctly, several negative things happen to your vehicle.
First, it is probably not getting optimal gas mileage. The unaligned wheels lessen the efficiency of the car’s fuel economy because the vehicle is not driving truly straight.
Second, your tires will start to wear unevenly. Unaligned vehicles that lean to the left or right will begin to wear out the tire where it leans more thoroughly. This tire will wear faster and sometimes in strange patterns. This tire will have more risk of a dangerous blowout if left to itself for too long. And, if a blowout is avoided, the owner will still need to replace the tire that is wearing strangely. Having your car aligned can save you from an accident and an unforeseen expenditure on tires.
Vehicle Alignment
You can check for several signs if you are suspicious that your vehicle may need an alignment. The first is to check whether your car leans to the left or right when trying to drive straight. Another form of this test is to get the vehicle moving straight and check if the steering wheel is straightened out. You can also check the wear patterns of your tires. If one is wearing unevenly or faster than others, you should have your alignment checked.
When our technicians check a vehicle’s alignment, they check several angles. These angles are referred to as the tires’ camber, toe, and caster. The tires’ camber angle focuses on whether tires lean inward or outward when looking at the front of the vehicle. Ideally, the camber angle is straight up and down, so the tires wear evenly throughout.
The technicians at Dan’s Tire Service measure the toe angle, which shows how the tires lean when looking at them from above. The toe angle helps the technician line up the tires with the car’s frame so that it drives straight as an arrow.
The caster angle is measured from the tire’s side, and it measures whether the tire is centered, angled back toward the driver, or forward toward the hood of the car. This alignment angle provides a smoother ride and a better feel for turns.