Why is wheel alignment important?
Incorrect wheel alignment or tracking as it is often referred too can result in rapid uneven tyre wear and can affect the handling and safety of your vehicle.
The vehicle manufacturers set the wheel alignment at the factory in order to provide a smooth comfortable ride for your vehicle and to get the maximum life from the tyres fitted. These settings can sometimes be affected by excessively worn steering and suspension parts, driving against a kerb, hitting a pothole or other objects in the road.
So it is worth keeping an eye out for unusual wear on your tyres, such as premature wear on the inside or outside shoulder of your tyres, which may be due to an incorrect wheel alignment setting.
Tip!
Wheel alignment is a relatively inexpensive part of keeping your car tyres in tip top condition and maintaining optimum handling for your vehicle, so have your vehicle’s wheel alignment checked regularly by our ‘specialists’.
Wheel Alignment
Is also important for good road holding and to maximise the life of the tyres. Hitting a kerb or driving at speed through a pot hole can result in misalignment.
For most cars aligning the front wheels will resolve many of the uneven tyre wear problems. However there will be some cases where all 4 wheels will need to be aligned.
The direction and angle at which tyres are set are both important. Wheel alignment involves checking the direction and angle against vehicle manufacturers’ specifications and are both equally important. You may hear these described as toe in, toe out, positive camber or negative camber.
The “Toe” refers to whether the front of the tyres across an axle are closer or further apart than the rear of the tyres. Different types of vehicles need different toe settings to allow for the way that wheels pull either towards each other or apart.
The “Camber” is the inward or outward tilt of a tyre and is specified by the vehicle manufacturer. It can be affected by potholes in the road and needs to be checked regularly to see if any adjustment is required.
Incorrect wheel alignment can result in rapid wearing on the edges of the tyre and could affect the handling on the vehicle and certainly mean a replacement earlier than would otherwise be required.