Steering and Alignment
Abnormal treadwear, a vehicle pulling to one side, or unpredictable handling are all symptoms of a vehicle that requires an alignment. An alignment can even make your vehicle drive easier, saving you money at the gas pumps. Make an alignment part of your vehicle's routine, preventative maintenance. It pays in the long run.
Regular wheel alignments will usually save you as much in tire wear as they cost. A hard bump from hitting a curb or pothole can throw your wheels out of alignment and damage your tires. Front-end alignment, sometimes called two-wheel alignment, checks only the front wheel angles. This may be fine for old rear-wheel drive vehicles, but it doesn't check if the front tires are properly positioned in front of the rear tires. To do this, you need a 4-wheel alignment.
Four-wheel alignment checks the front wheel angles, the rear wheel angles, and the thrust angle alignment as well. Thrust angle alignment is checked so that the wheels are "squared" to each other. This eliminates the "dog tracking" that you may have seen on a car that appears to be going down the road with the rear end driving on a different track than the front.
Independent rear suspensions and front wheel drive have made 4-wheel alignments a must. Three angles are checked at each wheel - camber, caster, and toe.
Camber: the inward or outward tilt of the wheel at the top. Its purpose is to provide directional control stability by placing the maximum tire tread in contact with the road surface under all conditions of vehicle operation and to prevent tire wear.
Caster: the forward or backward tilt of the steering knuckle at the top. The purpose of caster angle is to provide directional control stability of the wheels for travel in a straight course with minimum steering effort. It also assists in returning the front wheels to the straight-ahead position after cornering, but caster has no effect on tire wear.
Toe-In: is when the front of the wheels are closer together than the rear of the wheels on the same axle. Toe-Out is when the front of the wheels are farther apart than the rear of the wheels on the same axle. Toe is the most important alignment adjustment on the vehicle for preventing tire wear. An incorrect toe measurement of 1/8 inch is equal to driving a car one-mile and having the tire dragged sideways eleven feet. Too much toe and the tread is soon scraped off!
Some vehicles have all the angles adjustable. Others require special adjusting kits or are non-adjustable, although toe angles are adjustable on almost all vehicles. Vehicles that are too far out of adjustment may have worn or bent parts. Part of any wheel alignment is a suspension inspection to identify worn or damaged parts. Getting an alignment with worn parts is a lot like jogging in running shoes 4 sizes too big - sure it can be done, but you are never sure which way the shoes will touch the ground.
Besides preventing excessive tire wear, a 4-wheel alignment also provides stable handling. If the wheel angles are wrong, then the vehicle can be unpredictable or twitchy during cornering or braking. This usually doesn't show up on good road surfaces, but water or ice on the road can make driving your car more exciting than a roller coaster ride.
Let the experts at DFR Autoworks help with your vehicle's wheel alignment. Contact us to make an appointment today!
'The Importance of Wheel Alignment' by Jim Kerr, author and master auto mechanic
