An aligned wheel steers fluidly. Making turns should be seamless. A driver should never be battling their own vehicle and physically have to force a turn. For purposes of safety, comfort, and practicality, as a driver you need your wheel alignment to be intact so your steering functions effectively and easily. Unfortunately, it is easy to disrupt the functionality of your steering wheel, at which point it is critical to professionally service your car to identify what type of realignment needs to be performed.
Misalignment Common Causes
The possible causes that can affect your wheel alignment are very common daily driving occurrences. In fact, the act of driving itself is a cause because wear and tear on your tires can progressively influence your wheel alignment. Some other specific potential influencers include:
- Potholes
- Speeding over speed bumps
- Road accidents
- Worn out parts
- Hitting a curb
The more severe the occurrence of one of these potential alignment influencers, the more severe your wheel alignment is affected. Similarly, a series or combination of the very common events over a duration of time can just as heavily influence your wheel alignment.
Warning Signs my Wheel Alignment may be off
There are clear warning signs an issue with your diving experience may be credited to poor wheel alignment. Signs to look out for include:
- Squealing for your tires
- Visible wear on you tires
- Tires that are not leveled
- Pulling of your vehicle when operating
Figuring out how to go about fixing your wheel alignment depends on specific factor pertaining to your case including the severity, and the type of vehicle being worked on, hence why it is a repair that should only be performed by a professional. Depending on the specific stance of you wheel alignment, the technician can have a variety of manual operations she or he undergoes and will at a point will connect your car to an alignment machine that will detail which of the 3 types of wheel re-alignments is necessary.
How To Manage Urgent Wheel Alignment Problems
1. Front-end: This the most common / basic alignment service where adjustments are made to the front axle of a vehicle.
2. Thrust: This service checks if all four wheels are intact. It is a combination of a front-end alignment along with a thrust alignment, usually for vehicles that have a solid rear axle.
3. Four-wheel: Usually primarily meant for four-wheel and all-wheel drive vehicles, this service correctly arranges the rear axle angles while combining it with the first two wheel alignment services
Delaying servicing your car when you are suspecting your wheel may be out of alignment is prolonging the inevitable, which is that for your car to function safely and effectively, it needs to be professionally serviced. When delayed, the severity of the problem only increases. It is important to remember that your wheel needs realigning after time regardless if you ever ran over a pothole or hit a curb because the act of driving itself will slowly affect the efficiency of you steering. You should never be battling your vehicle to cooperate; a driver should be in complete control. The sooner a wheel is aligned the safer, easier, and more enjoyable time will be spent driving your vehicle.