Tire alignment, also referred to as wheel alignment, can help your tires perform correctly and assist them in lasting longer. It also improves handling and keeps your vehicle from pulling to one side or vibrating unexpectedly when driving.
What Is Tire Alignment?
Alignment is in reference to a correction of a vehicle’s suspension – the parts that attach a vehicle to its wheels. It’s not a readjustment of the wheels or tires respectfully. The main factor to correct alignment is correcting the angles of the tires in which impact how they make contact with the road.
How Do I Know If My Vehicle Requires A Tire Alignment?
There are a few ways to find out if your vehicle requires a tire alignment. When you’ve seen one or more of these signs, you should have your alignment examined by a licensed service tech sooner than later.
- Irregular tread wear
- Vehicle tracking to the right or left
- The vehicle’s steering wheel is off center while driving straight
- Steering wheel shaking
Camber, Toe, & Caster
When the tech examines your tire alignment, they are mainly concerned with 3 things:
-
Camber
This is the outward and/or inward angle of the tires when seen from the frontside of the vehicle. Excessive inward and/or outward angle, also referred to as negative and/or positive camber, respectively, indicates incorrect alignment and is going to be required to be adjusted. Ball joints, worn-out bearings, and other wheel-suspension parts could add to camber misalignment.
-
Toe
Different from the above, toe alignment is the degree to which your tires face inward and/or outward when seen from a bird’s eye view. If that is unclear, simply place your hands on something flat. Angle your fingers inward until your index fingers touch. If the tires on your vehicle are angled the identical way (don’t forget, seen from above), this is referred to as toe-in alignment. Place your fingers outward, this is referred to as toe-out alignment. Each of them requires adjusting.
-
Caster
Your caster angle assists in balancing steering, stability, and when taking corners. Particularly, it’s the tilt of the steering axis when seen from the side of the vehicle. When there is a positive caster, the steering axis is going tilt toward you. Negative caster, nevertheless, means the steering axis is going to tilt towards the vehicle’s headlights.
Why Tire Alignment is Important
Incorrect wheel or tire alignment can cause the vehicles tires to wear irregularly and too ahead of time. Here are some particular kinds of excessive tread wear caused by misalignment:
Feathering
Tires get “feathered” when tire tread is flat on one side and sharp on the other. This is typically a sign of incorrect toe alignment.
Camber Wear
This tension of tread wear means the outside or inside of the tread is considerably shabbier than the middle of the tread. As the name suggests, positive or negative camber is the cause of this kind of wear.
Toe/Heel Wear
This takes place when one side of your tread becomes worn down faster than the other in an encircling direction. When running your hands over your tread, it is going to appear and feel like a saw blade when looked at from the side. Heel/toe wear might be an indication of an under inflation and/or absence of rotation.
In Conclusion
If you’re encountering any of these uncommon wear patterns, you should have a tech examine your alignment. Whereas tire wear hindrance is a good reason for keeping your wheel alignment in order, the repercussions of a misalignment could also play out in general vehicle performance. A vehicle that pulls to the left or right or steers unpredictably, for instance, most likely has an alignment issue.
Rov-N-Techs In Scottsdale, Arizona
Rov-N-Techs performs all factory recommended services on Land Rovers & Jaguars at affordable prices! Master Technicians, Joe Caraway and Kevin Curtis worked at Land Rover of North Scottsdale for 10 years before opening their own shop in 2006 under the name of “Rover Techs”. Now known as “Rov-N-Techs” Joe and Kevin offer over 35 years of combined Land Rover experience. Contact us today!
