If a wheel gets knocked out of alignment by hitting a pothole or going too fast over a speed bump you’ll still be able to drive, but your car will not handle as well. When people talk about a car’s alignment they’re talking about making sure the wheels all point in the same direction.
Have your tires rotated and balanced every 10,000 miles, or every other oil change. Our expert mechanics will also check your front and rear brakes for wear and tear when they are rotating the tires. If your DFW mechanic advises you of uneven tire wear you should have the alignment checked and adjusted. Once you know what to look for the signs of a car’s alignment become obvious. Some of the warning signs of bad alignment include a shaking steering wheel, a constant need to straighten your wheel, uneven wear and tear on your tires or vibration of the steering wheel while traveling at high speeds. A vibration in the steering wheel or in the seat is caused by unbalanced tires and requires maintenance from your DFW ASE Certified Technician.
One of the misconceptions drivers have is that the alignment has to deal with the tires and wheels. This is not true. Aligning your vehicle is mainly adjusting the suspension not the tires and wheels. Four terms concerning your car’s alignment are caster, camber, toe and ride height. The caster supports the wheel and tire assembly. The ball joints must form a true vertical in order to define a caster. Being able to fine tune the caster assures quality steering and high-speed constancy. By looking at the front of the vehicle you can find the tilt, which determines the camber. Adjusting the camber makes the best use of the tire-to-road contact and takes into consideration a vehicle’s turning radius. From a bird’s-eye view toe describes whether the tires are toe-in (closer) or toe-out (farther) when compared to the rear tires. Typically, in a front wheel drive vehicle there is an inward pull when the vehicle is in motion. When properly aligned, the toe is able to roll parallel when the vehicle is in motion. Finally, the road height is the area between the vehicle’s frame and the road.
Your City Garage offers a $5 off any wheel alignment totaling over $60. Stop by your City Garage auto repair location and let our expert mechanics get your wheels aligned. Every City Garage location offers free WiFi. You can also drop off your vehicle and have one of our ASE certified mechanics bring it to your home or office after your DFW wheel alignment is adjusted.