Wheel alignment is the mechanical adjustment of a vehicle’s suspension to influence the direction and angle at which the tyre contacts the road surface. The manufacturer determines the optimal alignment for each make and model of vehicle to affect handling and performance.
Wheel alignment in Edmonton also affects tyre safety and wear; therefore, it is a significant aspect of servicing that should be performed at set intervals.
1.What Is the Importance of Wheel Alignment?
The importance of wheel alignment in the car servicing process is high, as it can affect the vehicle’s handling behaviour and overall safety.
Besides safety and handling, proper alignment can prolong your tyres’ lifespan and reduce wear, providing better value for money and improving fuel economy.
Having a proper wheel alignment Edmonton enhances car handling and steering, and also decreases the braking distances of the wheel-aligned cars as opposed to those that are not aligned.
2.What Makes Me Know When I Am in Need of Having a Tire Alignment?
You can check whether you need a wheel alignment Edmonton in different ways. If you have observed any of these signs, you must have your alignment checked immediately by a licensed service technician.
- Uneven tread wear.
- Pulling of vehicles either to the right or left.
- When driving straight, your steering wheel is not straight.
- Steering wheel vibration.
3.Camber, toe, & caster
When a technician examines the alignment of your tire, he or she is concerned primarily with three things:
- Camber
This is the angle of the tire’s inward or outward slope as seen from the front of the car. Excessive inclination inwards or outwards, or, in other words, negative and positive camber, respectively, is a sign of misalignment, and this will have to be corrected. Old bearings, ball joints, and other components of the wheel suspension can cause camber misalignment.
- Toe
Unlike camber alignment, toe alignment is the degree to which tires turn inward or outward when viewed from above. Just stand up and look down at your feet. Bend them in the direction of the middle of the body. When the car tires are set at the same angle (in bird’s-eye view), we refer to it as a toe-in alignment. Toe-out is a position of the feet that is achieved by turning them outwards. Both require adjustment.
- Caster
Your caster angle helps you balance steering, stability, and cornering. In particular, the angle of your steering axis is observed at the sides of your vehicle. The steering axis will lean toward the driver when the caster is positive. The opposite is referred to as a negative caster, or a steering axis tilted forward.
4.Why Tire Alignment Matters
Wheel or tire misalignment will cause the tires to wear unevenly and sooner than expected. The following are some of the specific kinds of undue tread wear that can be attributed to misalignment:
- Feathering
When the tread is smooth on one side but sharp on the other, then the tires are said to be feathered. This is typically an indication of misalignment of the toes.
- Camber Wear
This type of tread wear indicates that internal or external tread wear is much greater than that at the centre of the tread. This type of wear is caused by positive or negative camber, as the name suggests.
- Heel/Toe Wear
This occurs when the circumferential wear rate of a material on one side of the tread is faster than that on the other. As you pass your hand over the tread, you will see and feel that, on the side, it appears and feels like saw teeth. Under-inflation and/or lack of rotation can manifest as heel-toe wear.
Should you be having any of such unusual wear patterns, then you have a technician consult to check on your wheel and brake alignment Edmonton. Although tyre wear prevention is one of the sound reasons to ensure that your wheel alignment Edmonton is taken into consideration, the effects of the misalignment may manifest themselves in the overall performance of your vehicle. A vehicle that pulls to one side or drives irregularly is likely to have an issue with its alignment.
