"Wheel Alignment, Misalignment"
"WHEEL ALIGNMENT: WHAT IS IT AND HOW CAN IT SAVE YOU MONEY ON YOUR TYRES?"
[ "Correct wheel alignment is an important factor in the safety of your car. It also prolongs the life of your tyres and protects your wallet from unnecessary plundering.

If you notice your car pulling to one side or feel a slight vibration through the steering wheel, it could mean your car is in need of a wheel alignment. Misalignment can happen gradually as a result of everyday driving or more directly from potholes and rough surfaces.

Wheel alignment should be checked whenever your tyres are rotated or replaced. Otherwise, we recommend a check-up every 10,000 km.

The term ƒ??wheel alignmentƒ?? is a little misleading. When we perform a wheel alignment on your car, weƒ??re actually adjusting the suspension so that your tyres are correctly aligned with each other and the road.

When we do this, we look at three main components:

Camber
Camber refers to the inward or outward tilt of the tyres, which can be viewed from the front of the vehicle. Negative camber occurs when the wheel is tilted inwards (towards the axle), and positive camber occurs when the wheel is tilted outwards. This alignment is all about maximising tyre to road surface contact.

We can also adjust camber based on the style of driver. For instance, if youƒ??re one who tends to take corners aggressively, then a slightly negative camber might be appropriate. If the majority of your driving is on highways, though, we might set a positive camber.

Imprecise camber alignment can lead to excessively worn tread on the inside or outside of the tyre compared to the centre.

Caster
Caster angle provides stability to your steering. To calculate the angle, we draw an imaginary line between the upper and lower ball joints and compare it to true vertical. Caster angle will be either positive or negative, depending on whether the line is tilted to or away from the driver.

Incorrect caster alignment leads to ƒ??heal-toeƒ?? tyre wear, which means one side of the tread block is wearing faster than the other circumferentially.

Toe
Imagine you have a birds-eye view of your car and can see through the body to the tyres. Toe describes whether the front of the tyres are closer or farther apart than the rear of the tyres. If it helps, stand up and look down at your feet. Point your toes inwards ƒ?? thatƒ??s what we call toe-in. Splay your feet and you have what we term toe-out.

What setting is best can depend on the car. For instance, a front-wheel drive car tends to pull the front wheels together, so a toe-out alignment is best. On the other hand, rear-wheel drive cars push the tyres apart, so a toe-in alignment is appropriate. Whatever the case, we set the toe so the tyres roll parallel to one another when the car is in motion.

Poor toe alignment can lead to ƒ??featheringƒ??, which is when tread is smooth on one side and sharp on the other.

Wheel alignment has grown more sophisticated over the years as suspension in vehicles has become more technically advanced." ]