Ensuring your wheels are correctly aligned improves both the longevity and performance of your tyres.
Wheels often become misaligned by hitting potholes, kerbs, bumps, general wear and tear and driving on uneven surfaces. It is therefore integral to maintain correct alignment of your wheels, to ensure their performance and quality remains at an extremely high standard.
What is a Wheel Alignment?
Wheel alignment makes reference to the angle of your wheels in comparison to the body of the vehicle and to each other. Wheel alignment is adjusted by changing the vehicle’s suspension. Using advanced state of the art technology, Tyre Specialists at Cronulla Sutherland Automatics are able to accurately determine exactly how much adjustment is needed and adjust accordingly. We recommend that you get your wheel alignment checked by our experienced team at least once every 10000km as well as any time you feel a change in the handling or driving of your vehicle.
Why is Wheel Alignment Important?
Maintaining accurate wheel alignment is essential to avoid unnecessary wear on your tyres, suspension, steering and brakes. Accurate wheel alignment maximises tyre life, optimises the stability of your driving and improves your vehicle’s overall handling performance, resulting in a much smoother and safer driving experience.
What are the Initial Warning Signs of Misaligned Wheels?
The angle of your wheels can become altered over time resulting in various changes to your overall driving experience. Warning signs that it is time to get your wheel alignment checked:
- Uneven tread wear
- Vehicle pulling off to the right or left
- A steering wheel that is off-centre when driving straight
How to know when a wheel alignment is required
We all know our vehicles require a wheel alignment from time to time. If you don’t do it often enough, you risk wasting precious money and time replacing your car tyres prematurely. But how do you know when to check the wheel alignment on your car? Before answering this, let’s take a quick look at what a wheel alignment is and how it affects your car.
A wheel alignment is a series of adjustments and measurements made to your vehicle to ensure all the wheels are parallel when compared to each other (to the degree of the manufacturer’s specifications), and then a second series of adjustments to make certain that the wheels are perpendicular to the road.
The measurements are made to be as specific as possible and will vary depending on your vehicle’s year, model and make. The whole point of maintaining a correct wheel alignment is to minimise the resistance that your tyres form. Having them roll smoothly and in line with each other assists in saving on fuel costs and will make your tyres improve their longevity.
Correct wheel alignment settings are very sensitive and precise. There are 360 degrees in a circle and each of those degrees is made up of 60 minutes. Many vehicles behold a tolerance of less than 10 minutes before a wheel is deemed out of alignment. That’s just one-sixth of a degree.
The next thing to consider is what forces a car to go out of alignment. Gaining an understanding of this can help you avoid the driving habits and hazards that cost you money.
Your car can go out of alignment in a number of ways but the most common is hitting something with your tyre at force. A common occurrence is running over a pothole or an obstacle in the road like a gutter. This kind of sudden jolt can force your wheel to obtain incorrect alignment immediately.
If you experience an incident like this, you should definitely have your vehicle checked by Cronulla Sutherland Automatics as soon as possible. Given the direct impact and sensitive tolerances they have on your finances, it’s better and safer to check the alignment if you’re not sure.
The second most common way for a car to go out of alignment is through normal wear and tear in your suspension and front end. Worn parts shift over time, resulting in an impact on your wheel alignment. Often having a simple alignment check completed will alert you to issues prior to them turning into larger problems.
Also keep in mind that any time you replace a part of your suspension or steering assembly, it’s smart to have an alignment check as well. Cronulla Sutherland Automatics will include this in the job.
The final way that you may discover your wheels out of alignment is also a result of regular wear and tear, but this time in your tyres. After all, an alignment is a series of extremely precise adjustments that are tailored to give your vehicle the best possible safety and performance, so the diameter of your tyre can have an effect on your alignment. As your tyres wear through normal use, their measurements differ slightly and so does your alignment.
This is why it’s essential to regularly check your alignment. General car maintenance guides suggest that you check your wheel alignment every 10,000km or twice a year, whichever is most often. This is to ensure that you never get too far out of alignment before it is adequately adjusted.
Cronulla Sutherland Automatics offers honesty, fast service, co-operation and reliability. You will not be disappointed if you choose Cronulla Sutherland Automatics to assist you in trouble-free motoring. Cronulla Sutherland Automatics is an Authorised Repairer for the NRMA, a member of the Motor Traders Association (MTA) and the Institute of Automotive Mechanical Engineers (IAME). Cronulla Sutherland Automatics is an accredited member with the Motor Vehicles Repair Industry Authority and the Automatic Transmission Rebuilders of Australasia (ATRA).
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