making the best choices caring for your vehicle

As a car owner, there are a lot of mechanical and maintenance steps that you need to address. While most car owners are attentive to oil changes, fluid fills, and tire rotations, a lot of car owners overlook the importance of wheel alignment monitoring and maintenance. Here's a look at a few things that you should know about your car's wheel alignment.

Wheel Alignment Basics

Wheel alignment refers to the position of the car's wheels in relation to the steering rack and other components. The angle of the tires directly affects how the car handles and the wear on the tires. 

Maintaining your car's wheel alignment is important for minimizing handling and steering problems, which makes your car easier to control on the road. Additionally, it ensures that your tires wear evenly. In both cases, this reduces wear and tear on your car and its tires, saving you money on excessive repairs.

Wheel Alignment Issues

Knowing the importance of wheel alignment is one thing, but recognizing the signs that your car's alignment needs attention is a priority. The sooner you can spot alignment issues, the sooner you can have it fixed and save your car from potential damage.

There are a few common issues you might notice with your car when the alignment is off. You may notice your car pulling to one side or the other, or perhaps you notice some slight vibrations in the steering wheel. Over time, you'll also notice uneven wear on your tires.

Wheel Alignment Maintenance

The best thing you can do is schedule an alignment inspection every time you have your tires rotated. If the inspection uncovers issues with your car's alignment, you should follow it up with an alignment appointment to have your car's alignment adjusted.

This ensures that your wheel alignment is monitored every few months, or at least every other oil change. Since many things can alter your wheel alignment, it's important that you stay attentive to this.

Remember that even things such as hitting a curb, crossing a significant pothole, or similar damaging actions can cause your car's wheel alignment to shift. That's why it is important that you monitor your alignment on a regular basis. Just because it was okay the last time your car was in the shop doesn't mean it's still okay. The sooner you catch it, the better.

Talk with a local auto repair shop about your wheel alignment concerns today.