Is Your Vehicle Suffering From Wheel Misalignment?

What to Look Out For

When it comes to the quality and comfort of your drives, proper wheel alignment plays an important role. Proper alignment allows the wheels of your vehicle to meet the road at a proper angle and helps them work with each other, instead of against.

Think about wheel alignment as if you were using a shopping cart. When you try to push a cart with a wheel that’s pointing in a different direction than the rest, it takes a lot more effort to get it moving. This is precisely what your vehicle is doing when a wheel is misaligned, and it’s important to know the signs, so you know when it needs service. During your next drive, make sure to keep these signs of misalignment in mind!

Uneven Tire Wear

If you suspect wheel misalignment in your vehicle, first check the wheels of your tire. A classic sign of misalignment is when the tread wear of the front set of tires don’t match the back set. If not promptly handled, you may have to replace your tires one at a time instead of all together, which is both time-consuming and expensive!

Vibrations

Unless you drive over rumble strips on the road, you should never experience vibrations from the steering wheel. If you feel the steering wheel vibrating, especially at higher speeds, that is a sign of wheel misalignment. This typically occurs due to the wheels pulling in opposite directions of each other, instead of going in the same direction. This limits the amount of control you have of your vehicle and is extremely dangerous to drive with, so we recommend a wheel alignment service as soon as possible.

Pulling

When the steering wheel is in a neutral position, your vehicle should maintain a set, straight path. If you’re driving and you have to fight the steering wheel to keep the car straight, that’s when you know you’re suffering from pulling. There are varying degrees of pulling, all of which are dangerous to deal with. Make sure that you check the tire’s PSI first, as low tire pressure can be the cause for your vehicle to drift.

We hope this helps you catch wheel misalignment in your vehicle! And if you’re in need of a wheel alignment service, make sure you schedule it with S&S Service Center in Kansas City, Missouri!

By on July 17th, 2019 in Auto Repair, Wheel Alignment