Wheel alignment, or tracking as most people call it, is just the angles your wheels sit at. Set them right and the car drives straight and the tyres wear evenly. Let them drift and you'll go through tyres faster, use a bit more fuel and lose some grip. It's a cheap, quick job to put right, so here's how to spot it.
1. The car pulls to one side
Find a straight, flat bit of road and loosen your grip for a second. If the car drifts noticeably left or right, your alignment is probably out. A tiny lean to the left is normal because of the road camber, so it's a definite, steady pull you're watching for.
2. Your tyres are wearing on one edge
Run your hand across the tread from one side to the other. If the inside or outside edge is worn down more than the rest, that's about as clear a sign as you'll get. Left alone, bad tracking will chew through a set of decent tyres in a few thousand miles, which is an expensive way to ignore a small problem.
3. The steering wheel sits crooked
Going straight, your steering wheel should sit dead level. If the badge is cocked over to one side while the car's tracking straight, the alignment needs setting back to centre.
4. There's a vibration through the wheel
A shake or wobble through the steering can be alignment, but more often it's the wheels needing balancing. They're two different jobs that get muddled up a lot. When you bring it in we check both, so you're paying to fix the actual cause rather than guessing.
5. It just feels vague
If the car wanders, follows every rut and white line, or won't settle after a bend, alignment could be part of it. This one crops up a lot after somebody's had a run-in with a kerb or dropped a wheel into one of Burnley's finer potholes.
What knocks it out in the first place?
Usually it's the roads. Potholes, kerbs and speed bumps are the main culprits, and we've no shortage of those. Normal wear in the suspension does it too, as does fitting new tyres or having suspension work done, which is why it's always worth a check afterwards.
Worth sorting early
Setting the tracking right makes your tyres last longer, sharpens up the steering and can even claw back a little fuel economy. It's one of the cheapest jobs on the car and one you tend to notice straight away.
We use laser alignment gear to measure and adjust it properly, and we'll show you the before and after figures so you can see exactly what's changed. Most cars are in and out inside the hour. If any of that sounds familiar, book it in or give us a call.