Can You Tell If You Need A Wheel Alignment?

Many people deal with the signs and symptoms of poor wheel alignment, often unaware that it’s an easy fix. But it can create great panic if you aren’t aware it’s your wheel alignment that is causing these issues. Let’s check out some of the most common signs your vehicle is in need of an alignment.

Your vehicle pulls in one direction or the other. Your steering wheel is off centre: If you’re driving straight down a flat, level road, your steering wheel should be sitting close to perfectly straight. There’s usually a small amount of discrepancy allowed depending on the crown of the road, but overall the wheel should be sitting centred and straight. If the wheel is off centre by more than a few degrees in either direction, it’s time to have a wheel alignment performed.

This will return your steering wheel to centre, and may improve the overall drivability as well. 

A qualified technician can use tyre wear patterns to make assessments about tyre pressures, suspension condition, and alignment problems. 

Tyre Wear

Tyre wear can speak volumes about the condition of your car. Wear that is on only the inside or outside edges of tires indicates a problem with the camber adjustment.

Car's Steering Feels Loose

If your vehicle’s steering wheel feels loose, your car feels a little loose or unstable, one of the possible causes is poor wheel alignment. This can be felt as wandering all over the road when driving, or the car feeling very loose especially around corners. 

Car Feels Unstable

If your vehicle feels a bit unstable while driving, regardless of driving straight or turning, you should have the alignment checked, then corrected if necessary. 

Steering Doesn't Return To The Centre

When your steering wheel doesn’t return to the centre after you complete a turn, the steering wheel should naturally start to return to centre on it’s own. 

Of course you need to keep your hands on the wheel to help it achieve this quicker and keep control of the car, but if your steering wheel doesn’t even attempt to move itself back to centre, then it’s a good indication that your wheel alignment is off. If this is the case, then you should have an alignment check done, and a full alignment performed if necessary.

Try a few of these tips to see if the wheel alignment improves.

Alignment is based on tire angles, which go hand in hand with vehicle chassis height. If you have too much weight loading down your back end, that lowers your vehicle height, throwing off your alignment. Remove what you don’t need, and make sure to have your wheel alignment checked since your alignment can’t adjust itself.

It will place less strain on steering and suspension components which are key to maintaining proper alignment. To book a wheel alignment you can contact us via phone or send through an enquiry online and we will get back to you.