It can get really annoying to fight with your automobile. You’re steering straight but your car, truck, or utility vehicle keeps pulling to the side. Why is this happening? Getz Automotive advises that this is a sign that your wheels are out of alignment and need to be realigned. Wheel alignment helps to keep the tire tread squarely on the road, and misaligned wheels can wear down your tire tread unevenly and prematurely. Let’s talk about the importance of wheel alignment more below.
Your Automobile Is Out of Alignment
As we said above, if your vehicle keeps pulling to one side even though you have the steering wheel pointed straight, your wheels have been knocked out of alignment. It’s possible that you knocked them out of alignment yourself or they have naturally become misaligned over the years. Wheel alignment consists of ensuring the tires are square on the road from two separate angles, the front and the top. In other words, one way your wheels could be out of alignment is that they are pigeon-toed, i.e., pointing inward from the front.
Things That Knock the Wheels Out of Alignment
Everyone knocks their wheels out of alignment at one point or another in their driving life. One quick and easy way to knock the wheels out of the alignment is to be involved in an automobile accident. Even a minor incident can knock your wheels out of alignment slightly. Other things that knock your wheels out of alignment include speeding over bumps and potholes, speeding over speed bumps, hitting curbs as you turn corners or parallel park, and hitting cement parking space markers or driving over them. Anything that jolts your wheels in a different direction can knock them out of alignment.
When Realigning the Wheels Is Necessary
If your wheels are out of alignment, they need to be realigned. If they are fine, they usually won’t need to be realigned until a year or two has gone by. This is, of course, provided you don’t knock them out of alignment beforehand. Usually, the maximum amount of time between wheel alignments is two years, so make sure you have your wheels realigned every two years. The only other time the wheels need to be realigned is when you have a new set of tires installed on your automobile.
Getz Automotive is the best auto repair shop in Fuquay-Varina, NC, and we can check your wheels to make sure they are aligned. If they need to be realigned, don’t worry. We can do that in our shop.