Home > Auto Repair Blog > How the Need for an Alignment Could Be Dangerous

How the Need for an Alignment Could Be DangerousAn alignment job focuses on adjusting three factors within the positioning of the wheels: the camber, the caster and the toe. The camber is the left and right tilt of your wheels viewed from the front or back of the car. The caster is the frontward or backward tilt of the wheel relative to the front axis (this is more difficult to see with the naked eye). The toe is the degree to which the wheels face outward viewed from the top. All of these qualities are necessary for the mechanic to correct when doing an alignment.

If the wheels are out of proportion in their camber, caster or toe, the condition could prove hazardous to the driver and anyone around. A car in need of an alignment will suffer from difficulty in handling and control. Steering is detrimentally affected by wheels that are not in line with one another and the direction in which the car is moving.

Having unaligned wheels could cause serious drifting if the driver does not constantly compensate by turning the steering wheel to one direction. However, holding this position while driving, especially at high speeds or in tricky conditions, is again a hazard in itself.

Unaligned tires will also be subject to extensive stress and wearing conditions. Newer tires will quickly experience a loss in their useable lifespans and in their traction on the road, and older tires are more likely to give out completely.

Continuing to drive a car despite its need for an alignment is hazardous as well as financially costly. The money you are delaying paying for an alignment will ultimately have to be spent if the car is to continue to be driven; talk to a reliable mechanic in your area about having your car’s wheels aligned.

 

Need alignment in Westerville OH? Give us a call at Kevin’s Car Repair LLC. Our mechanics have years of experience and can handle any repair job, big or small. At Kevin’s Car Repair, we are always honest, always fair!