Symptoms of wheels that need aligning

Routine Maintenance

Hey there! It’s me, your good friend, just checking in on that routine maintenance you love to talk about so much! Okay, passive aggression aside, I get it. Routine maintenance seems silly. Your car is gonna live forever, just like you, right? You don’t need to floss. You don’t need to go to the doctor for a check up. And you don’t need routine maintenance. Except you need all of those things, and if you keep up on routine maintenance you’ll be able to have a wheel alignment before they cause any further (read: expensive) damage to your car.

Tire wear

A tell-tale sign of a car in need of an alignment is uneven tire wear . If you find yourself replacing tires earlier than you’re supposed to, get an alignment. And also get a new tire place, because anyone changing your tires should be able to tell you if your car needs an alignment. On that note…

New tires, wheels, or suspension components

Every time you change any of these items, it’s a good idea to set your alignment. New parts have different geometries than warn parts, which result in changes to the alignment of all the parts. It’s like changing the amount of flour you’re putting in your cookies without adjusting the butter or sugar. Just change it all together, and your car will be happier.

Feedback

Hopefully you never find yourself asking your car where you’re going. It should be asking you. But if you notice that your car is doing things you didn’t tell it to do, this is a sign to fix that alignment.