Something is wrong. This could be the very first thing, read: scary thing, in your mind when you are driving a car and you feel that the vehicle tends to drift on either side. You struggle to steer the car straight but can’t make it. When you are in a situation like this then, your car is dying to go through a wheel alignment check.
What is wheel alignment?
Wheel alignment in simple terminology means adjusting the front and rear suspensions of your car so that the vehicle remains in the toe angle as recommended by the manufacturer. Correct wheel alignment prevents the car from inapt handling and early wear of the tyres. It can also skew from the prescribed direction when your car hits a deep pothole, unexpected speed breaker (typical Indian road conditions), or even when you fit in a new set of tyres.
How to check wheel alignment?
Although major problems can only be solved by a professional mechanic, some minor ones can be diagnosed and fixed at home. So why not give it a shot, as we Indians love to delve into new things.
- For wheel alignment test, firstly, you need to check your car’s tyre pressure, if it’s not evenly inflated, it could be the cause of your vehicle not performing well.
- Check the instruction and repair manual of your car which will notify you about the appropriate wheel alignment properties. There you will find the measurements related to toe, camber and caster.
- Remember, fixing the wheel alignment involves adjusting three essential components — toe-in, toe-out and camber. Toe-in and Toe-out are the settings that affect the handling characteristics of a vehicle. A small change in toe settings can result in vehicle instability. Toe-in occurs when the front of the wheels on the axle are closer than the rear of the wheels, while toe-out is the exact opposite of the same. It leads to wearing of tyre tread on the inner/outer edges. Toe can be corrected by loosening the lock nuts and adjusting the tie rods. Referring to the user manual is recommended until and unless you are skilled in this field.
- On the other hand, camber is the lean angle of your car’s wheels when looked upon from the front. It consists of both positive and negative elements. Too much positive camber makes the tyre wear on outside edge, while too much negative camber does the opposite. The difference between the angles of camber can result in vehicle pulling to one side. Camber adjustment, most of the times, can only be done by the professionals.
- The loose suspension could also cause problems in your car’s wheel alignment. The easiest way to check this is to park your car on a flat surface and jack up the front end and then place the vehicle on the jack stands. Here you need to follow a precautionary measure, i.e. to ensure the car is stable on jack before you check the suspension, otherwise, you could be badly injured; if the car falls off the jack stand. Also, make sure your steering wheel is unlocked. Check each wheel by wriggling it vertically and horizontally. If you can grip it without sensing any sloppiness, your suspension is pretty good and in order. If your suspension is loose, you will need a professional mechanic to fix it.
- The third method is the caster wheel alignment. If correcting the toe angle and camber does not fix your problem, your car wheel casters might need to be adjusted. For a layman, it is hard to conceptualise this method. This can only be done by professional mechanics as this process requires numerous tools to adjust the wheel alignment accurately.
So, let’s not be that kanjoos and leave some tasks for the professionals also to perform.