Road test. Ready? Get into your car, and drive in a straight line (no this isn’t an alcohol test, but similar). Notice your car pulling left or right? Or your steering wheel veering off to one side or the other and you have to pull it back up to centre it? Or can you maybe hear some sort of squealing sound? Guess what. It may need to check into rehab, I mean get an alignment. Here’s Mikaniki’s guide to wheel alignment.
But why’s my car not driving in a straight line?
There are lots of reasons why this happens. You may be taking a lot of left turns, or a lot of right turns, causing the left or right tires respectively to start wearing out, which then causes the misalignment. You always wanna make sure that your wheels are in tip top shape (actually a legal requirement in the UAE), so as to take care of any wear or tear.
A couple of other reasons include: sudden jarring when you hit something like a pothole or the curb, or even a road accident, and when you modify the height of your car without also adjusting the suspension.
So what’s wheel alignment?
This is basically when the all three angles, the caster, camber and toe, are adjusted for optimal performance.
There are two central tenets for proper wheel alignment: the first is that the wheels must be perpendicular to the ground and the second is that the wheels are parallel to one another. But as you’ll discover below, you may tweak any of the angles depending on your choice of profession as a regular corner carver or nitrous oxide junkie.
Wheel alignment process
There are three elements for proper wheel alignment. They are:
Caster
Say you’re driving and you need to make a turn. You tug on the steering wheel, which pivots on the suspension of your car, allowing the tires to respond quickly. The angle of this steering pivot when viewed from the side of the car is called the ‘caster.’
If the pivot leans towards the rear of the car, then it forms a positive caster, which makes the car more stable at high speed and increasing the tire lean when cutting corners. If it leans towards the front, it’s a negative caster, which makes the car lean towards the front of the car. Here’s a visual:
Typically, most cars have got a cross caster, which can cause the car to drift slightly to the right while rolling. This is a safety feature for when you doze off behind the wheel, so that the car doesn’t run into oncoming traffic and stays on the side of the road.
Camber
The Camber is the angular difference between the wheels’ vertical alignment perpendicular to the surface, measured in degrees. So say your wheels are perfectly perpendicular to the road’s surface, then the camber would be 0 degrees.
When the top of the tires begin to tilt inward towards the fender wells, you have what is called a negative camber. When the top of the tires tilt away from the car, you’ve got a positive camber. Is this getting cambersome? #dadjoke
You’d definitely enjoy the benefits of a negative camber’s increased grip when you’re carving those corners. But if you’re in it for a straight dash to the finishing line, the last thing you want is a negative camber, because this reduces contact surface between the tires and the road.
Best to steer away from any kind of pink slip nonsense and just go for a perfect perpendicular for your perfectly perpendicular life.
Toe
If you can, get a drone and then do an aerial birds-eye shot of your car from up above. Take a look at the resulting image and try to see if all your wheels are pointing inwards ( positive toe or toe in) or outwards (negative toe or toe out). This inward, outward pointing angle is called the toe.
Having any kind of positive or negative toe means your tires will scrub against the road’s surface and cause wear and tear along the edges. BUT it can also yield better performance. Kinda like taking steroids: you’re seeing the gains, but the side effects will wear your body out.
A positive toe allows both wheels to constantly generate force against one another, meaning it’ll be harder to steer right or left. This isn’t the best for drifting or hitting corners, but would suit you well in a straight dash. You’ll usually find slight positive toe on RWD cars, which straightens out the wheels at high speeds, making them even and preventing any excessive tire wear.
As for negative toe, well these are just great for carving corners like a boss. That’s because when your car begins to turn inward at a corner, the inner wheel will be angled more aggressively, creating a smaller turning radius than the outer wheel and effectively pulling the car in that direction. Not your average toe #dadjoke. Then again, if you’re doing a two hundred yard sprint for Gold, you may find that your steering can be quite twitchy.
Tips for keeping excellent wheel alignment
- As obvious as it sounds, watch where you’re going. Potholes are your biggest enemies, and if you can avoid them, your alignment will thank you for it.
- Regularly check your tire’s pressure to make sure they’re at the manufacturer’s specification. Check your car owner’s manual or the sticker on the inside of the driver’s door for this information.
- Travel light: you don’t wanna carry your entire house in your trunk. This might damage the rear suspension, and cause misalignment.
- Get your wheel alignment checked regularly. The general rule of thumb is every 12,000 to 15,000 kilometers, but be extra cautious and go for every 10,000 kilometers. Of course, if you’re really feeling it veering way left or right, bring your car straight in.
- Don’t do donuts after getting your wheels aligned. But definitely take her out for a lengthy test drive to make sure it’s all a-okay.
Book yourself in to check your alignment today
Check out Mikaniki’s Wheel Fixing page, and book yourself in to check your alignment today. May your wheels be aligned with the stars, friends!
