It’s inevitable – if cars have steering and suspension systems (and they do – it’s pretty important…), the wheels will eventually get out of alignment. The rough roads in this part of the country don’t help, but even driving on the best roads, with the suspension suspending and the steering… well, steering, alignment settings will move. Why is this bad?

Handling is optimized at the factory alignment specs – you might not notice much under normal driving conditions, but if you have to react quickly to something, say, a child darting out from between parked cars, your ability to control the vehicle could be compromised. Another undesirable result of misalignment is crappy (sorry, I didn’t mean to curse!) tire wear.

The three dimensions of wheel alignment are toe, caster, and camber. If the toe setting is off by 1/8th of an inch, the tires are literally getting dragged sideways across the pavement 28 feet every mile you drive. This wreaks havoc with not just tire wear, but also gas mileage, as you might imagine.

We recommend an alignment, or at least an alignment check, every year or two. We often have special offers on discounted alignments, lifetime alignments, or free alignment checks. Just call, text, or email, and we’ll letcha know!