Wheel balancing ensures your wheel and tire weights are balanced equally across your vehicle’s axles. Wheel alignment makes certain your tires are touching the asphalt at the correct angle and pointed straight. Both of these things extend the life of your tires and give you better gas mileage. Even better, they make controlling your automobile almost effortless. New Castle Auto Repair offers wheel alignment services to our customers, so let’s talk about that and how often you should have them aligned.
When the Wheels Need to Be Aligned
Anytime you put a new set of tires on your automobile, the wheels need to be aligned and balanced at the same time. This ensures that the new tires are touching the ground without leaning inward or outward and that the wheels are pointed straight when the steering wheel is straight. Balancing is also important because new tires weigh differently than your existing tires, and this weight difference must, again, be evenly distributed throughout the axles. After the first wheel alignment for your new set of tires, it’s a good idea to get a wheel alignment every two years or sooner when necessary.
Things That Knock the Wheels Out of Alignment
Sooner when necessary generally means that your wheels have somehow been knocked out of alignment, and this can happen to all of us. An automobile accident will knock the wheels out of alignment, even a minor one, and flying over bumps, potholes, and speed bumps will negatively affect your wheel alignment. One of the most common alignment killers is curbs. If you hit one or run over it when you’re making a turn, you can easily knock the wheel that hit the curb in the wrong direction and affect your vehicle’s wheel alignment.
Signs Your Wheels Are Not Aligned
You’ll be able to tell if your wheels are not aligned. You might not notice the problem at first, but as it gets worse, you’ll definitely know something is off. The most common sign that your wheels are not aligned is your automobile will not want to go straight even though you’re steering it straight. The misaligned wheel or wheels will cause your vehicle to pull to the right or left, and you will find yourself correcting the steering constantly to keep it straight. If your steering wheel logo is crooked when you’re driving straight, this, too, suggests that your wheels aren’t aligned.
Stop by New Castle Auto Repair in New Castle, PA, today. We’ll check your wheel alignment and make any necessary adjustments to get you headed straight again.