When your car is serviced, it will have numerous checks carried out on it. The oil level will be confirmed, the seatbelts will be checked for their safety and the brake pads will be looked at to make sure there is enough wear left in them. Of course, your car's tyres should also be inspected, too. This will mean looking for bulges in the sidewall, wear to the tread and any gouging that might have occurred. All too often, however, car tracking is an optional extra that is not considered part of the main servicing offering. Many mechanics will charge a supplementary fee to confirm your tyre alignment, but you should not skimp on this important part of vehicle maintenance. Why is car tracking such a crucial thing to check?
Radial Tyre Wear
Although tyre alignment services are often considered to be a supplementary thing when a car service is carried out or even when you have new tyres fitted, failing to check that the tracking is properly set up is a mistake for the health of your tyres. This is because misaligned tyres will wear down more rapidly than they otherwise would. Put simply, if one side's tyres are not sitting in a perfectly parallel position with the other side's, you will have to put up with a sideways drag. As a result, it will wear down the tread in a circle around the perimeter of the tyre. When the tread diminishes to a certain level, even if it is in just one band, it will become illegal to drive on. This sort of radial wear won't ruin all of the tyre tread, but it'll be enough to cost you a great deal when you need to replace your tyres.
Safety Concerns
The sideways drag that you feel when you are driving on misaligned tyres also has safety implications. Most drivers who ignore tyre alignment need to keep a firm hold of their steering wheel to overcome the problem of drifting. However, you can start to move out of your lane all too easily if you lose your concentration for even a moment behind the wheel. This could mean potentially ploughing into the face of oncoming traffic just because your tyres weren't aligned properly.
Save on Fuel
As well as saving you money on having to replace prematurely worn tyres, having your tyre alignment checked means your car will drive more efficiently. When the tracking of all four wheels is set correctly, the car will move forward with less friction. In turn, this will offer a considerable boost to your fuel economy, meaning you have to fill up less often.
To learn more, contact a resource that offers tyre alignment services.
Share21 August 2020
Hello and welcome to my blog. My name is Holden, and I have been a lover of driving for as long as I can remember. I have taken driving trips across deserts and icy tundras. I have also raced on pristine roadways, and I have explored small dirt tracks through the mountains. The key to success, I have learned, is choosing the right tyres, making sure your wheels are in top shape and fixing your suspension. I love to write so I decided to create a blog on these topics. If you have questions, I hope you can find the answers you need here.
