What’s more fun than hitting the open road in your car, taking turn after turn as you go? Well if your car's tires are out of alignment, you might not agree with this sentiment. Without proper alignment, the ride of your car can become bumpy, shaky, or even require you to slow down to maintain good road safety. If this is news to you, and your car has started to feel like it isn’t driving as well as it once did, keep reading to learn why proper alignment is an essential part of regular car maintenance.
Does An Alignment Make the Ride Smoother?
There are a few different ways that wheel alignment can impact the smoothness of how your car drives. When your vehicle is out of alignment, it can cause the car to pull significantly to one side or the other. You will notice yourself constantly wrestling with the steering wheel, and never really being able to take both hands off, even for a second before it veers to the side.
This can also cause you to feel more shakes and bumps while driving because the misalignment makes the ride much more sensitive to the conditions of the road. Another common indication that a car is out of alignment is a frequent humming while driving.
Once your car’s wheels have been realigned, you will feel an immediate improvement to the ride, noise and performance of your car. Drivers have also reported getting better fuel mileage due to the fact they aren’t constantly correcting their cars steering.
Why Would a Car Still Pull to One Side After an Alignment?
If a car is still pulling to one side after a wheel alignment, it could be an indication of a much more concerning issue in the suspension or steering components. Your car needing an alignment more than usual is also a sign that a larger vehicle system is failing. Things like loose wheel bearings, worn out shocks or struts, and old tie-rod ends and ball joints can all impact the quality of your car's steering.
Naylor’s is a full-service auto repair shop, and can provide a wide range of repair services to save you time and money from needing to schedule appointments at other specialty shops. As a customer, we test the effectiveness of all cars after their alignment to make sure we catch these issues before handing back the keys. If the alignment doesn’t get a passing score, we will do a more thorough analysis to find the core issue. Without addressing the underlying issues causing misalignment or steering issues, your car can become undriveable, or worse, cause a potential accident.
How to Help Prevent Frequent Alignments
While regular alignments are a standard part of vehicle maintenance, caused by normal wear and tear, you can adopt certain preventative measures to minimize how often they are required. To get more longevity out of your alignment, you should,
- Avoid potholes and curbs.
- Drive over speed bumps at a controlled, slow speed.
- Get an alignment check after any accident, even if it’s a minor fender bender.
Drivers who keep up with these good driving habits can increase the lifespan of their last wheel alignment and in the long run, their car.
Visit Naylor’s Auto Repair in Boise for Wheel Alignment
Call us or schedule an appointment online for your next tire alignment or other routine maintenance. The technicians at Naylor’s are passionate about empowering our customers to take advantage of preventative maintenance and can correct a range of repairs to keep your car driving smoothly. Be sure to take advantage of our pre-purchase car inspections to make sure you’re getting the best car at the right price.