Image taken from computechauto

In your car, do you know which component requires the highest expenditure (after fuel)? The tyre. This is why wheel alignment is important. But what is just as important as the why is the when. When should you consider wheel alignment?

• The car is drifting to one side when you think you are driving straight. Here, first check the tyre pressure on the front tyres, because the car will drift towards whichever side has less tyre pressure.
• You are driving straight but the steering wheel is not centered. This happens when you hit something hard.
• You notice that the tyres are wearing out unevenly. Generally, the front tyres will wear out quicker than the rear tyres, because of the engine weight in the front. Because of this, I believe it is a must to rotate the front and rear tyres every 10,000km.

Wheel alignment is the process of making sure that the wheels are perpendicular to the road and parallel to one another.

Alignment changes only when you hit something hard enough to actually bend the metal. As this does not happen very often, having the wheels aligned every 5000 km is a waste of money. On my cars, I go in for wheel alignment every 20,000 km. In general, there is no point getting wheel alignment done before 10,000 km, unless you notice one of the above symptoms. Between 10,000km and 15,000km is a good baseline to avoid suspension wearout, save fuel and reduce pollution.

Some cars will have wheel alignment for both the front and rear wheels, while others have wheel alignment only for the front two. Make sure you know whether your car requires 2 wheel or 4 wheel alignment. Otherwise, some garage owners may take you for a ride.

There are only two instances in which you should consider an unscheduled wheel alignment (apart from the situations described earlier): If you notice abnormal tyre wear, or if you think you hit something hard (for example, if your car goes over an uncovered manhole). In the second case, get it done immediately.

In all other situations, carefully observe the handling of the car, and check for uneven tyre pressures or tyre wear before you think you need to get the wheels aligned.