As technology and the build quality of vehicles has advanced over the years, we have grown numb to thinking are vehicles incredible machines and indestructible to anything that may lie on the road, but unfortunately, that is not the case. Vehicles are still prone to damage, and especially the wheels with these taking the brunt of the road usage when travelling, and therefore can get damaged easily by either pot holes (we live in Britain, it's inevitable) and if you’ve hit a kerb, you may notice how the car pulls slightly in one direction or the steering wheel doesn't look quite centralised in the straight-ahead position. It probably means your front wheels are not aligned correctly. It’s time to have them checked and, if necessary, corrected using laser wheel alignment.
It might sound complicated, but it really isn't. Basically it's a simple way of using light beams to check your vehicle front wheels are set up the way that the manufacturer wished them to be as all manufacturers have specific angles they wish their wheels to be aligned for the most efficiency of the vehicle. To check the alignment, our technician will attach brackets to your vehicles wheels and shine a light from one to the other, or if using an overhead projector, we can do all four at once. Then depending on if all the lights fall onto a certain scale, we can see if the wheels are aligned or not. To improve the accuracy, we use a computer to check the position of the light in relation to the scales and once the degree has been established, it's a simple case for us to adjust your suspension so the wheels are set up correctly for better efficiency and safety on your car journeys.
This little instructional video explains the basics of wheel alignment:
