The Benefits of Wheel Alignment & Tyre Balancing

Have you ever felt the tracking start to go on a car? It tends to not happen suddenly but, over time, you start to feel it: the car will tend to drift in a certain direction or the steering wheel could start to shake and judder as you’re driving. But why does this happen, and what are the benefits of proper alignment?

How wheel misalignment happens

When tyres are fitted, technicians should also align the wheels to ensure proper tracking & steering, but general driving can knock this out of whack. Things like potholes and kerbs can knock wheels gradually out of alignment – even sharp corners taken too quickly can put strain on the alignment.

When your alignment’s out, it can have knock-on effects for fuel economy, accurate steering, and can actually lead to premature tyre wear.

We have a whole page on wheel alignment and the different considerations here, but let’s look at the benefits of proper alignment in more detail.

Alignment improves fuel economy

Misaligned wheels end up fighting against each other as you’re driving. If the two front wheels point to different directions, the force from the engine gets split in those opposite directions and gets reduced. The consequence of this is that you need to supply more power from the engine to overpower the misalignment – which then means you need to use much more fuel.

Proper alignment ensures that as little force as necessary is required to accurately steer. Over the course of, say, six months’ driving – the amount of fuel saved is significant!

Reduces premature tyre wear

Another byproduct of the wheels fighting against each other is that particular areas on the tyres get overly worn. Depending on the type of misalignment you have, this is usually either the inner or outer section of the tyre face. With premature wear, you not only get the issues associated with worn tread patterns (such as worse handling in wet or slippery conditions) but may have to replace tyres much more frequently than you otherwise would.

Improves vehicle handling

Being able to accurately steer and quickly respond to changes in the road is crucial for your safety and that of everyone else on the road. Having to hold the wheel against opposite forces makes it much more difficult to respond properly to hazards because you’ll not only have to be responding to the hazard itself but with extra force.

As such, alignment keeps you much safer because you can steer confidently and focus on driving rather than fighting against the wheels.

Improves comfort

While comfort isn’t a safety-critical issue, the juddering that a car develops when wheels are misaligned can grow to be really fatiguing over long drives because it’s not just the steering wheel that you have to fight, it can start to shake the entire car – which can be extremely loud.

But this isn’t something you have to live with, either; a simple wheel alignment can sort it all and have you driving much more comfortably in no time!

What is wheel balancing?

The last thing to consider here is wheel balancing. This is related to alignment, but specifically makes sure that the wheels are aligned in their rotation. Expert technicians ensure that wheels along axles are balanced by adding weights to the rims – this is done to make sure the wheels have an even distribution of weight. And this contributes to the alignment as it helps to make sure the wheels rotate at similar rates.

Need wheel alignment & balancing?

If you’re having problems with your steering, get in touch with the experts at your local Tyre Pros centre for a free assessment.