Wheel alignment is a term used for adjusting the angle of a vehicles front and rear wheels. Throughout a vehicles life the suspension and steering start to wear, wheels take impact from kerbs and pot holes which then disturbs the alignment set up. This then causes your tyres to wear ultimately effecting the safety of the vehicle. Wheel alignment, also known as tracking is adjusted by the toe in, toe out and adjustment of the positive and negative camber, this is set to the vehicle manufactures specification.
Before having your wheel alignment checked, always make sure you have the correct tyre pressure in your tyres, as this can also make a tyre wear uneven.
This image shows what a positive camber would look like from the front of the vehicle, the camber is pointing the tyres inwards. A result of a positive camber would mean the tyre would wear on the outer edge.
This is what a negative camber would look like, the bottom of the wheel is pointing out over resulting in the tyre wearing on the inside edge.
The toe is the distance between the front and the back of a tyre, so the distance at the front of the tyre would be less than the back.he front tyres toeing inwards.
And in this image it shows the wheels toeing outwards. The distance between the front of a tyre is greater than the rear of the tyre. Wheels toeing in and out have a “feather type wear” across the tread.
Having your wheel alignment checked is so important, not just for safety but to increase the lifespan of your tyres. It should be checked at least once a year and always look out for the signs of wearing using the pictures above as reference.
