Wheel alignment is one of the most important elements in your car that directly impacts your driving and vehicle performance. You only have a pleasant driving experience when your wheels are correctly aligned; it means parallel to each other and at a right angle with the road.
Wheel alignment can also directly affect your car’s suspension. A strong suspension that can easily absorb shocks while going on a bumpy road is essential if you don’t wish to get muscle strain after driving.
If you drive carefully and look out for sudden bumps and curbs around the road, your suspension will not be affected for years. However, if you are driving a car with wheel alignment issues, then the chances of your suspension have a higher chance of getting damaged.
Regularly getting wheel alignment services doesn’t cost much, and you can save a lot of money in the long run. If your car’s suspension is damaged, then repairing it can spoil your savings.
What is Wheel Alignment?
During a wheel alignment, the angles of your wheels are adjusted to make sure they are within the right specifications. A perfect alignment is one in which the wheels are perpendicular to the road and parallel to each other.
Wheel alignment is done to ensure that the maximum wheel surface area comes into contact with the road so you have better traction and handling. This also helps your tires to wear evenly and prevent premature wear.
Getting your wheels aligned after some time is necessary because they can go out of alignment after you have driven more than 6,000 miles.
The major reasons why wheels can go out of alignment include:
1. Accident
A car accident can cause several problems, and misalignment is one of them. It’s not necessary that only big crashes can affect the alignment; sometimes, even a minor collision can cause wheels to be misaligned.
2. Driving on Broken Roads
Driving your car on a road with curbs or potholes has increased the chances of damaging your alignment. Sometimes, if you hit a pothole at high speed, then the wheel alignment can instantly go off right at that moment.
Whenever you hit a pothole or curb while driving, and you realize that the impact was heavy, then you should get your alignment checked by a reputable auto repair mechanic because if the alignment is damaged and you keep driving, it can cause several more issues, such as damage to the suspension.
3. Low Tire Pressure
Does your car drift while you are driving? Then, there might be an underlying issue with your tire pressure. When you keep your tires inflated to recommended levels, your wheel alignment stays right for a long time.
Moreover, keeping your tires inflated also helps in providing better fuel efficiency, and you don’t need to replace your tires due to premature wear.
Working of The Suspension System in Car
The main role of your car’s suspension is to absorb and distribute bumps and shocks from the road in such a way that the impact is minimized and your drive becomes smoother.
Let’s look at some of the famous car suspension systems:
Springs
The role of springs is to absorb and distribute the bumps from hitting the road. The heavy vehicles use leaf springs to support the car’s weight and minimize the impact of shocks.
Shocks
The shocks are not designed to hold the weight of your car, but they work in combination with the other components to absorb the impact of bumps. They are used in combination with leaf springs.
Struts
The sedans combine springs and shocks as a part of their suspension system. The combination of springs and shocks is known as struts. This is used in almost every sedan as they are smaller and lighter than other suspension systems.
Relation Between Suspension and Alignment
A car with alignment issues causes damage to the suspension system of the car by altering the position of various components in your car’s suspension that interact with each other.
If you hit a bump or curb and experience a significant impact, your suspension has a lesser chance of getting affected if the alignment is right. However, if your wheel alignment is off and you experience a small bump, it can have a greater impact on your suspension.
Due to misaligned wheels, the suspension system has to struggle to keep up with normal turns as well. While cornering or making a sharp turn, there is an increased stress on the suspension system, due to which the parts of the suspension break down faster.
Moreover, driving a car with misaligned alignment leads to increased stress on the suspension system while braking, due to which the result of accidents is increased.
