At this time of year you may well have hit a pothole in a construction area. Your vehicle just “does seem right” when you are driving down the street or highway.

Perhaps you are soon to be on a long drive for your vacation and have been told that a front end alignment might be a good idea to extend the lifespan of your expensive rubber Car tires. Certainly at your local garage, auto dealership service department or big box store auto service area an alignment is a lot less costly than replacing a whole set or even 2 of your precious tires. What is a wheel alignment and what does a wheel alignment entail?

To begin with front end alignments are such a sophisticated procedure and practice that adjustment should be made only by fully qualified wheel alignment mechanics. Incorrect adjustments will no doubt cause steering difficulties and excessive tire wear.

Several terms are involved in an understanding of the concepts of front end wheel alignments. First in line is “camber”. Camber is the inwards (towards the chassis) tilt of the upper ball joint or joints. Caster, on the other hand, is the backward or forward tilt of that same upper ball joint or joints. Two other terms involved are “toe in” and “toe out”. Basically to put it in simpler laymans’ terms – what is referred to as the “Toe-out ” that will occur on turns and the turns you make while driving are considered by auto repair professionals as to be not adjustable in the adjustable classifications of auto repair work.. It is not a mater of electronic modules which can not be manually set up or “that is the way it is “. The setup is that the components are simply built into the steering arms. Thus this provides for inside front wheel to be able to turn at greater and greater angles than the same outside front wheel making a turn. This prevents tire scuffing. Toe-in is the distance between the front and rear of each front wheel. It keeps the front wheels of your car or truck parallel when the car is going generally straight ahead. In addition, toe-in helps prevent front-tire wear overall.

In this rather long list of front end wheel alignment terminologies is a somewhat technical term in the specialist front end alignment trade – that is the term “steering-axis inclination”. “Steering wheel inclination is a term that to outsiders can be somewhat hard to imagine and conceptualize. It can be said that what is termed “Steering-axis inclination” again is yet again example of automotive components in your “front end: of your vehicle that fit into the totally non-adjustable group automotive components of most vehicles. If you are confused about words and terms that your mechanic or service writer incorporate into their explanations and discussions with you as an auto owner it is good to you that this part is often referred to as well as the “spindle arm”. When driving on the roadways the weight of the front end of the car or truck helps return the wheels to a straight-ahead position after completing a turn because of the “tilt”

One last very good reason your mechanic or trusted service adviser may of recommended a front end alignment to your vehicle. It is often about safety and inherent roadway safety – both handling and emergency handling situations as well as stopping distances in an emergency roadside event. So much for Canadian Moose on the roads and highways of your vacation and motoring trips

Author Bio: Kirk W. Nobbe Alberta Canada Edmonton Chrysler Sebring Fort McMurray Dodge Ram 1 Ton Truck Winnipeg Dealer Resource