The car pulls
You have to hold the wheel against a drift to keep it in the lane on a flat, straight road. That is the most common one and the easiest to feel.
Wheel alignment
Straight steering.
Even wear.
Computerised four wheel alignment in Torrington, with the before and after readings printed out so you can see what was actually wrong. Cars, utes, vans, caravans and lifted 4WDs.
The signs
Six reasons to get it checked.
Any one of these is worth a look. Most of them cost you a set of tyres if they are left alone for a year.
The wheel sits crooked
You are driving dead straight but the badge on the steering wheel is off centre. The toe is out even if nothing else feels wrong.
One edge is wearing
Run your hand across the tread. If the inside or outside shoulder is down while the middle is fine, the camber or the toe is eating that tyre.
You hit something solid
A deep pothole, a gutter or a decent hit on a gravel road can move the settings in one go. Worth checking rather than waiting to see.
Something has changed underneath
A lift kit, new springs, new shocks or a different wheel and tyre package all move the geometry. The alignment is part of that job, not an extra.
You just fitted new tyres
New rubber on an alignment that is out starts wearing wrong from the first week. This is the cheapest time to get it right.
On the rack
Three angles,
twelve readings,
one printout.
The rack measures every wheel against the manufacturer specification and shows the numbers on screen while the car is still up. You see the reading before we touch anything and again after we have set it.
Toe
Whether the wheels point in or out relative to each other. The angle that scrubs rubber off fastest and the one behind most feathered wear.
Set parallel
Camber
How far the top of the wheel leans in or out. Out of spec and it wears one shoulder off the tyre while the rest of the tread is still good.
Set upright
Caster
The angle of the steering axis. This is the one that decides whether the car tracks straight on its own or wanders and needs correcting.
Steering self-centres
Thrust angle
Whether the rear axle is pointing where the front is. A car can be dog tracking down the road with the steering wheel straight and no other symptom.
Rear square to front
The printout
Before and after on one page. If everything measured inside spec we will tell you that and show you, rather than charging for an adjustment nothing needed.
How it runs
On the rack and back on the road.
Most alignments are done while you wait. Bring a book or use the front room, and if anything worn turns up you get a phone call and a price before we go near it.
A look underneath first
No point aligning a car with a shot tie rod end or a perished bush. We check the steering and suspension components before the rack goes anywhere near it.
Measured against spec
Onto the rack, sensors on all four wheels, and every angle read against the manufacturer figures for your exact vehicle.
Set and re‑checked
Adjusted back into spec, then measured again to confirm it landed where it should rather than close enough.
Printout in your hand
Before and after on paper, and a plain English explanation of what was out and what it was doing to your tyres.
How long
A straightforward four wheel alignment is usually a wait rather than a drop off. If something underneath needs replacing first we will tell you on the phone before you come in.
4WDsLifted and modified
Lifted & modified
A lift changes every angle you just paid to set.
Put a lift under a 4WD and the caster and camber move with it. Plenty of places will fit the kit and hand the keys back without touching the alignment, which is how a brand new setup ends up wandering and chewing the front tyres out.
- Aligned after the lift, not before
- Set for the wheel and tyre actually fitted
- Caster corrected where the kit allows
- Checked loaded if it tours
Doing the whole job with us
If the lift, the wheels and the tyres are all going on here, the alignment is part of the job rather than a separate booking you have to remember.
Good questions
Before you
book it in.
If yours is not here, ring the yard and ask. We would rather talk it through than have you guess.
How often should I get an alignment?
A yearly check is sensible for most cars, and any time you fit new tyres, change anything in the suspension, or hit something hard enough to make you wince. If you do a lot of gravel it is worth checking more often than that.
Is a four wheel alignment worth it over a front only?
On almost every modern vehicle, yes. The rear axle decides where the car actually points, and setting the front to a rear that is out just moves the steering wheel off centre to hide the problem. We measure all four.
Do you align caravans and trailers?
Ring and tell us what it is. Axles on vans and trailers can be checked and in a lot of cases corrected, but it depends on the build, so we would rather look at it than promise something over the phone.
What if nothing is out of spec?
Then we show you the printout, tell you it is fine and you have paid for the check rather than for an adjustment you did not need. That happens sometimes and it is a perfectly good outcome.
My car still pulls after an alignment somewhere else.
Bring it in. A pull that survives an alignment is usually either a worn component that was never checked, a tyre with a belt out of place, or a rear axle nobody measured. All three show up quickly on the rack.
Can you do it at the same time as new tyres?
Yes, and that is the sensible way to do it. Same rack, same visit, and the new set starts its life wearing evenly. A set of four plus an alignment is usually around ninety minutes.
Get it measured before it costs you a set.
Drop the rego in and we will book you onto the rack. If you are due for tyres as well, say so and we will do both in the one visit.
Booking it in? Start the online form, or ring the yard on 07 4614 3555.