There are a certain things that are required to have a properly working vehicle. One of those is the alignment of the wheels. Before getting into any discussion, it is important to know what wheel alignment is actually. The adjustment of the suspension attached to the wheels in a proper angle which is usually recommended by the manufacturer, is what we understand as wheel alignment.
As this is a very important thing in terms of wheels and the vehicle maintenance, usually it is recommended to get it done by the professionals. But what about the times of emergencies or if you are in a distant place, where no service station is available nearby? In such cases you can at least do the basic checking of wheel alignment on your own. It is a tricky task but not impossible. It might be most helpful after a suspension or steering component is replaced. Let us see how it can be done.
Rules of Wheel Alignment
There are some factors that affect the alignment of the wheels of a car. Those are mainly the camber, caster and toe-in. It is possible to check both toe-in and camber by yourself at home. The original rule for the alignment of wheels is that all the wheels will be placed in a parallel way to each other while being perpendicular to the ground.
When a car starts to pull on one particular side while running on the road, it indicates that something is wrong with the alignment. It can also happen due to some heavy impact owing to a bumpy ride or in the event of an accident. Uneven tyre wearing, vibration and some other things also indicate towards an improper Wheel Alignment Cannock.
Toe-in measurement
The car front wheels are inward faced which can be called as pigeon-toed too. The service manual should be checked first for getting the right specifications of your vehicle as it varies for different vehicles. Since the manual spec would give you the measurement from the mid-bottom to top of the tyre, you shall have to measure accordingly. It can be a problem for the car body placement so you just need to take one-quarter up the tyre measurement of both the rear and front tyres and then double the number to get the actual toe measurement. During this process the steering wheel should be angled straight.
Camber Measurement
Camber basically signifies the measurement of how much degree is the tyre leaning inward or outward. While leaning outwards is called positive camber, leaning inward is negative camber. Measuring it does not require much but a long and straight edge ruler which shall match the length of the diameter of the wheel, and also one angle finder. The ruler has to be placed across the wheel, keeping the car on a leveled ground. Then the angle finder being placed will give you the correct number.
Caster measurement and adjustment should be dealt by skilled technicians only. At least now you know how to measure the other two factors back home, to be sure of how misaligned the wheels are. Read more Tyres Cannock
