Your Tires Will Tell You When You Need an Alignment

Alignment is one of the few things on a car where the evidence is right there in the open. You just have to know how to read the tires. Both outer edges worn is underinflation. The center worn is overinflation. One inner edge worn is camber. A feathered, saw-toothed pattern you can feel by running your hand across the tread is toe. Cupping or scalloping usually isn't alignment at all — that's worn struts or shocks letting the tire bounce. Those are the three angles. Toe is the one that destroys tread fastest, because a tire that isn't pointed straight is being dragged sideways every foot you drive. Camber affects edge wear and cornering grip. Caster affects straight-line stability and how the wheel returns after a turn, and on most cars it isn't adjustable anyway. Worth separating: a car that pulls isn't automatically out of alignment. Pulls also come from uneven tire pressures, a dragging brake caliper, a defective tire, or just the crown of the road. That's a diagnosis, not an assumption, and adjusting alignment to chase a pull that's caused by a sticking caliper fixes nothing. Things that should prompt a check: a hard pothole or curb strike, new tires, any suspension or steering part replaced, any ride height change, a steering wheel that's off-center, or new wear showing up on the tires. One honest caveat. Alignment can't be done correctly on worn parts. If the tie rod ends are loose or the control arm bushings are shot, the numbers won't hold and you've paid for nothing. Any shop worth using inspects first and tells you if that's the situation before touching the rack. The regional angle: washboard gravel and chip seal put constant cyclic loading into bushings, tie rods, and wheel bearings in a way smooth highway miles never do. If a good part of your driving is on county roads, your alignment doesn't stay put as long as the internet's generic advice assumes.