What Is Wheel Alignment?
Wheel alignment, often known as breaking or tracking, is a common auto maintenance procedure that involves correcting the angles of the wheels to meet the manufacturer’s guidelines. These changes are made to lessen tire wear and guarantee straight and true vehicle motion.
How Much Is Wheel Alignment In South Africa?
| FITMENT & BALANCE | PRICE INCL. VAT |
|---|---|
| Front Wheel Alignment | From R200 |
| Front and Rear Wheel Alignment | From R300 |
| SUV and 4×4 Wheel Alignment | From R350 |
| Exotic Wheel Alignment (High-end vehicles) | From R500 |
What Occure When A Car Is Not Aligned?
Your tires may wear out rapidly or unevenly if your car’s wheels are not correctly aligned. You might even detect a tug in one or both directions from your steering wheel. Your steering wheel may shake and tremble as a result of poor alignment, which can make driving incredibly uncomfortable over time.
What Results In The Misalignment Of Wheels?
Here are the top three causes of alignment issues in cars: abrupt disruption or impact caused by hitting anything, such as a pothole, running up against a curb, driving too quickly over a speed bump, or being involved in an accident. Components of the suspension, such as bad shocks or struts, wear out or become loose, which affects alignment.
Camera Angles Of The Wheel
The major angles are the fundamental angles at which the wheels are aligned with respect to one another and the car body. The camber, caster, and toe adjustments are these. Some autos only allow some of these adjustments per wheel.
These three variables can also be divided into front and back (with no caster on the rear, typically not being steered wheels).
The Setbacks Of The Wheel
The discrepancy between the wheelbase lengths on the right and left sides is known as setback. Another way to measure it is as an angle. Car handling is unaffected by setbacks that are less than the manufacturer’s stipulated tolerance (for instance, roughly 6mm). This is due to the fact that the setback is minimal because one wheel is several centimeters in front of the other when the vehicle is turning. For various design factors, several car models come from the factory with varied settings for the right and left side wheelbase lengths. A collision or a discrepancy in right and left caster can result in an off-spec setback. Rake, which is a positive value when the rear ride height is higher than the front, is the differential between the two ride heights.
Can The Rotation Of The Tires Affect Alignment?
Wheel rotation DOES NOT affect alignment. Changing the rotation of your wheels DOES NOT affect alignment. To keep the wear on the tires even, it is advised to do it frequently.
Can Pulling Be Caused By Worn Tires?
Misalignment can lead to vehicle pull, but it can also result from uneven tire wear, a low tire on one side, or a tire separation.
DIY Wheel Alignment Equipment
Wheel Alignment Materials:
Tape measure.
A spool of string.
Four jack stands (four if you intend on doing all four wheels at the same time)
Camber gauge.
24mm wrench or adjustable wrench.
13mm wrench.
Control arm shims.
