Car lovers often think about the proper performance of their vehicle, and this is no coincidence, because this factor is directly related to the service life. Car owners are often interested in the question: when is it necessary to do a wheel alignment? There is a lot of advice and disagreement here. Let's try to look at this situation in more detail.
Most service stations analyze vehicle data with negligence because it makes their job easier. It is often not taken into account that a car in which the trunk is often loaded behaves differently. Here it is necessary to carry out tests both in a light position and with increasing load. Another important indicator of a car’s performance is the level of pressure in the wheels, however, even here, mechanics often leave things to chance.
When you call a service technician, make sure they check your wheels thoroughly and follow all the procedures.
After what time is it time to think about the collapse of the assembly?
This type of procedure is best done when there are obvious deficiencies in driving the car (that is, the car often pulls to the side), when replacing important components, as well as when driving on poor road surfaces, and of course in cases in which a significant mileage has accumulated no maintenance.
Responsible car enthusiasts often ask mechanics: how long does it take to do the wheel alignment? To which they receive the answer that once every six months, or even more often. It is no secret that the number of visits a motorist makes to a workshop increases the income of maintenance technicians.
If you ask the same question in a showroom where they sell cars, they will probably tell you that a wheel alignment is done once every few years, because in this way the seller shows the strengths of the car and talks about the minimum costs for the car. Therefore, every driver must look after his car himself. After all, only he can clearly understand how the car behaves, whether the wheels move from side to side, what mileage has been generated, and what type of roads the car had to drive on.
The vehicle itself will tell you how long it is time to perform the wheel alignment, although you can test the integrity of its parts once every six months.
What does a correct wheel alignment look like?
The wheel axis, which is perpendicular to the ground, is the wheel alignment. It is negative if the wheels are turned away from each other, but if they are facing in the same direction, the toe is positive. The need for adjustment arises when the car loses control, the steering wheel begins to shake, and the wheels begin to whistle when cornering. The procedure also needs to be carried out after repairing the steering unit or suspension.
The result of this will be the following situation. It seems that the driver was driving in his usual manner, his driving style, and the vehicle’s loading did not change. Suddenly, at the next turn, the tires began to whistle. The same goes for braking. The situation repeats itself... The driver decides to go to a car service for an adjustment.
However, this is already an extreme, critical case. If the support is not replaced, in the near future its finger may simply jump out of the body - with all the ensuing further consequences.
After all the manipulations have been completed and the camber and toe angles have been adjusted, it is imperative to move the car one meter back and forth. The purpose of this technological operation is to relieve possible stress in the suspension system and car tires.
This happens naturally with positive castra. For example, castrum allows you to ride a bicycle without holding the handlebars. On ordinary cars, caster has a positive value (for example, 2.35 degrees for the Mitsubishi Outlander XL).
Many service stations analyze car data carelessly to make their work easier. They do not take into account that a car with a loaded trunk behaves differently and it is important to test it not only in an easy position, but also with a load. The tire pressure level is also very important, but few mechanics measure these values first.
Adjusting the camber stand. The wheel alignment machine must be adjusted and tuned annually. Otherwise, what looks like a correctly set angle on a computer screen and is highlighted in green may not be so in practice.
An article about how to properly perform wheel alignment on a car - the intricacies of the procedure. At the end of the article there is a video about car alignment.
The main rules to understand when wheel alignment is required
- When you buy a car, the mechanics at the service station inside the store are required to perform a wheel alignment, but in reality this is not always the case. Often this type of procedure is performed in separate salons, because of this, people sometimes turn to other service stations. It is better to find out about this point in advance, perhaps it is even better to come to the salon, precisely in order to gain control over this process.
- When tires are changed on wheels, it is recommended to check the alignment. But here it’s worth understanding that checking and doing are two different things, because a car can be in excellent condition.
- If you understand from your driving style that one of the wheels is pulling to the side, then you need to check the wheel design. This is the most forced measure, which obviously requires wheel alignment. You should also check yourself to see how the steering wheel works without holding it. This way you will understand which direction your car is being driven.
- When it is necessary to do a wheel alignment, it is also clear when the tires on the car are worn out. If you feel that a replacement is about to be needed, then this parameter of the car needs to be checked.
- Let's say you still have a maintenance guarantee, then you must be informed about the timing of the wheel alignment check. As a rule, the mileage will be from 15 to 20 thousand km.
Business idea: car wheel alignment service
The business idea that we would like to share with you is far from new and not as original as the “Scarecrow” business idea for a car thief, but nevertheless, its relevance is still important now: to remove the box in order to place a car service there for adjusting wheel alignment of cars. Firstly, many people have problems with this, and secondly, with any suspension repair, one way or another, the wheel alignment needs to be adjusted. And the suspension is one of the sore spots of any car. Thirdly, if you do not repair your wheel alignment in time, you can lose your wheels in the literal sense of the word, because the tires begin to wear out unevenly. And this is again a cost, because you will need to buy new tires for the car. And these costs are completely incommensurate with the fact that you just need to adjust the wheel alignment in time.
Like the business idea of opening a used car sales agency, this idea has a big advantage: you will need to invest quite a bit of money in promoting the business. In addition, all these funds will pay for themselves very quickly, because the wheel alignment service is really necessary. Meanwhile, I know firsthand that there are long queues at auto repair shops; customers have to wait weeks for car repairs. This is a paradox: it seems that business is not rare, but there is still not enough of it. And before calculating all the expenses, I once again became convinced of the need for my business by visiting local car repair shops.
So, the costs of business are as follows: you need to rent a room, a box, so that the approximate area is about fifty square meters, it costs about 5 thousand rubles per month (depending on the region). Next, of course, is the equipment for adjusting the wheel alignment; it costs about 25 thousand rubles. Tools needed for work - about 4 thousand rubles. And of course, you need to hire a mechanic, and, preferably, agree on a salary that will be 50 percent of the profit. It turns out that in order to open such a car service, you first need about 100 thousand rubles.
Now it’s worth calculating the profit: the cost of the service costs approximately 700-1000 rubles, this, of course, depends on the promotion of the car service. We. To begin with, let's take the minimum amount, namely 700 rubles. We found out that two cars can be adjusted per hour. By simple calculations it turns out that if you work 8 hours a day, you can service 16 cars. It is clear that not the whole day will be full, so let’s round up the amount and take 10 cars per day, that is, 2 thousand rubles per day. Half goes to the mechanic, and 3,500 rubles remain. And it turns out to be a round sum per month!).
It turns out that in two months you can justify all the money invested in the business. In addition, a mechanic’s salary can be cut by up to 30 percent, and the cost of the service can be slightly increased, for example, by 200-300 rubles, and this is a simple way to increase profits. Now let’s decide on the clientele: these are owners of Lada cars and inexpensive foreign cars, since, after all, people with high incomes will want to have repairs done at a more prestigious car service center.
And if everything goes well, then you can open more than one such car service in your city, buy more expensive equipment to serve clients with different income levels.
How often should an alignment be done?
If the car does not pull to the side on the highway, there is no beating of the steering wheel, the wear of the tires is uniform, there were no impacts that caused the suspension to suffer, for example, hitting a curb at speed or getting a wheel into a hole, and the suspension itself has not been repaired, there is no need go to a service center and get a wheel alignment done. But it is advisable to carry out an annual preventive inspection of the condition of the suspension elements themselves, and after replacing worn parts and components, adjust the wheel alignment angles.
Wheel alignment after replacing the ball joint
The third concept to know is toe-in. Total toe is the sum of all angles between the longitudinal axis of the car and the plane passing through the center of the left and right wheels. Toe can be positive (for the front wheels) - in this case, the car becomes more stable at high speeds, but at the same time understeer increases.
The sequence of actions is determined by the design of the suspension and steering system. Most often, modern cars are equipped with MacPherson strut front suspension and rack-and-pinion steering.
Incorrect alignment is not so fatal for the safety of the car, but it is also quite unpleasant. Usually, even at low speed, turning the car is accompanied by a characteristic nasty squeal. But the most important thing is that tires wear out even faster than with incorrectly adjusted camber.
By rotating the eccentrics or inserting plates, the desired parameters should be achieved. To ensure unobstructed access to the eccentrics and plates, the wheels often have to be removed and reinstalled after measurements.
There are other situations in which the wheel alignment should be adjusted. Firstly, after some repair work: replacement of ends, ball joints, steering rods, steering gear or rack, pendulum arm, struts, springs and silent blocks.
Option number three. If the roads are fine and the winter/summer wheels are no different, do a diagnostic anyway. Over the winter, the settings could also reach unacceptable levels.
The benefit of the alignment and camber measurement procedure lies not only in creating the correct balance. An experienced stand tester will be able to use it to determine whether the car has been involved in a traffic accident? A serious impact always leads to damage to the side members, changes in body geometry and other problems in the chassis. This is also reflected in the wheel angles.
When should you check your suspension settings – after changing tires/wheels or after the roads are smooth again?
Take measurements of the wheels on the inside. It is not the tires that need to be measured, but the rims. First, you should determine the distance from one leading edge to the other, then from one trailing edge to the other. The resulting difference allows you to calculate the camber angle.
Camber is the angle of the wheels relative to the road surface. It can be negative - if the upper part of the wheel is inclined towards the center of the car, and positive - if the upper part of the wheel is, accordingly, inclined from the center of the car. And each of the provisions has its own positive sides and disadvantages.
This definition is only true in the case of undamaged, correctly mounted wheels. It is incorrectly adjusted toe that is the main (but not the only) reason for accelerated tire wear. One of the first signs of an incorrectly installed toe-in is tire squealing when turning at low speeds.
Wheel alignment after replacing silent blocks
However, if silent blocks have already been in use for some time and/or are made poorly, their deformation may become inelastic. Those. So here it is.
Have you read the news that soon many premium tires will rise in price by 15-20%? If you're not aware of this important change, be sure to check it out here.
At the same time, if you press the ball joint pin out of the steering knuckle socket, it will move practically without pinching (freely) in its body.
If they make one bridge, then the time passes is somewhere from forty minutes or more. If there are two bridges, then the time doubles.
Camber is the angle between the vertical and the plane of rotation of the wheel. Camber is considered negative if the wheels are tilted with their top side inward, and positive if their top side is tilted outward.
The vast majority of car owners trust this type of work to professionals, but you can try to do it yourself. True, for this you need to know the correct sequence of actions and some important nuances.
If we consider that, for example, the full tolerance for wheel camber on modern cars does not exceed 30 minutes (half a degree), then a lift error of 1-2 degrees will fatally affect the results of measurements and adjustments.
Professional bench equipment makes it possible to accurately check and adjust wheel alignment.
