Steering Wheel Misaligned: Causes & Fix Explained

Ensuring a proper alignment of your cars steering wheel is essential for the performance and health of your tires. Your car’s wheels are the only point of contact with roads, no wonder that wheels often go off-balanced by hitting bumps and potholes. Hence, it’s relevant to maintain the proper alignment of your wheels for the optimal performance of your car. 

If you’re in your infancy with the term steering wheel misaligned, you’ve landed in the right direction! Poor steering wheel alignment happens under the surface and often gets unnoticed with time. This How to Align a Car Steering Wheels guide holds some relevant pieces of information that will add a few more years to your car’s health and performance.

What is a wheel alignment?

Keeping in control of things you do in life is always good, and this matters the most while driving a car when you have other vehicles and walkers around. The term wheel alignment means modifying your car’s suspension to make a balanced angle at which your tyres will contact the road. 

Four amazing benefits of getting a wheel alignment 

Okay, be true to yourself. How often do you service your car’s wheel alignment? Most of the time, people often ignore and undermine maintaining steering wheel misaligned issues. An uncontrollable vehicle is like a running bull that can cause severe injuries and fatalities to you and others. Getting a wheel alignment has some amazing perks to improve your car’s performance. Let’s look at the four benefits of getting a wheel alignment. 

•  It increases fuel efficiency 

Poor wheel alignment can affect your car’s engine. Because for a movement, your car’s engine has to work harder, which can damage your car’s fuel efficiency. 

• It saves you from expensive auto repairs 

As discussed above, the wheels are in constant contact with the roads. So with bad wheel alignment, your car’s steering and suspension systems are on the front head to take a hit whenever you hit potholes or breakers. Due to bad wheels alignment, your wheels lose their ability to take the hits, which eventually transfer to other parts in your car.

• Experience smoother driving 

When your car’s wheel alignment is compromised, you will notice that your vehicle will drift slightly toward the left or right even if you aim to drive straight. This can be tiring, distracting, and dangerous! 

• Increases the longevity of your tires 

Last but not least, good alignment will increase the life span of your tires. Tires wear out too quickly if you don’t get timely alignments of your wheels. 

Also Read: Car Steering: Power Steering Repair and Maintenance Guide

What are the warning signs of misaligned wheels?

Steering wheel misaligned issues often gets unnoticed at the initial stages. But as time passes by, you might notice various changes to your driving experience. Here are some warning signs that scream, “You should go for wheel alignment checked.

• Uneven tread wear 
• You might notice your vehicle moving slightly left or right even if you’re driving straight
• A steering wheel that is off-center when you drive straight

What causes alignment going off?

Several conditions can cause the alignment to go off, which includes the following- 

• Sudden maneuvers 
• Minor collisions or hitting a curb
• Running into a pothole at high speed 
• Experiencing a sudden impact while driving 

Also read: Beginners Guide on How Car Steering Work and Steer a Car Correctly

How is wheel alignment done? 

Wheel alignment is something that requires a set of professional hands. You need to raise your car up on a hoist and some devices to clamp the wheels for doing a wheel alignment. Here’s how it goes- 

Step1: Your car tyres will be taken off the vehicle and placed on a computerized wheel balancer. 

Step2: When placed on a computerized wheel balancer, the computer measures all the detailed irregularities. 

Step3: After that, the irregularities are countered and corrected by placing weights on the rim at the exact spot where the computer indicates. 

Step4 : The tires are checked again to see if the steering wheel is misaligned.

When should you get wheel alignment and balance done? 

It should be done after every 600-800Kms on average after you screw in a new set of tires. Here are some more things you should consider- 

• If you have recently gone through bumpy roads or have had an accident. This is high time to get your wheel alignment done. 
• Wheel alignment services also vary on the terrain you are driving your vehicle. If you’re an off-road driver and commute in rough terrains, you should get the alignment done every month. 
• Also, notice if your wheel is going back to the centre after you have turned the wheel left or right. If not, then get it checked at a nearby garage. 

Important wheel alignment terminologies that you should know 

When checking your wheel alignment, your mechanic is concerned with three things-

Camber- Camber is termed as the outer or inward angle of the tire when viewed from the front. Having too much tilt on inward or outward camber is termed negative camber. This needs to be adjusted in time, like ball joints, worn beatings, and other wheel suspension parts are also contribute to camber misalignment.

Toe- Toe alignment refers to the extent to which your tires turn inward or outward when viewed from above. 

Caster– Caster angle helps the mechanic to improve balance, cornering, and stability. The steering angle will tilt if you have a positive caster. The steering axis tilts towards the front of the car in a negative caster. 

Frequently Asked Questions 

1. How can I align my car wheels?

Answer: You will need an alignment machine to align your wheels. There’s no DIY method; you will need to bring your car to a nearby auto repair centre to have them aligned. Don’t try this at home without professional supervision.

2. How can a minor accident affect wheel alignment?

Answer: If you hit the potholes while driving. Or, you hit another vehicle, you may have accidentally knocked the vehicle out of alignment.

3. Does bad wheel alignment hurt front tires more than rear tires?

Answer: Yes, the front tires will bear the impact when the problem rises with alignment. Rear tires take the lead and endure more punishment on roads, such as potholes, breaks, and accidents.