How Do You Know It’s Time to Get a Wheel Alignment?

Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of obvious warning signs that tell you your wheels are misaligned unless it’s a severe problem or until it’s too late – when tires or suspension components are already worn. While there are some signs that you might need a wheel alignment, the best policy is to go by the number of miles you’ve driven.

A good rule of thumb is that you should get a wheel alignment every other oil change. Over the course of 6,000 miles or so, a lot can happen to cause your wheels’ alignment to gradually go outside the bounds of manufacturer specifications, and routine wheel alignments set everything back into position. Most vehicle manufacturers do not specify an interval for wheel alignment in their maintenance schedules. Yet, the reality is that having us perform a periodic wheel alignment is cheap insurance against the potential high costs of tire replacement or, worse yet, suspension wear. A 4-wheel alignment on most cars is considerably less than $100, as compared to hundreds of dollars for tires to be replaced.