Why Wheel Alignment?

  • Barrowford MOT Centre

In this busy generation where everything is moving fast, fast, fast, most of us have probably never thought much about how hard our tyres work to keep us on the straight and narrow. For example, when driving at 60mph, your car’s tyres will typical rotate around 700 times per minute.

Why should you care?

Well, when rotating at this kind of speed, the weight of the wheel and tyre are kept even all the way through this rotation cycle. This is the basic function of balancing.

Now all motorists know that purchasing a quality set of tyres can come at a high cost and almst always at a ‘bad time’ making it tempting to ‘put it off’ so it is of great benefitl to take every measure possible to ensure that a set of tyres last as long as possible, so it is vital that when you purchase a new set of tyres and fit them to your vehicle, you ask a mechanic to perform a wheel alignment to ensure that excessive tyre wear does not occur. This will ensure that your tyres will not wear out quickly and will save you having to change your tyres regularly.

Unfortunately, many motorists fail to understand the importance of wheel alignment, tyre balancing and how these components can greatly affect tyre life, as well as possibly having an effect on other mechanical factors. Barrowford MOT have highlighted below how regularly carrying out wheel alignment and tyre balancing services can save motorists spending money on new tyres regularly.

The Dangers Of Wheels Not Being Balanced

As suggested by figures such as the one given above, any unevenness in the way the wheels and tyres transmit the huge forces passing through them to the road translates into a rough ride for a vehicle’s occupants.

Now this is the most obvious outward sign of there being an issue but unevenly balanced wheels lead to more serious and potentially more expensive problems in the long run which can include:

Poor fuel economy: This is caused by the extra rolling resistance resulting from wheels not all moving in the same direction

Uneven and premature wear to tyres: caused by the way in which heat accumulates at the spots around a tyre which are forced to take an unequal proportion of the force being exerted on them

Bad vibrations: This can feed through to a vehicle’s steering, making it more difficult to keep control, and

Out-of-balance tyres: These also put excessive force on a vehicle’s wheel bearings, and its whole suspension system, which can again cause them to wear more quickly than should be the case.

When they’re the only thing between you and the road, ensuring that your tyres’ condition is well-maintained is vital to the efficiency and safety of your car. Barrowford MOT’s Tyre Safety Checklist are completely free and there is no need to book. Better still, we will only ever recommend tht you change them when absolutely necessary so if there’s still some miles on them, that’s exactly what we’ll tell you.

Pop in today to ensure a safer, smoother ride.


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