WHEEL ALIGMENT READING

Wheel Alignment Reading from the Car Service Centre Reading at Great Rates, Prices start from £45.00 pounds for the Two Front Wheels to £65.00 Pounds for all four wheels depending on the make and model of your car.

Wheel alignment involves setting up the angles of the car’s or the truck’s front and rear wheels to ensure that the vehicle moves in the right direction as per the maker’s specifications. The wheel alignment reading is generally done for all the vehicles before they are released into the markets. The alignment angle depends on the manufacturer’s specification and in some cases, alterations from this value is done in order to achieve the optimum handling characteristic of the vehicle.

The wheel alignment reading comprises of three measurements namely, the caster, the camber, and the toe. These measurements are used by the technicians in order to obtain the required alignment of the car wheels. Caster is the angle measured by tilting (either forward or backward) the steering axis at its uppermost point. The backward tilt has a positive value and the forward tilt has a negative value. The caster angle has the control over the steering direction and it is affected by the height of the vehicle. The value of caster is largely affected by the amount of load dumped in a car. The specified trim height needs to be maintained in order to retain the caster angle. On the whole, any alterations in the caster angle can affect the balanced driving of the car. The general range of caster angle will be anywhere between +2 to +5.5 degrees.

Camber is the term denoted for the angle measured by tilting the wheels of the car in the vertical direction when seen from the front side of the car. The camber angle is positive when the wheels are tilted outward and negative when they are tilted inward at the top. The camber angle controls the direction as well as the tyre wear. The premature wear of the outside part of the tyres can happen if the camber angle is more positive. The more negative camber angle can cause the premature wear of the inside part of the tires. The unbalanced camber values can cause directional issues to the car while driving. The optimum values of camber will lie between -0.5 to -5.5 degrees.

Toe in and toe out measures the extent to which the front and the rear wheels turn in and out from the straight position. The toe value is positive when the wheels turn in and it is negative when the wheels turn out. The main purpose of the toe is to make sure that the wheels are rolling in a parallel manner. The improper settings in the toe value can lead to steering stability issues and tire wears.

The other two measurements that are used for the car wheel alignment reading are the thrust angle and the steering axis inclination (SAI). The thrust angle is measured between the thrust line and the center line of the car. A positive thrust angle is obtained when the thrust line lies on the right of the center line and a negative value is obtained when the thrust line lies on the left. The thrust angle can affect the steering process and can lead to an imbalanced steering wheel. The proper setting of the toe alignment can avoid the problems of thrust angle.

The steering axis inclination is the angle measured between the vertical axis and the line connecting the upper and the lower steering axis. It helps in the stability of direction. SAI comes as a built-in value for a particular car that cannot adjustable.

The ride height of a vehicle is an important specification to consider while making the wheel alignments. The ride height value indirectly specifies the spring height of the vehicle. The spring height largely affects the values of camber, caster, and toe and hence it is important that the ride height lies within the specified values for the proper wheel alignments.

All these measurements play an important role in the car tracking process and they need to set properly in order to have a pleasant driving experience. It is highly recommended to use the manufacturer’s settings or the settings that are proven to be working well on the cars. Although all the new vehicles are adjusted for the wheel alignment, there can be cases where the users may find some discomforts during the course of driving. There can be tire wears or drifts towards a particular direction as a result of the improper alignment. In such cases, the car wheel alignment reading or the car tracking needs to be revised with the automobile technicians.

If you would like us to carry out and adjust your Wheel Alignment Reading please phone us and make an appointment to avoid waiting time as our wheel alignment Test lane Does Get Busy especially on a Saturday when everybody is of work and they have time to get their car looked at.