Alignment: When Your Car Doesn’t Drive Straight

When driving, we’re pretty much used to our cars driving perfectly straight. In fact, that’s what they want to do rather naturally; For instance, when you’re coming out of a turn, the car practically straightens out all by itself. However, most drivers have experienced driving a car where it does not want to drive straight. Instead, it drifts to the left or the right.

It’s a somewhat easy problem to ‘fix’ and put off. All you have to do is counter-turn the wheel a bit, pay a little bit more attention, grip the wheel a little harder, etc. Of course, that’s not really fixing the problem.

There are several causes. Some are more severe than the others and it’s important to get things checked out.

Wheel Alignment

If your alignment is off, it can cause your car to pull one way or the other. This is a straightforward fix as we discussed previously that when caught early, can save you from bigger issues that only compound the problem, like tire damage.

Tires

Tires can be another culprit when it comes to alignment. If you have bad alignment, your tires can wear unevenly. If the wear is bad enough, a wheel alignment may not be enough to get rid of the drifting since the tires are not deformed. Furthermore, uneven tire pressure can also cause your car to drift in one direction or the other and is another cause of uneven tire wear.

It’s sort of a vicious cycle, isn’t it?

All these simpler issues, by themselves or collectively, can also rob you of car performance, such as grip, tire life, fuel mileage, and therefore money. Keeping these systems in check can go a long way.

Suspension

Your suspension is what connects your tires to your car and is responsible for overall handling and comfort while driving your vehicle. Issues with your suspension can translate into shaky handling, steering difficulties, premature tire wear and more.

Brakes

Brake issues can cause your car to pull to one side or the other during braking. This can be due to a damaged brake component or unevenly worn brake pads/rotors. Failure to properly clean, maintain, and repair your brakes can reduce the brake force, which can cause your car to veer. 

With luck, the issue or issues causing your alignment issue is a simple fix. If caught early enough and resolved, it can make a big difference in vehicle performance and overall cost of ownership. There is a lot of unnecessary wear and tear that can be prevented by catching the symptom early and having it checked out.

BBack Car Care offers 4-wheel computerized alignments, tire sales as well as brake and suspension repair services. If you notice your car isn’t driving straight, we’ll be happy to look at it for you and identify why.

Interested in scheduling a service? Request an appointment online or call today and a member of our team will get you scheduled.