Direction and alignment
Direction and alignment
Alignment is important to the handling and performance of your vehicle. If your vehicle’s alignment is out, it can affect the tire wear, steering and suspension components. We recommend getting your vehicle’s alignment checked as per regular maintenance but also to protect your new tire investment to ensure even wear on all treads.
Fairview Tire AutoPro invests in high-end equipment to help get accurate readings on your vehicle’s alignment. The Hunter HawkEye Elite alignment machine is unmatched in the industry. Computerized images and measurements are captured in 70 seconds, four precision cameras provide alignment measurements with pinpoint accuracy. Hunter’s QuickGrip® adaptors feature a light design and narrow profile, providing fast and efficient readings. Built-in support for ADAS calibrations and OEM resets, easy-clamping, no metal-to-metal contact and easy-to-understand graphic representation of camber, toe to caster. The machine also provides pre and post readings for your records and peace of mind.
Schedule your alignment inspection below
CASTER
This is the forward (negative) or backwards (positive) tilt of the spindle steering axis. It is what causes your steering to ‘self-centre’. Correct caster is almost always positive. Look at a bicycle – the front forks have an obvious rearward tilt to the handlebars, and so are giving positive caster. The whole point of it is to give the car (or bike) a noticeable center point of the steering – a point where it’s obvious the car will be going in straight line.
Camber
Camber is the tilt of the top of a wheel inward or outwards (negative or positive). Proper camber (along with toe and caster) makes sure that the tire tread surface is as flat as possible on the road surface. If your camber is out, you’ll get tire wear. Too much negative camber (wheels tilt inwards) causes tread and tire wear on the inside edge of the tire. Consequently, too much positive camber causes wear on the outside edge.
Toe In & Out
‘Toe’ is the term given to the left-right alignment of the front wheels relative to each other. Toe-in is where the front edge of the wheels are closer together than the rear, and toe-out is the opposite. Toe-in counteracts the tendency for the wheels to toe-out under power, like hard acceleration or at highway speeds (where toe-in disappears). Toe-out counteracts the tendency for the front wheels to toe-in when turning at highway speeds. A typical symptom of too much toe-in will be excessive wear and feathering on the outer edges of the tire tread section. Similarly, too much toe-out will cause the same feathering wear patterns on the inner edges of the tread pattern.