The road can be a dangerous place for you and your automobile. Road hazards can wreak havoc on your vehicle’s tires, wheels, and alignment. You might be the most cautious driver in town yet still knock your wheels out of alignment by no fault of your own. Buckeye Complete Auto Care can realign your wheels and make sure your tires weren’t damaged by any of the following road hazards.
Curbs
Whether you have a tendency to whack one as you make a turn or you believe parallel parking should be a really close and personal affair, curbs are trouble for wheels, especially alignment. When you hit a curb, you jolt that wheel. This sudden impact is what knocks the wheel out of alignment. Be careful with curbs when you turn around them and when you park up against them.
Speed Bumps
Remember when you flew over speed bumps as a teenager? Yeah, don’t do that anymore. Speed bumps are a road hazard designed to caution you against – well – hazards. They are put in parking lots and on residential streets to slow you down because of pedestrians, especially small children and animals. Drive over them slowly, no more than 5 mph, to avoid damaging your wheels.
Potholes
Potholes are like curbs and speed bumps combined. Your wheels get shocked initially as they drop into the pothole and then jarred as they exit it. If the pothole is big and wide enough, you could damage more than one or two wheels. Potholes have been known to do everything from knocking a vehicle out of alignment to breaking an axle. Yep. They’re that bad, so go super slow.
Automobile Accident
Even a fender-bender can knock your wheels out of alignment because of the impact. A serious accident will do more than knock the wheels out of alignment. You can’t always avoid automobile accidents because you may not be at fault. If you have been in an incident, even a minor one, have your wheels checked for balance and alignment issues resulting from the impact.
Maintenance…
… or lack thereof. Finally, your wheels need maintenance just as the rest of your automobile does. The tires should be rotated and balanced every 6,000 miles and the wheels should be aligned if they haven’t been worked on for two years. This not only prevents the wheels from going out of alignment it also extends the life of your tires by preventing uneven tread wear.
Located in Columbus, OH, Buckeye Complete Auto Care would be happy to inspect your vehicle’s wheels and align them if necessary. Call us today at 614-285-3453.
