Have you ever taken your car for wheel alignment ??? 

 If yes. You might have seen this arrangement.


source: Wikipedia



          What does this mean? What do they actually do to your car? What happens to your car If you don't do it?


All four-wheelers after having been driven for a certain distance need to undergo wheel-alignment.


          To improve vehicle performance each manufacturer specifies some pre-defined angles to the wheels of their cars. Speaking about these angles particularly, we have CASTER, CAMBER, TOE.
 

    1.CASTER



        In the steering mechanism, the wheels rotate around the steering axis. This axis is never vertical it may be tilting forward or rearward.


       Caster is the tilt of the steering axis towards the front or rear of the vehicle when viewed from the side of the vehicle.


       You might have noticed that after taking a turn when you release the steering wheel it automatically goes to the central position this is because of the caster angle. 


  •  If the tilt is rearward then it is a POSITIVE CASTER

  •  If the tilt is forward then it is a NEGATIVE CASTER


2. CAMBER


 Camber is the tilting in or out of the front wheel of the vehicle when viewed from the front of the vehicle


  •  If the top of the wheel tilts out it has a positive camber

  • If the top of the wheel tilts in it has a negative camber



The negative camber improves the cornering performance of the car.

Positive camber helps in reducing the effort while steering.



I recommend having a Negative camber if you are owning a passenger car.


3. TOE


      This is the most complicated angle among these three angles.



       Toe is the measurement of how much the wheels point in or out from the straight-ahead position.


  • When wheels point in, The toe is considered as positive and the amount of wheels that point inward is the toe-in angle

  • When wheels point out, the toe is considered as negative and the amount of wheels that point outward is the toe-out angle


        You will get minimum wear in the tire when the toe angle is zero. For perfect steering, the inner wheel should turn more than the outer wheel, So


  •     If you set the alignment in a toe-out manner you can achieve a perfect steering condition. However, when you drive, your steering wheel will undergo various unintentional movements that lead to safety issues.

  •      If you use a toe-in arrangement, it produces an opposite effect and increases the straight-line stability of the car, So this is used in passenger cars.


    So, as discussed each car will have a set of wheel angles that are decided by the car manufacturer and these may undergo variations as time passes leading to tire wear.



Since these angles are quite sensitive you will need to undergo wheel alignment regularly.


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