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When you take your Honda car, truck, or SUV for a drive, you expect it to go where you steer it. If the wheels aren’t aligned, you may find that your vehicle has other ideas! If you notice symptoms of misaligned wheels, Serra Honda of Champaign is the place to go. Our technicians will perform a four-wheel alignment so that you can drive away confident that your Honda will go where you want.
There are several ways you can tell if your Honda’s wheels aren’t properly aligned. The most commonly noticed symptom is a car that seems to have a mind of its own. It may pull to the right or to the left when you drive down a straightaway, or the steering wheel may be crooked when you’re driving straight. But this isn’t the only symptom. Another likely sign of misaligned wheels is uneven tire wear. If your tires are already wearing down unevenly, you will need more than just an alignment service: you’ll also likely need to get a new set of tires.
When you bring your vehicle in for a wheel alignment, the technicians will generally check three main things: the camber, caster, and toe. Imagine you’re looking at your vehicle head-on. If the wheels are tilting inward at the top, they have negative camber; positive camber is when the bottoms of the wheels tilt inward. Most vehicles have slight negative camber. Now imagine that you’ve shifted your view and are now looking at your Honda from the top down. If the fronts of the wheels are pointing inward toward each other, your wheels have toe-in, or positive toe; negative toe, or toe-out, is the opposite. Front-wheel drive vehicles tend to have a slight toe-out. Finally, the caster angle refers to how far the pivot line deviates from vertical. If any of these angles aren’t in line with factory specifications, our technicians will adjust them.
These two services are incredibly similar. As you may have guessed, the only real difference is how many wheels are aligned. If your Honda has four-wheel independent suspension, it’s best to have a four-wheel alignment performed. Front-wheel alignments are really only recommended for vehicles with rear suspension where the wheels are linked.
Serra Honda of Champaign is proud to serve Mahomet, St. Joseph, and beyond with quality service. When your Honda is in need of a four-wheel alignment, schedule your service appointment with us online, and then head to our well-equipped service center. We look forward to seeing you!
