Totalkare turns spotlight on wheel alignment
Workshop equipment specialist Totalkare has warned of the hidden costs of poor wheel alignment, including in terms of wasted fuel, tyre wear, dangerous drift and driver exhaustion.
“When your wheels are out of alignment, they’re not working as a team,” said the company.
“They’re pulling and pushing against each other in different directions – and that means your vehicles need to work harder to get through the same journeys.
“That extra work comes at a price – with reduced fuel efficiency and an increase in your fuel consumption per mile travelled.”
As for the quantity of extra fuel used, says Totalkare, there is no magic number that applies to every situation.
“It all depends on the type of vehicle, the condition of the tyres and the steering system, and the extent to which your wheels are out of alignment,” the firm continued.
“But as a general rule, a vehicle with improper alignment can burn through 10 per cent more fuel than it needs to. That might not seem like much when it’s one small vehicle doing a few small trips. But when you’re running a fleet of trucks with a £100,000 fuel bill, that’s an extra £10,000 that could have been avoided with regular wheel alignment check-ups.”
In terms of the impact on steering, Totalkare highlights the tendency of poor wheel alignment to cause vehicles to drift to one side.
“That’s a problem for your fuel efficiency, and it leads to extra wear on your tyres on your suspension,” said the company.
“But there’s an even more dangerous effect of vehicle drift – and that’s an increased risk of accidents on the road. There’s an obvious risk when your vehicles are veering across the road. And that risk only increases when you start thinking about your drivers.
“They need to constantly correct their course to combat the drift – sometimes for hours on end. And that continual extra effort means your drivers get exhausted faster, putting them at greater risk of making a dangerous mistake.”
The extent of the drift will be affected by a number of variables, says Totalkare.
“It all depends on the size of the vehicle and its wheels, as well as the condition of your tyres and the steering system. But as a rule of thumb, a wheel that’s just 2mm out of alignment can cause a sideways drift of 24 feet for every mile travelled.
“That’s a massive sideways distance for a relatively short slice of the average journey. And when you put that in perspective, it only gets worse: with a truck travelling at 60mph, that’s the equivalent of crossing two or three lanes on a motorway once every minute – on a journey that could last for hundreds of minutes.
“It’s enough to wear down even the most resilient drivers. And it’s a significant risk that can easily be prevented.”
The impact on tyres is also a key consideration, says Totalkare.
“If you’re driving with poor wheel alignment, you’re placing extra strain on your wheels. That extra strain causes unnecessary wear and tear on your tyres, reducing their lifespan and adding to your costs.
“But just how much extra wear does an improper alignment create?
“With wheels just an eighth of an inch out of alignment (3.175mm), your tyres suffer from an extra 20 per cent wear.
“To make things worse, it’s not an even wear. Instead of spreading the damage equally from normal wear and tear, a poor wheel alignment can focus all the wear on just one side of the tyre – which means your tyre treads go past the legal limit even faster than they normally would.
“But with the right check-ups and maintenance, you can expect huge positive results: with regular wheel alignments, you can extend the life of your tyres by up to 12,000 miles.
“For the average commercial fleet, that’s an extra few months of life squeezed out of every set of tyres – which has a massive positive impact on the costs of running your vehicles.”
The company concluded: “We’ve seen the hard numbers – and the statistics don’t lie. Ignoring your vehicles’ wheel alignment can have huge consequences for your fleet and your business – from extra fuel costs and excessive tyre changes to dangerous driving conditions and increase risk of accidents.”
For fleets requiring a tune-up or for those looking to invest in bringing wheel alignment in-house, Totalkare offers an Electronic Wheel Alignment System, available via its online store.
