There are three main alignment angles. One in particular affects pulling to one side when you let go of the steering wheel. Next, due to the carefully-designed geometric relationship of all the moving suspension parts, if something shifted that results in a pull, it will usually also cause the steering wheel to be off-center. It takes very little damage to cause the steering wheel to shift position. If you find it's still straight, and there's no objectionable pull, the alignment is most likely unaffected.
The third thing to watch for takes a long time to show up. That's tire wear patterns. Watch for accelerated wear on just the inner or outer edge of the tread on one or both tires. A different kind of wear is a choppy feeling when you run your fingertips one way over the tread, and you don't feel that when running your hand the other way. That affects both tires pretty much equally.
A lot of mechanics automatically check tire wear during other routine services, such as oil changes. If no mention is made, ask to have that checked. That's just a quick visual check that takes a few seconds.
Thursday, July 3rd, 2025 AT 7:45 PM