In any case you hit your car on a heavy bump; it might be required of you to get alignment. The aligning jobs are mostly cheap and contain suspension adjustments such as camber, toe in, caster, toe out, four-wheel alignment and thrust. So, what do you think all these features mean to you? Here on NaijaCarNews.com are the importance of knowing what all these means and their effects on the general condition of your vehicle

1. Thrust angle

This usually means angle in the midst of centerline and thrust line. When such thrust line is pointed to the centerline ‘right, there is always a positive angle. When it is shifted to the left, the angle is going to be negative. This is often as a result of misalignment of axle or the wheel at the rear. It makes the steering to pull to one side or to the other.

This is the main cause of crooked steering wheel. It is quite necessary to correct the toe alignment or the rear axle in order to remove the thrust angle. When you find this pretty difficult, you should look for a reference line such as thrust angle for aligning this front toe could effectively restore the steering at the centre.

Understanding Wheel Alignment !

>>> In many cases you will need to disconnect your car battery, check easy and safe way to disconnect your car's battery

2. Included angle

This is the summation of the SAI angles and camber found in the suspension at the front. The measurement of this angle is indirectly and used basically for parts of bent suspension diagnosis such as struts and spindles.

The alignment could have a strong say about the general well-being of your vehicle, yet, it is cheap!

3. Steering axis inclination (SAI)

A line usually forms an angle that goes through the lower and upper steering pivots giving regards to the vertical. The line also runs via lower and higher ball joints on a suspension (SLA). The line goes through the upper strut mount and lower ball joint on a MacPherson strut suspension. When you take a front view, the steering axis’s inward tilt is known as SAI. It ensures directional stability just like caster. But the slight setback is that, it reduces the effort of the steering creating a reduction of the scrub radius. This SAI is non-adjustable and built-in angle for bent spindles, wrongly located crossmembers and struts diagnosis.

>>> Do check out our car care section for more car topics!