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Alignment is not about the wheels being straight. It is about three angles the factory set and the road keeps changing. Camber is how far the top of the wheel leans in or out. Caster is the tilt of the steering axis, and it is why the wheel comes back to center on its own. Toe is whether the wheels point slightly toward each other or away, and toe is the one that scrubs a new set of tires bald in a season.
The symptoms are familiar. The car pulls. The steering wheel sits crooked on a straight road. One edge of a tire is going bare while the rest looks new.
What matters is what happens before the car goes on the rack. A worn tie rod end, a loose ball joint or a soft bushing lets the wheel move no matter what the machine reads, so a shop that clamps on the heads without first checking for play is selling you a printout. Ask them to show you the before numbers, not just the after.
Work through the state and city lists below to find the shops near you. An alignment needs a level rack and a machine that gets calibrated, so plenty of small shops send this work out. The ones that own the equipment are worth the drive.
Three signs, and the last one is the honest one. The car drifts toward a shoulder on a flat road with your hands loose. The steering wheel is not level when the car is going straight. A tire is wearing on one edge only. Road crown fools people on the first sign, so test it on a road that crowns the other way before you book.
Camber is the lean of the wheel seen from the front, and too much of it wears one edge of the tire. Caster is the tilt of the steering axis seen from the side; it gives the steering weight and self-centering, and a difference side to side makes the car pull. Toe is the direction the wheels point, and it is the setting that scrubs tread away fastest when it is off.
Four-wheel, on almost any car built in the last few decades. The machine measures the rear axle first and sets the front to match it, because a rear axle that is off sends the car down the road slightly crab-wise and no amount of front adjustment fixes that. A front-end alignment is a reasonable saving only on an older vehicle with a solid rear axle.
Because alignment was probably not the cause. A dragging brake caliper, a tire with a belt that has shifted inside it, mismatched pressures, or a worn wheel bearing all pull the car and none of them care what the rack says. Swapping the front tires side to side is a free test: if the pull swaps with them, the tire is the problem. A good shop tries that before it charges you.
Often, yes. Lane keeping, adaptive cruise and automatic braking work from cameras and radar that are aimed relative to the car's thrust line, so moving the geometry can move their aim. Manufacturers differ on when recalibration is required. Ask before you book whether the shop can do it, because a car sent away with a warning light lit is a second appointment.
