CurnanBarbarian t1_jdoxlvj wrote on March 26, 2023 at 1:14 AM

Reply to comment by winoforever_slurp_ in ELI5: What’s car alignment? I read that cars should have it done regularly as part of their service. by LittleLostSadDeer

You can usually tell by the way the car pulls when nobody is touching the wheel or how you correct. If the car always pulls to the left, you'll always correct to the right. Also if the steering wheel is crooked when the wheels are straight you need an alignment.

kyrsjo t1_jdq6m26 wrote on March 26, 2023 at 9:26 AM

I had a crooked steering wheel for a while - there was a recall to replace some cable inside the wheel, and they put it back on slightly crooked. So it drove completely straight without needing any steering input, with a 5 degeee angle on the wheel. It was mostly unnoticeable on shorter drives requiring more manuvering, but very annoying on long highway drives.

It required an alignment to fix it.