If you have lived in Minnesota even for a short time, you know that winter here can be brutal. Even a winter with relatively few snowstorms will wreak havoc on the roads you drive on. One snowfall that creates the need for plows to clear snow from road surfaces will create new potholes and damage old ones that had been “repaired.” Nothing is more likely to cause problems with your vehicle’s alignment and/or suspension than a perfectly placed pothole that is disguised as an innocent puddle or shadow on the road. Clark Automotive knows destructive potholes can be for your vehicle. We can help repair the damage that happens so often from hitting them—alignment and suspension problems, and, by extension, steering issues.
Do I Need My Alignment Checked?
Your vehicle is designed to tolerate normal bumps, divots, and cracks in the road surface, but some are deep enough to damage your vehicle. Minnesota roads often seem intent on doing damage to vehicle suspensions, but the truth is that all vehicles’ suspensions will need occasional maintenance, even in the best of road conditions. Over time, and because of the forces exerted on your vehicle’s tires, shock absorbers/struts, and suspension system, you will need to have your vehicle’s alignment checked, at a minimum. You may notice that your vehicle drifts slightly to the right or the left, which is the classic indication that your vehicle’s wheels have become misaligned.
Even a slight measure of misalignment can be problematic for your vehicle—it can cause uneven wear of the tires, limiting their life span and potentially putting you at risk for a blow-out. Regular tire maintenance and a check of your wheel alignment is usually all that is needed to ensure that nothing so drastic occurs. But the larger point is that regular maintenance is necessary to ensure that a relatively small problem of wheel misalignment does not grow to a larger problem.
Repairing Suspension, Alignment And Steering Issues
If your vehicle has issues with alignment and/or the suspension, the connectivity of systems determines that you could also notice issues with your steering system. Major problems of alignment or suspension could mean that your steering is more difficult to control. It is important, therefore, to ensure that all of the interrelated components work in concert with each other and are balanced with each other.
If you have a minor or more serious issue with your suspension, alignment or steering, please call us at (763) 784-7944.
