A vehicle that pulls to one side, has a steering wheel that's off-center when driving straight, or shows feathering or scalloped wear across the tread needs an alignment — not new tires, not a tire rotation. Left alone, misalignment wears a brand-new set of tires unevenly in short order. Sacramento Tire Shop checks and adjusts alignment at 1001 Richards Blvd.
The steering wheel tells the story before the tires do. If it's off-center while driving straight on a flat road, or the car drifts toward one side when you take your hands off briefly, that's the alignment, not the tires and not the brakes. Tread wear confirms it after the fact — feathering, smooth on one edge of a tread block and sharp on the other, means the wheel is toed in or out; wear concentrated on just the inside or outside edge means the camber is off.
None of that fixes itself, and none of it is rare — a hard hit on a pothole or a curb is enough to knock the alignment out even when nothing looks bent. Sacramento Tire Shop checks alignment on the rack at 1001 Richards Blvd for vehicles from any of the 13 areas it serves, adjusting the angles back to factory spec rather than just measuring and reporting a number. Current hours: Mon–Sat 8:30 AM – 6:00 PM, Sun 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM.
When should an alignment happen, not just get checked?
Every time a new set of tires goes on, because putting fresh tread on wheels that are already out of alignment wastes the new tires the same way it wore out the old ones. After hitting a pothole hard enough to notice, or a curb, even if the tire looks fine. And if the steering wheel has started sitting crooked on its own, that's not cosmetic — it's the alignment moving.
- New tires are going on the car
- The car pulled hard after hitting a pothole or curb
- The steering wheel sits off-center on a straight road
- One edge of the tread is wearing faster than the rest
What happens if it's ignored?
The tire wear is permanent — once a tread edge has feathered or scalloped, rotating the tires just moves the uneven wear to a different position instead of fixing it. Keep driving on it and a set of tires that should have lasted years gets replaced early, at full price, for a problem a rack adjustment would have caught for a fraction of that.
How do I know if it's the alignment and not just low tire pressure?
Low pressure usually pulls toward the softer tire and corrects itself once you air up; alignment pulls consistently regardless of pressure and shows up as a steering wheel that's off-center even when the car is driving straight. If topping off the tires doesn't fix the pull, it's the alignment.
Does hitting one pothole really throw off the alignment?
Yes, if it's hit hard enough — the impact doesn't have to bend anything visibly to knock the toe or camber angle out of spec. A hard hit is worth having checked even if the tire and wheel look untouched afterward.
Will an alignment fix tire wear that's already happened?
No — alignment stops the wear from continuing, it doesn't reverse what's already there. A tire with significant feathering or edge wear needs replacing regardless of how good the alignment is afterward; the alignment just protects the new one.