How do you know when you need an alignment?

[4thGenRS]

My car will be 7 years old in the spring. I drive with 17" rims 8 months out of the year, and the stock rims for 4 months of winter.

Just wanted your thoughts on if I may be due for an alignment. This is in regards to switiching wheels every year, and the fact that yeah, I've hit my share of mean bumps and potholes over the years.

I've never had the car aligned. If you get it on a straight road and let go of the wheel it does wander to the right a bit. But every once in a while on uneven roads it seems to be worse with the wheel wanting to shoot this way or that way.

Opinions? :cool:

[Dominic]

It's never a bad time to check and realign your car - you might even consider going for a performance alignment to better enhance your car's abilities.

Its a good rule of thumb that if the tires are wearing baby smooth not to touch the alignment. If the car likes to roll left/right then your toe is most likely uneven, might want to have it checked.

I normally get a realignment when my tires wear out if they wear even. The Eagle GAs are not good wearing tires so I cannot use those to determine how well my car is aligned, but most other tires show alignment well.