Mechanically speaking, what happens when a cars alignment is off? Why is it designed to misalign to begin with?
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There are lots of ways your wheels can be “out of alignment.” If the wheels are like this / or this / your vehicle’s turning responsiveness can be altered. If they are like / / or your vehicle will drift one way or the other when you want to go straight. The wheels can also be misaligned so that the tops are closer or the bottoms are closer or both wheels tilted the same way. In that case the reduced surface area on the road can reduce your braking or accelerating ability. All of these misalignments can wear your tires more quickly (some more than others).
*Note: some race cars are deliberately “misaligned” to take advantage of the different vehicle performance.
How can this happen? The most common way is when you hit a pothole or curb or something. They aren’t “designed” to misalign. Rather, modern vehicles are quite resistant to misalignment. However, any sophisticated mechanical system operating under the kinds of forces a motor vehicle does will have expected wear that needs a means of correction.
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