Fuel is the argument people underuse
Alignment gets sold on tire wear, which is real and which arrives slowly. On routes with sustained climbs there is a second cost that arrives immediately and continuously.
A truck running slightly crabbed is using some of its power to go sideways. On flat ground that is a small, constant tax. On a long climb, where the engine is already working at the top of its range, the same tax is being paid at the moment the truck has least to spare.
A fleet that measures fuel per route has the data to see it, and the units that are out of line are frequently the ones with figures nobody could explain. That is worth checking before anybody concludes it is the driver.
What gets measured
Steer axle angles, drive axle alignment, and the relationship between the two. The last of those is what produces the crabbed condition, and it is quiet enough that nobody reports it.
Where the measurement points at a worn or bent component rather than an adjustment, the store will say so. Aligning around a worn part produces work that comes undone, which is how a fleet ends up believing alignment does not last.
Steer tires on descending routes
The visible cost is still the steers, and routes like these are hard on them.
Descending puts weight forward and heat into the front wheels, and a steer tire that is also being scrubbed by a toe error is working at both ends of its tolerance. Feathered tread, smooth one way and sharp the other, is the pattern to run a hand across rather than look at.
The trailer
A trailer that tracks crooked drags the tractor's drives for every loaded mile. Trailer alignment is offered here, and measuring the combination is what identifies which end is responsible.
The casing
A steer scrubbed on one shoulder will not pass at the Denver plant, so the loss is the tire and its retread value together.
About this store
The Colorado Springs store runs sixteen services, carries all nine Purcell tire categories, and is managed by Tyler Campbell. Denver and Loveland also align heavy trucks.
See the national heavy-duty truck alignment page for all 40 locations.