Ask for the before and after readings
An alignment is one of the few repairs where you cannot see what was done. The car goes in, it comes out, and the steering wheel may feel the same as it did before. The readings are how you know.
Alignment equipment measures each wheel's angles and compares them with the manufacturer's range. A proper alignment produces two sets of numbers: where the wheels were when the car arrived, and where they were set before it left. Asking for both is entirely reasonable, and it does three useful things.
It shows whether anything was out. A car that arrived inside every range and left the same way did not need much. A car with one wheel well outside the range tells you why the tire on that corner was wearing.
It shows which angles were adjusted. Many vehicles only allow some angles to be adjusted without extra parts. If one reading stayed outside the range, the printout shows it, and that is a conversation worth having rather than something to discover later.
It gives you a baseline. Next time the car pulls or a tire wears oddly, the last readings tell you what changed.
When it is worth booking
- New tires are going on.
- The steering wheel sits off center on a straight road.
- One tire is wearing on an edge.
- After a hard impact, or after suspension or steering parts have been replaced.
If the car shakes rather than pulls, that is more often tire and wheel balancing, and worn parts that will not hold an alignment are suspension repair, both at this store. The national alignment page explains the angles.
Other stores nearby
Osage Beach and Springfield also align cars and light trucks.
About this store
The Kansas City store carries all nine Purcell tire categories and is managed by Richard Kerber.
See the national car and light truck alignment page for all 40 locations.