Thaw season is alignment season
Pavement that freezes and thaws repeatedly does not stay flat. It heaves, cracks and breaks open, and the worst of it arrives in spring when the surface has been through the cycle all winter.
A vehicle driving over that all season takes a series of impacts, none of which feels like an event. Nothing breaks, nothing warns, and the geometry shifts a little at a time. The owner adapts to a slight pull inside a week without noticing they have done it.
Spring is therefore a sensible time to have alignment checked, for the same reason the roads are worst then.
Gravel adds a second cause
Anyone running regular miles on gravel and unpaved roads is doing something harder on steering and suspension than highway driving, and alignment is downstream of both.
A vehicle that will not hold an alignment usually has something worn underneath it letting the geometry move under load. Aligning it twice does not help. Suspension repair at the same store is what addresses the cause, and the alignment goes on afterwards.
What it costs to leave it
Tires. A vehicle out of alignment wears one edge of a tire away while the rest of the tread looks new, and the set comes off well short of where it should have.
There is a safety side as well. A vehicle that pulls or wanders demands continuous correction, which matters more on a slick road than a dry one. Traction you lose to a misaligned vehicle is traction you did not have to spare in February.
When to book it
The national alignment page lists the occasions that apply anywhere. The one that belongs on a Montana calendar is spring: after a winter of freeze and thaw, rather than before one.
Tire wear is the other trigger, and it overrules mileage. A set that came off early has already told you something regardless of how far it went.
A vibration rather than a pull is usually balance instead. Both are offered here, which saves guessing.
About this store
The Billings store runs sixteen services, carries all nine Purcell tire categories, and is managed by Larry Wagoner. It also aligns heavy trucks and trailers. Belgrade does not offer alignment of any kind, so Billings is the Purcell location for it in Montana.
See the national car and light truck alignment page for all 40 locations.