How much difference in MPG does wheel alignment make?

Question

How much difference in MPG does wheel alignment make?

Answer 1

Virtually none.. but it will save your tires if you are in fact out of line.. Also be sure the tires are inflated to proper pressure. That and a light foot on the gas will save the most.

Answer 2

Darned little unless it's really farked. Wheel alignment has more to do with handling comfort or stability at low speeds or speeds below 80 mph. When I learned how to do alignments back in the 70's, the suspensions were quite simple and all were nearly the same. Most had similar caster / camber numbers with the biggest differences measured by toe-in. Cars back then were crap and had to be re-aligned or repaired at almost every tire change, especially GM products. The largest complaint was the car pulling to one side or the other and the tire wear patterns confirmed customer complaints. Everything was off. By a lot! I can't remember how many ball joints or A-frame bushing I replaced. Thousands. I'm out of that business now, but I hear that balljoint and bushing replacements are still done but nowhere near the frequency they were done at 25 years ago.

Things are much better today and cars rarely need major alignment adjustments. Those that do still appear to handle well and have zero fuel economy complaints.

Answer 3

That is extremely hard to determine. There are several factors to consider, like how much of the constant turning arc that being out of alignment makes, and then the constant directional correction that is needed.

In most city driving it won't matter that much. You aren't doing any more correcting than any othe vehicle on the road.

Highway driving is somewhat of another matter, but it also depends on how much correction is actually needed to drive the car.

I can't give you a definite answer, but do a google search and see what research you can dig up. They used to say tire pressure could reduce fuel economy by 10%, but now they are finding that it's really negligible. I'm betting alignment is pretty much the same.

Answer 4

a bad cat converter will drastically cut MPG, but if the cat converter was bad it wouldn't have passed and gotten an inspection sticker. Check spark plugs. Check driving style. Too cautious acceleration can use more gas. You want to be in the highest gear possible for the speed you're going so the engine isn't working as hard. Higher RPMs = higher fuel consumption regardless of speed; thats why mostly highway driving gets better mileage than city driving. My 2007 camry gets 600 miles to the tank if its all highway, but when its all my slow paper route driving it only gets 200 to the tank. Anticipate stops and coast... don't press the gas to get to the red light just to hit the brakes to stop at the light... know what I mean? That just converts your gas into heat energy instead of motion. Keep tires inflated to specs.

Answer 5

Not too much, but if you count miles you may see an increase of up to twenty miles or so per tank if you have your front and rear end aligned. Having the proper temp in your tires will also help a bit more than the wheel alignment.

Answer 6

Not alot..... even if your front end is messed up bad maybe 2-3 mpg at the most.

Answer 7

maybe 15-20 miles per tank full or less,no --one really knows for sure ,but it does help one,good luck.

Answer 8

not a whole lot unless it's out really bad and you would see that in your tire wear.