Every May, Edmonton roads open up like a moonscape and our alignment rack books solid for a month. It's not a coincidence: a sharp pothole edge hits a tire with enough force to bend a tie rod, shift a subframe's position, or knock camber out of spec — and none of it comes with a warning light.
What a pothole actually does
Your wheel takes the hit first. If the rim survives, the energy goes into the suspension: control arms, bushings, ball joints, tie rods, strut mounts. Most of the time nothing breaks — things just move a degree or two. The problem: your alignment spec is measured in fractions of a degree. Toe out by half a degree on one side will scrub the inside edge of a $250 tire bald in 8,000–10,000 km.
The symptoms that send people to us
- Steering wheel off-centre — the classic. Drives straight but the wheel sits crooked.
- Pull to one side — needs constant correction on a flat road.
- Uneven tire wear — one edge smoother than the other; run a finger across the tread.
- New vibration — could be a bent rim from the same hit.
- Clunks over bumps — that's not alignment, that's a part; our suspension inspection checks both.
Why we check suspension before aligning
This is the step some shops skip and it costs you twice: aligning a car with a worn ball joint or torn bushing is meaningless — the loose part moves under load and your new alignment drifts within days. Every alignment at our shop starts with a pry-bar test. If a joint has play, we show you and quote it; if it's tight, you get the alignment and the printout.
The honest math
3D alignment on both axles: $120. One tire killed early by bad toe: $250–400. The alignment pays for itself if it saves half a tire — and in a city where a single trip down 118 Ave can include three crater hits, the odds are decent.
When you can skip it
Honestly? If the car tracks straight, the wheel's centred, the tires wear evenly and you haven't hit anything memorable — you don't need one this year. We check for free during any service visit and tell you the same thing. But after a hit that made you say a bad word, or when tire wear shows a pattern — the $120 check is cheaper than the guessing.
Post-pothole-season is also the moment to look underneath for the slower damage: a bent rim lip, a bulge in a tire sidewall, a shock that's started weeping. Those don't fix themselves either — and a bulged sidewall is a blowout waiting for highway speed, which is a different conversation entirely. Check our price list for the inspection cost before you book.