A wheel out of alignment won't cause a blowout, but it will feather one edge of a tire's tread down long before the rest wears out. San Diego Tire Shop checks camber, caster, and toe against factory spec at 6215 University Ave B; it's worth doing right after a curb or pothole strike, and right before new tires go on.
If the steering wheel sits crooked at highway speed even though the car is tracking straight, that's not the tires — that's alignment. Same with a pull to one side on a flat road that isn't crowned enough to explain it. Both are toe or camber sitting off factory spec, usually from something the car hit rather than anything that simply wore out.
The two triggers worth acting on are a curb strike or a hard pothole hit — either one can knock the front end out of spec in a single impact — and putting a new set of tires on a car that's already pulling or wearing unevenly. Align it after the impact, or before the new rubber goes on, and the alignment work protects the tire instead of the tire absorbing the misalignment on its own.
How do you tell it's alignment and not just the tires?
A vibration that shows up at a specific speed and goes away below or above it is almost always balance, not alignment — that's a wheel-and-tire issue, not a suspension angle. A pull that's constant regardless of speed, or a steering wheel that sits off-center when the car is pointed straight down a flat road, is alignment. Feathered wear — smooth on one edge of the tread, sharp on the other, like it's been sanded at an angle — is the pattern alignment leaves behind, and it doesn't rotate out; it comes back on the same tire.
Does a lift kit or lowering kit change what counts as correct?
Yes — factory alignment specs assume factory ride height, and a car sitting noticeably higher or lower changes the geometry enough that the stock numbers stop being the right target. That's a case where the alignment gets set to what the modified suspension actually needs, not what the manufacturer's sticker says, and it's worth mentioning the ride height change before the car goes on the rack rather than after.
Do I need an alignment every time I get new tires?
Not automatically. If the car was tracking straight before, hasn't hit a curb or pothole recently, and the old tires wore evenly across the tread, skipping it saves money. If the front tires feathered on one edge or the wheel sat off-center, get it aligned before the new tires go on, or they'll wear the same way the old ones did.
I hit a pothole and the car still drives fine — do I still need to check it?
A hard hit can knock the front end out of spec without any immediate symptom, especially at lower impact severity. It's worth a check after a hit that felt solid through the wheel, even if nothing feels wrong yet, since the tire wear it causes shows up weeks later, not immediately.
Can a bad alignment cause a blowout?
No, misalignment doesn't cause a sudden failure. What it does is wear one edge of the tread down faster than the rest, which shortens the tire's life and, left long enough, exposes the belts on that one edge before the rest of the tire is anywhere near done.