Donald
Teuma-Castelletti
After a winter as disastrous on roads as the one just experienced, there’s no better way to celebrate than switching back to regular tires on your vehicle and leaving the windows rolled down as you hit the highway.
But there’s probably going to be one problem with your car that’s not only going to affect its performance, but the fuel economy and, in turn, your wallet, too.
To help avoid this bump in the road, coincidentally caused by potholes, uneven concrete and much more, there’s one thing to get straightened out this spring – your vehicle’s alignment.
Over at Lalonde’s Towing in Charteris, Danny Lalonde has prepared for the season by purchasing a Hunter Hawkeye Elite Alignment Machine, capable of servicing everything from the classics to modern vehicles through some sophisticated technology.
“Basically, we’re going to put your car on [the ramp], it stays in neutral, we block it and lift it up,” explained Lalonde. “Then the ramp lights turn on when we’re at our perfect height for a reading.”

Before a reading is done, information on the vehicle is entered into the computer system, allowing for an accurate analysis to take place.
After that, the mechanic would mount the target heads onto the wheels, which will then be used for the calibration.
“We mount our heads onto the wheels, push the vehicle ahead and then we do what’s called a caster sweep, where we turn the wheels side to side and that gets us our GPS locations on the wheels,” said Lalonde.
From there, the technology continues to get more impressive.
“Then basically the cameras reflect signals off of the wheels so it knows where it should be at, and registers where it is at, and then you go from there,” continued Lalonde.
With the computer system, Lalonde can use this machine on many different vehicles as the information is readily available. For example, he had a recent appointment with a 1973 Rambler Ambassador that he knew he’d be able to work on accurately due to the preciseness of the alignment machine and specifications stored in the system.
“I can do the old antique cars or I can do right up to 2018 Maserati’s,” said Lalonde.
But the accuracy and information from the computer doesn’t stop there. The mechanic can follow along on the screen for each step in the process and be told exactly what tools to use.
“It basically walks you through it – if you click a button it tells me what kind of wrench and I can click another button and it tells me I can watch a video, so that you can do an adjustment on your own car,” said Lalonde. “If you click the wrench it tells you what size to get, where to turn what nuts.”
Of course, with the amount of information available at their fingertips, the machine can be quite complex. Which is why Lalonde had to go to Toronto for four days to get some training on the computer software.
Having that training and using it in action, Lalonde is proud of the service he can offer his customers, especially because of the accuracy he can now provide.
“It’s the best machine that’s out on the market – the most accurate machine, the most sensitive machine to adjustments,” continued Lalonde. “It does an awesome job and takes the human error out of it because it will lead you to where problems are on the car.”
Still, for those unconvinced of the need for a little straightening out, an alignment can do much more for your vehicle than just keeping you in your lane.
“If you’re out of wack you’re going to wear your tires out and it’s going to cost you more money on fuel, [because] your car is fighting itself and wearing out parts,” said Lalonde. “But if you’re running nice and straight on your wheels you’re saving on all of that.”