Balancing after fitting new tires is necessary because the weight of the wheel is never perfectly distributed. Indeed, one side of the tire is always heavier than the other. You should also get it checked whenever new tires are fitted. In the event that you travel regularly, over long distances or under tough road conditions, it is recommended that you check your alignment more frequently.
Anytime that you put a new tire on your car, the wheel assembly must be balanced to ensure even weight distribution and rotation.
Wheels and tires never actually have exactly the same weight in every aspect. Even the whole in the tire stem (the self-contained valve used to inflate a tire) takes some weight off one side of the tire and creates an imbalance. At high speeds, even a small difference in weight can become a major imbalance in terms of the outward force, that causes the wheel and tire assembly to rotate with a heavy, jerking motion.
Wheel balancing is crucial to driving safely and saving money by enabling you to:
- Reduce the likelihood of getting into skidding accidents
- Ensure a smooth, comfortable and mainly quiet ride
- Reduce tread wear, which extends the life of your tires and saves on maintenance costs
- Avoid costly damage to your car's wheel bearings and suspension
- Improve fuel economy through economical driving
Wheel balancing and wheel alignment is an important part of ensuring safer driving on the roads. Wheels that are not balanced cause the steering wheel to vibrate which negatively affects the driver's handling of the vehicle.
An increase in fuel consumption is also evident as the unbalanced wheels increase the need for additional energy when driving. Your suspension and steering components, rotating parts and tyres will also experience premature wearing due to unbalanced wheels.
If you choose to ignore the above symptoms and do not balance and align your wheels you will not only endanger your life when driving on the road, but the wearing of the parts of the vehicle will also be very expensive to replace in the long run.
What causes wheel imbalance?
There are three main causes of wheel imbalance:
- Manufacturing: Tires and wheels are not manufactured with the same weight around their entire circumference
- Road surface: Bad Road conditions cause the wheels to bend
- Wear: shock absorbers, struts, tie rods and ball joints wear out
Tire balancing helps prevent steering wheel vibration and uneven tire wear. In addition, after a shock, your driving comfort is no longer the same and the balance can be affected.
- Wear of suspension and vehicle components
- Wear of management bodies
- Premature and unequal wear of tires
- Reduced tire life
- Increased fuel consumption
You can determine imbalance when your car is stationary by examining the wheels for rapid or irregular wear, such as Dents along the edge of your tire tread.
If you notice the following symptoms while driving, you should have your wheels balanced as soon as possible:
- Steering wheel, running boards, or the seats vibrate, especially on freeways
- The vehicle pulls left and right
- Your tires squeak
- Your car shakes
Check and Balance the wheel regularly and schedule it at 15,000 km intervals.
The wheel balancing process begins by removing existing wheel weights from the tires and Mounting your wheels on a static or dynamic road force balancing machine. The technician spins your tires to identify the spots that are causing your wheels to wobble. Weights are attached to the uneven sides of the tire for support