What is Wheel balancing otherly known as tyre balancing?



As you know a vehicle can be compared to a human body, if you take good care of all the connecting components and stuff you put onto/into your body it will help you- life a long hassle free life. The same with purchasing a quality set of tyres for your vehicle (cheap does not always stay cheap). A new set of tyres can relatively come at high costs so it is extremely beneficial to you to take care of them.

If you have a vehicle, you have a responsibility to look after it for as long as possible. Some motorists do not understand the importance of Wheel alignment and wheel balancing, on how this can affect tyre life, as well as possibly having an effect on other mechanical factors. This means it is important that when you purchase a new set of tyres and fit them to your vehicle, you ask a mechanic to perform wheel alignment and wheel balancing to ensure that excessive tyre wear does not occur.

Correct wheel balancing is vitally important to performance, safety and prolonging the overall lifespan of your vehicle and in this case specifically your new tyres. It is one of the most common auto repair services offered by any technicians capable of providing the service. One of the main reasons is maintaining the new tyre life, obviously having an impact to the frequency for tyre replacements. This will make you aware that by keeping all you components in optimal running conditions will save you on unexpected and unnecessary costs.

When at high speeds the centrifugal force generated on a truck wheel can amplify the slightest imbalance on a wheel. At these speeds a truck with unbalanced wheels becomes dangerous. Wheel balancing also known as tyre balancing; it is the process of equalizing the weight of the combined tyre and wheel assembly so that it spins smoothly and evenly at high speed. Tyre unbalance describes the distribution of mass within an automobile tyre or the entire wheel (including the rim) on which it is mounted. An unbalance tyre wile in rotation distributes periodic forces and torques to the axle, which can cause ride disturbances, usually as vertical and lateral vibrations, and this may also cause the steering wheel to oscillate.

The wheels no longer runs straight and strains are placed on the steering and braking becomes risky, tyre wear is greatly increased and the wheel bearings are subjected to additional stress, vibration and vehicle suspensions may become tensioned when the rotating frequency of the wheel equals the resonant frequency of the suspension. However, at lower speeds, the sensation may be unnoticed. But as speed increases, these forces actually increase fourfold.

Wheel balancing ensures that there is proper and even weight distribution of your tyres and wheels, and that it is consistent throughout a revolving tyre and wheel assembly. The process is to put the wheel/tyre assembly on a balancer which centres the wheel and spins it to determine where the weights should go to create equilibrium. It ensures that the unit which comprises a wheel rim and a tyre is in balance. Both these units have high and low spots, or heavy and light areas. Every time a wheel is first mounted onto a vehicle with a new tyre, it has to be balanced. The first part of getting the complete unit of rim and tyre in balance is to match the heavy areas of one to the light areas of the other. Weights are added to ensure the compensating weight is completed throughout the whole tyre so that it will rotate perfectly. The wheel weights are smaller counter weights to prevent them from having heavy spots even the slight difference in weight will cause enough momentum and create vibrations.

 NOTE: Always enquire when you buy new tyres that they are balanced and requested wheel alignment, these two are different services but go hand to hand for a preventative maintenance plan.


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