Wheel balancing
Sadly, many motorists are not especially fussy about which tyre fitter they trust with fitting, balancing and repairing their wheels. And that is a real mistake: a great deal depends on the quality of the tyre fitting. What exactly, you can read in the article.
Many motorists often never stop to think about how important such a simple procedure as wheel balancing is, and give it nowhere near enough attention. Yet in reality the correct working of a car’s suspension, and, as a result, its (the suspension’s) service life, as well as safety and ride comfort, all depend on tyres and wheels being balanced correctly.
There can hardly be any motorists left today who need convincing that tyre balancing absolutely has to be done. At the same time, sadly, far from everyone understands and appreciates the part balancing plays in road safety, and so people pay far too little attention to the quality of the balancing (in particular, to choosing a tyre fitter), as well as to the quality of the tyres and wheels on offer in the market.
Articles in this sectionIn reading order.
- Why are wheels balanced?Why wheels are balanced: how an unbalanced wheel causes vibration and loads on the hub, and what that risks for safety and the suspension.247 words
- How accurate does wheel balancing need to be?How accurate does wheel balancing need to be? How an unbalanced mass creates centrifugal force, and why that is dangerous at speed.169 words
- What kinds of wheel imbalance are there?What kinds of wheel imbalance are there? Static and dynamic, how they differ, and what these terms mean in plain language.214 words
- What level of imbalance is considered normal?What is the maximum permitted mass of balance weights, and what criteria tell good wheels or tyres apart from bad ones?498 words
- What affects the quality of wheel balancingWhat affects the quality of wheel balancing: the machine or the fitter’s skill? And why a wheel balanced “to zero” is not automatically safe.403 words