Tire Balancing

Tire Balancing – What Is It and What Is It For?

Tire Balancing

A professional mechanic will always do a tire balancing after every new tire or wheel rim is installed to the vehicle. He knows how important this process is for the vehicle. If the mechanic does not do that, then he doesn’t understand the significance of balancing the tire to the performance and safety of the vehicle.

 Tire balancing is also referred to as tire imbalance or tire unbalance. It defines the distribution of weight within the tire or to the wheel where the tire is attached to.

 A professional will always check the new tires or wheels whether they need balancing or not. This process is done to get rid of any vibration that can be produced because of the wrong match of tire and wheels.

Yes, mismatched tire and wheels are common especially if the owner wants to use a different tire or wheel than the vehicle’s factory recommendations. Imbalance usually happens when the choice of new tires and wheels is wrong. Even if the choice is correct, tire balancing still has to be done

Balancing is needed so that the wheels will all have similar weights while the vehicle is running. Otherwise, vibration will occur. You might say a little vibration is nothing. But think about it again.

Every rotation of one wheel is one vibration. Guess what. Every wheel rotates about 14,000 every hour of normal driving. Multiply that to the number of wheels the vehicle has. Plus, there will be bumps and roughs on the road. All these will contribute to more vibration that the tires and wheels will suffer.

The more vibration the wheels and the entire vehicle are suffering, the faster the whole system will wear out. Sooner or later, you might find yourself changing the wheels again or worse, buying a replacement vehicle. Worst, ignoring tire balancing could lead to accident. Don’t wait for these to happen by understanding the importance of this process as early as now.