Tyre balancing ensures your wheels share weight evenly across all tyres, improving handling, safety, and comfort. In this guide, we explain how balancing works, the link between tyre balance and wheel alignment, and how to spot the signs of imbalance — from steering vibrations to uneven tyre wear.
There are a number of integral checks that need to be made on a regular basis, to ensure your tyres are both safe to drive on and meet the legal requirements for UK vehicle maintenance.
These include areas like the tyre tread, the structural stability of the sidewall, and the condition of the tyres in light of both the season and climate.
One area which is a little more challenging to check at home is the balance across the tyres, via a service also known as ‘wheel alignment’. This concerns the position of the wheels on the vehicle, and the way the four tyres pick up an even and equal amount of weight across the vehicle.
In this article, we’re looking at the importance of tyre balancing as a service, its impact on tyre maintenance, and what happens if you don’t keep wheels well balanced.
What Happens if Wheels Are Not Aligned
The first thing to note here is what happens – and what can go wrong – when wheels are not properly aligned.
The impact on the tyres can be huge.
When wheels are not properly aligned, the weight distribution across all four tyres is variable – creating an imbalance when driving. This leads to excessive wear on specific tyres, impacts the level of control the driver has over the vehicle, and can cause damage to the suspension which has to work overtime on a particular side of the vehicle.
What is Tyre Balancing?
Now that we know a bit more about wheel alignment, what it means and the impact it has on the safety and comfort of a vehicle, it’s time to look a little more closely at tyre balancing.
When tyres are not balanced correctly, they can pull the wheel out of alignment – causing all the issues listed above. This essentially creates a cycle through which unbalanced tyres lead to misalignment of wheels, which put undue pressure on specific tyres and lead to excessive wear.
To end this cycle, it’s important to ensure tyres are balanced.
This is done by adding small weights to the rim of the tyre, counteracting and offsetting any imbalance between the tyres. The aim of this is to ensure that all four tyres rotate smoothly and at the same rate, ensuring:
- Even wear across all four tyres
- A comfortable driving experience
- Better handling
How to Detect Imbalanced Tyres / Misaligned Wheels
As identified earlier in this article, both imbalanced tyres and misaligned wheels can exacerbate the other issue – creating both an uncomfortable and unsafe driving experience.
If you feel the steering wheel pulling to one side, or experience vibrations through the steering wheel when driving, it’s important to get your alignment checked. Similarly, if during a regular tyre inspection you notice that one of your tyres is worn to excess compared with the others, you may have alignment or balancing issues.
The best thing to do in this instance is to book your vehicle for a balancing service, where it will be assessed on a balancing machine. Weights can be added to tyres to re-establish an even balance around the entire vehicle, with your mechanic also able to recommend if and when tyres need replacing.
