Properly Balanced Tyres

Properly balanced tyres can mean the difference between a good or bad driving experience. Some cars are much more sensitive to an out of balance tyre, however, no car rides properly when there is a vibration coming from the tyres, not to mention vibration means increased wear. This is why it’s important to have your tyres balanced regularly.

An out of balance tyre will affect ride quality, shorten the life of your tyres, bearings, shocks and other suspension components. If you have a vibration that increases when your speed increases, the problem is, most likely, related to your tyre balancing.

Another primary cause of vibrations is that the tyre and wheel assembly isn’t perfectly round. This includes your wheels and tyres. The problem is when the high spot on the tyre, is matched to the high spot on the wheel.

This effectively doubles the amount of “hop” or runout. If rebalancing doesn’t cure the problem, you need to have your professional installer check the runout of the tyre. If there is a “hop”, most often the problem can be fixed by simply rotating the tyre on the wheel slightly.

The technician should loosen the tyre on the wheel, and turn it 180 degrees, then reinflate the tyre after relubricating the bead. The runout should be significantly reduced or eliminated, and if it’s not, they should try it again, but this time rotate it only 90 degrees. If this still doesn’t work they should then try rotating it 180 degrees on the third try.

This means that the high spot on the tyre has been tried at each quarter of the wheel. The tyre should be good and round at one of those points. Then the tyres can be rebalanced, and should run properly. However, if this doesn’t solve the problem then there is an issue with either the tyre, the wheel or some other component on the vehicle.