Wheel Alignment and Wheel Balancing: How Significant are these for Your Car?

by Aaron S. Digital Marketing Analyst

Wheel alignment restores the angle of a wheel to the original configurations. Misaligned wheels are not perpendicular to the road or parallel to each other.

What causes wheels to become misaligned?

Ageing components.
Damaged suspension.
Driving over curbs, speed bumps, or potholes typically at high speeds.
Car height modification.

What happens when wheels are misaligned?

The car pulls to one side of the road.
Off-centre steering wheel.
Vibrating steering wheel.
Feathered tyre wear – smooth on one side and normal on the other.

How to resolve this problem?

Several professional garages like Tamworth Diesels provide services like Wheel Alignment Tamworth that can resolve this problem. The garage also delivers other services like wheel refurbishment, puncture repairs, diesel pump reconditioning, injector reconditioning, DFP regeneration, etc.

There are 3 types of wheel alignment procedures:

Toe alignment

There are two types of toe angle (when looking from the above) –

Toe-in or positive toe – When the wheels point inwards.
Toe-out or negative toe – When the wheels point outwards.

When to avail?

When your car wheels are not parallel to each other.

Camber alignment

There are two types of camber angle (when looking from the front) –

Positive camber – When the wheels tilt outwards.
Negative camber – When the wheels tilt inwards.

When to avail?

When your vehicle wheels are not perpendicular to the road.

Caster alignment

Caster alignment relates to the angle of a steering axle attached to a wheel. The two types of caster angle include (when looking from the side) –

Positive caster – When a steering axel points towards the driver.
Negative caster – When a steering axle tilts towards the opposite side.

Now, take a look at the importance of wheel balancing.

A wheel balancing service is part and parcel of nearly every point of Car Service Tamworth to even the weight of a wheel around its circumference.

What causes wheels to become imbalanced?

Usually, new wheels do not have a uniform weight. Also, wheels may become imbalanced due to prolonged use.

What happens when wheels are imbalanced?

Scalloped or cupped tyre wear.
Vibrating steering wheel.
Vibrating vehicle floorboard.

How to resolve this problem?

Garages offering car repair in Tamworth provide wheel balancing services that eliminate this problem. They use dedicated machines which tell a technician where to add weights and how much weight to add to counter the imbalance. The weights are made of several alloys containing an adhesive that easily stick to a wheel.

There are 2 types of wheel balancing machines:

Dynamic balancer

A dynamic balancer is for stopping a wheel from wobbling. Technicians add weight to one or both side of a wheels lateral line to counter an imbalance.

Static balancer

A static balancer is for stopping a wheel from bouncing. Technicians add weight to the opposite end of an imbalance to counter it.

Wheel balancing and wheel alignment in Tamworth are critical especially for prolonging the life of your car tyres. Driving with such wheels can cause substantial and premature damage to the same.

Also, both of them are crucial for a safer and comfortable drive. Hence, make sure to avail these services from a professional car garage as soon as you come across the symptoms.