When do i need to balance my tires

Besides vibrations, nothing makes a driver more unsettled than funny unbalanced tire noises and sounds that were not there in the first place. If you start hearing a buzzing or humming noise that is accompanied by vibration, this could be a sign of an unbalanced tire.

If the unbalanced tire noise gets more pronounced as you accelerate, you definitely have a tire balancing problem. This is actually not a sign; it is evidence staring you down! A worn out tire is evidence that your tires are likely to be unbalanced. Normal balanced tires start to wear out from the tread. However, when a tire is unbalanced, it wears off along the edges, making driving your car a wobbly experience. Uneven tire wear is a sure sign that your tires are unbalanced.

After buying new tires at a local tire shop, always balance these tires before fitting them. They may look perfect and properly balanced. However, there are minor weight variations around their circumference that need to be corrected through wheel balancing. The rim should also be checked for variations that may cause a tire to be unbalanced. If you have been driving in a rough terrain where you keep hitting potholes and getting into and out of rough situations, you need to have your wheel checked regularly for signs of imbalance.

If you notice one of your tires is losing pressure, chances are you will have an unbalanced driving experience. For everything you ever wanted and needed to know about balancing, the information below is intended to help you get the best ride quality, longest tread wear and optimum safety out of your tires. First and foremost, you have to start with a quality tire that possesses sound uniformity. Uniformity refers to how even and round a tire is manufactured. For example, a hard skid in a panic-brake situation can flat spot a tire.

A bent rim or the loss of a counterweight are other common causes of imbalance. Aggressive acceleration or braking can result in tire-to-rim slippage, which also affects balance. The photo above was sourced from High Velocity Diesel Performance , whose Ford Excursion was hit by another vehicle and suffered a bent rim among other damages. This includes steering. All it takes is one half of an ounce of weight difference on any given tire to bring about considerable vibration.

An out of balance tire can lead to increased and uneven tread wear. This is especially true for tires that are improperly inflated or not regularly rotated. However, excessive tread wear can also be traced back to a poor balance job from the tire shop.

If left unchecked, uneven wear can produce vibrations that not only worsen over time, but that also increase the chance of the tire blowing out. How Tires Are Rebalanced Rebalancing is done in a tire shop by putting the wheel-tire unit on a tire balancing machine that takes measurements to pinpoint lighter or heavier areas and making adjustments to account for these weight differences.

The wheel is spun while vibration measurements are taken. This tells the tech if the weight is spread evenly, how much weight to add and where on the wheel to attach it. If an imbalance is found, the technician may be able to rebalance and adjust the weights adding more.

But sometimes it requires the tech to also move the tire on the wheel and then rebalance. This is because a heavy spot on the wheel and on the tire can sometimes line up together, causing a greater imbalance that needs to be corrected. When to Get Tire Balancing Done: You feel vibration in the steering wheel, the floorboard or your seat. You get them rotated, generally every 5, miles.

At the very least every two years, once yearly if you drive rough roads.