To the naked eye a tyre may look perfect but infact no tyre is completely round and smooth. Every tyre has heavy spots that cause an imbalance in the wheel assembly. When you drive, these heavy spots are pulled outward by the centrifugal force of the wheel’s rotation, making your vehicle vibrate or move side to side.
This side to sode movement or vibration is one of the most common signs that your wheels are out of balance. You’ll generally start to notice the effects at about 30 Mph, and the vibration will become more pronounced as your speed increases. If you feel this vibration most strongly though the steering wheel, that indicates a front wheel is out of balance. If it’s through the driver’s seat, that means your rear wheels are out of balance.
In addition to being annoying this vibration or movement also creates:
- safety issues by increasing driver stress and fatigue
- unnecessary wear on your shocks, struts and other suspension components
- uneven tyre wear, which shortens the useful life of your tyres
- increased fuel consumption, because your engine must work harder to overcome this additional force.
At Black Swan Tyre and Exhausts our fully trained technicians use computerised wheel balancing machines to gain the best balance possible for your vehicals wheels.