My Car Tires Won't Stay Balanced
Everyone expects their cars' tires to run true and straight without giving thought to how much inspection and maintenance the tires need. Once tires have been mounted to the car, vehicle owners expect them to do their job without needing maintenance attention just like any other vehicle component. Tires compose one of the most important safety factors on any vehicle whether it be large, small, foreign or domestic. Tires are not inexpensive, and vehicle owners can not afford to diminish their importance. Tires that will not balance need to be looked at, diagnosed and repaired. The average vehicle owner can save a considerable sum of money by knowing why tires behave the way they do and by following some tips and preventative maintenance chores.
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Instructions
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Diagnosing Tires That Won't Balance
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Inspect tires that you have purchased within the last six months or so. Many vehicle owners complain that their new tires have had to go back to the shop repeatedly for rebalancing or inspection for manufacture defects. Wash the tires inside and out with soap and water and let them dry. Use a floor jack to raise the rear end of the vehicle and place jack stands under the frame near each wheel to support it. Carefully examine the inside and outside of the tires, looking for unusual wear. Make sure each tire has weights attached to it--rarely will a new tire not require any balancing weights. Missing weights must be replaced.
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Examine the interior and exterior of the tire sidewall, looking for cuts, abrasions, bulges, seam separations or ripples. Slowly rotate the tire by hand, holding a bright shop light against it. Any distortion in the sidewall profile could point to a manufacturer's mistake while the tire was hot-molded at the factory. Such distortions could cause weak spots and interior cord or belt damage. Off-center belts or misplaced belt splices can set up heavy vibrations, causing weights to be thrown from the rim at high speed. Remember that manufacturer's defects can show up much later in a tire's life. Determine what kind of guarantees and warranty coverage come with your recent tire purchase. Return them to the place of purchase, where trained professionals can spot such manufacturing defects.
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Inspect the tread pattern on the bottom of the tire. Look for scalps or "cupping," a sure sign that those tires were on the front of the vehicle at one time. Rear tires that have scalps or cupping can vibrate and throw weights. These deformities mean that chunks of rubber have been lost, setting up an unequal rotational balance. Failed or worn shocks cause scalps and cupping.
Look for unusual wear or bald spots on the inside or outside of the bottom tread. Misalignment of front end parts cause this "positive" and "negative" tire wear. Tires that have perfect tread on one side but have bald wear patterns on the other indicates toe-in or camber wear. Only an alignment and new set of tires on the front end can fix this problem.
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Inspect the rims carefully on the outside. Look for bends in the bead lip, gouges or cracks. Rims that have struck objects such as curbs can bend or knock weights off, which sets up a permanent wobble or serious rotation misalignment. Rims that have severe damage should be replaced, as well as the hubs or axle shafts from which they came. Check the inside of the rims for impacted mud or any foreign debris. Such debris weight will throw the balance off a perfectly balanced tire. Rust damage and flaking will remove rim weight and refuse to balance properly.
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Inspect the wheels ( while the car is raised on the stands) for any side-to-side wobble, particularly the front wheels. Any wobble or excessive play will indicate problems with the steering and suspension, or loose or worn wheel bearings. Such front-end wear will not allow the tire to be balance properly. Alignment will not cure an already existing wear pattern in a tire. Repairing the front suspension and replacing the tires will be the only solution.
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Tips & Warnings
If you must balance your tires, spin balancing is the preferred the method over the old-style static (bubble) balance.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit tires 2 image by Pontus Edenberg from Fotolia.com
