Knowing the difference between a balance and an alignment can save you time, money, and discomfort.
From a career of over 40 years in service departments ranging from small independents to heavy truck retailers, I can say with certainty that the most-confused services are wheel alignments and wheel balancing. Put another way, many customers ask for one service when they really mean the other. Alignment Wheel Balancing
Let’s get it straight, right off the bat. Wheel balancing is a service where the wheel and tire assembly is removed from the vehicle and mounted on a specialized piece of equipment called a wheel balancer. The wheel unit is spun at speed and sensors in the machine detect imbalances to pinpoint the amount of weight required to cure them, along with the correct placement for the weights. The weights are clipped or adhered to the wheel rim and the unit is spun again to ensure its balance is corrected. Some shops even have equipment to do this with the wheel still mounted on the vehicle. Purists like this latter method because it can help to remedy lighter vibrations caused by the wheel hubs themselves.
A wheel alignment refers to correcting the steering geometry of a vehicle by adjusting the angles of the wheels along with the toe factor. Front wheels usually point in (‘toe’) towards each other by a very small amount to provide firmer steering and better road feel. The service is completed with the use of another piece of specialized equipment called an alignment rack. This is a platform hoist that the vehicle is driven onto, from which a set of devices mounted to each wheel project their angles to a receiver at the front of the hoist.
If you approach a service counter with a request for either of these services, a good consultant will ask you about the symptoms your vehicle is exhibiting that makes you think that either would be the cure. This should clear up ant confusion you may have about which service is needed, because an experienced advisor will direct their technicians appropriately. That isn’t always the case, however: during busy shop-counter times, advisors will simply record what you’ve asked for on the repair order instructions to the tech, which may lead to a problem persisting even after you’ve paid the bill.
A wheel imbalance will usually cause a vibration that you can feel at speed through the steering (for a problem with the front wheels) or through your seat (when the rears are at fault). A wheel alignment problem usually causes a vehicle to wander or pull to the right or left, or will hold a steering wheel off-centre.
The interesting thing about wheel balancing is that unless a tire fails with a shift in its tread face, sidewall deterioration, or rim damage from a curb- or pothole hit, it won’t necessarily need to be rebalanced.
But winter time can bring its own forces to the balance on wheels: ice buildup. Drive through enough snow and slush in just the right temperature, and ice can attach itself to the inside of the wheel and throw it off balance. If you take off one morning after a snowy commute home the night before and your ride suddenly has the shakes, head to the car wash before you call your shop for an appointment. Spray the rims with pressure-washing wands, directing the water to the insides of the wheel to remove the ice. Most of the time, this will cure the shakes.
One of our longest contributors (over 30 years) Brian Turner is a veteran of the automotive repair world with over 4 decades of service. His career has taken him from independent shop management to a stint at AMC Jeep Renault’s Canadian head office to a variety of OEM dealerships in parts and service management. He still has a busy day job at a dealership counter today.
He began his writing for the Ottawa Citizen where he penned the ‘Ask the Expert’ column, answering motoring questions for thousands of readers. He took his pen on the road, so to speak, and offered similar consumer advice through several smaller news publishers over the years.
As of late he’s taken to the airwaves as a news broadcaster for Lake 88 FM radio where he also hosts his own weekly call-in show on, what else, consumer advice. You can also catch him every other Monday on Calgary 770 AM talk radio when he delivers Motoring Mondays to an eager audience during the afternoon drive time.
His mission is to break down the mysteries of modern automotive technology to help steer vehicle owners down the right road to smooth motoring.
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-turner-b5bb0815/
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