Wheel balancing and wheel alignment are not the same thing
5 min readBy Wheel Fit
The short answer: balancing corrects weight distribution around a wheel and cures vibration. Alignment corrects the angles the wheels sit at and cures pulling and uneven wear. They are unrelated jobs.
Wheel balancing
No tyre and wheel assembly is perfectly even in weight. Spun at speed, a heavy spot creates a vibration you feel through the steering wheel or the seat.
Balancing spins the assembly on a machine to find the heavy spot, then adds small counterweights to the rim to cancel it out.
Every new tyre should be balanced as it is fitted. We balance every wheel we fit, at your location — it is part of the job, not an extra.
Symptoms of imbalance
- Vibration that appears in a particular speed range, often around 50 to 70mph, and may fade above it.
- Through the steering wheel — usually a front wheel. Through the seat or floor — usually a rear.
- Came on suddenly, often after hitting something or after a tyre change where a weight was thrown.
Wheel alignment
Alignment is the angles at which the wheels meet the road: toe (pointing in or out), camber (leaning in or out at the top) and caster. The manufacturer sets these to fine tolerances.
They drift out through pothole strikes, kerbing, and suspension wear.
Symptoms of misalignment
- The car pulls to one side on a flat, straight road.
- The steering wheel is off-centre when you are travelling straight.
- Uneven tyre wear, especially on one edge or a feathered pattern — see reading wear patterns.
Do not diagnose pulling from road camber alone: most British roads slope towards the kerb, so a slight leftward drift on a normal road is not necessarily a fault.
Which we can do at the roadside
| Job | Mobile? |
|---|---|
| Wheel balancing | Yes — we carry a balancer and do it as part of every fitting. |
| Wheel alignment | No — it needs a workshop rig with the car on a level surface. |
What we will do is tell you when the wear pattern points at alignment, so you can get it sorted before it eats a new set of tyres.
The order to do things in
If the car both vibrates and pulls, deal with alignment first, then fit and balance tyres. Fitting new rubber to a car that is out of alignment simply transfers the problem to the new tyres.
