Balancing Tires to Improve Ride Comfort
May 2023
Balancing your tires is an essential part of maintaining your vehicle. Not only does it improve the lifespan of your tires, but it also ensures a smooth and comfortable ride. Balancing your tires is crucial for ensuring the safety and longevity of your vehicle. In this blog post, we will explain the importance of balancing your tires and how it can provide an improvement in ride comfort.
Tire Balance Specifics
When a tire is out of balance, it can cause the vehicle to vibrate and shake at high speeds. Most vibrations and shakes will come at highway speeds in excess of 50mph. You will likely feel a vibration in the steering wheel and possibly throughout the vehicle. This makes for an uncomfortable and dangerous driving experience. The main purpose of balancing your tires is to distribute the weight of your vehicle evenly across all four tires. When the weight is not distributed evenly, it can cause uneven wear on your tires. This leads to a shorter tire lifespan and more potential for blowouts. Unbalanced tires can also lead to other vehicle suspension component issues.
In addition to extending the life of your tires, balancing your tires can also improve your vehicle’s handling and stability. Unbalanced tires can cause your vehicle to pull to one side, making it difficult to drive straight. Balancing your tires will help your vehicle drive straighter and more smoothly, improving your overall driving experience.
An imbalanced tire occurs when the wheel and tire’s distribution of weight becomes uneven. When you bring your vehicle in for a tire balance, a tire technician will spin each tire on a computer balancing machine to check for these imbalances. They will then add small weights to the inside or outside of the rim to balance the tire and improve the distribution of weight.
Tread depth decreases as you put miles on your tires, this can lead to the tires not being perfectly balanced. To keep your tires in top condition, Take Off Tire recommends that you have your tires re-balanced every 10,000 miles, or whenever you notice any unusual wear patterns or vibrations while driving. Having your tires re-balanced on a regular basis should be viewed as preventative maintenance for your vehicle. Don’t wait for a problem to occur! You should also be checking your tire pressure regularly and rotate your tires every 6,000 to 8,000 miles to ensure even wear.
In conclusion, balancing your tires is an essential part of maintaining your vehicle. Not only does it extend the life of your tires and improve your vehicle’s handling and stability, but it also ensures a smooth and comfortable ride. Keep an eye out for uneven wear on your tires and vibrations in your vehicle, these are the general signs of your tires needing re-balanced. Be sure to stop by Take Off Tire for routine tire rotations, that way we have the opportunity to check the wear of your tires and balance if needed.
Commercial and Trailer Tire Applications
The benefits of balancing commercial tires (steer tires especially) and trailer tires (ranging from utility trailers to large enclosed trailers) are very similar to the benefits of balancing car and truck tires. The driver will feel an improvement in ride comfort, handling, stability and safety. There is also an increase in fuel efficiency due to a lower rolling resistance. Perhaps most importantly, balancing the tires in commercial and trailer applications will extend the life of the tires (saving you money in the long run) and reduce mechanical stress on the vehicle.
- Improved Handling, Stability, Ride Comfort and Safety: Balanced tires are crucial for commercial vehicles and trailers because they carry much heavier loads than the average passenger vehicle or truck. Balancing your tires ensures more even weight distribution. This will help reduce vibrations and improve the overall stability and control of the vehicle/trailer. Having the tires properly balanced enhances safety while traveling at high speeds. Depending on the specific application, commercial drivers tend to spend a lot of time on the road – balanced tires will give a smoother and more comfortable driving experience.
- Extended Tire Life and Enhanced Fuel Economy: Properly balanced tires experience less wear and tear, resulting in an extended life for the tires. By eliminating or minimizing unnecessary vibrations, irregular tire wear such as cupping or feathering should be minimized. This results in money saved on premature tire replacements. Unbalanced tires can cause unnecessary rolling resistance. Extra rolling resistance requires your engine to work harder and increases fuel consumption. Balancing your tires can help optimize fuel efficiency for your vehicle. This can effect operating costs in a positive way for large fleets of commercial vehicles (especially those that cover long distances or have demanding hauling requirements).
- Reduced Mechanical Stress and Minimized Downtime: Vibrations caused by unbalanced tires can transfer stress to various suspension components including tie rods, ball joints, wheel bearings and other steering components. By balancing the tires, you help reduce the strain on these parts. This leads to a longer lifespan of the vehicle and its components as well as reduced maintenance costs. Unbalanced tires can lead to increased tire wear, potential blowouts and premature failure of vehicle components. By balancing the tires on commercial vehicles and trailers, you can minimize unexpected downtime due to tire-related issues, keeping your operations running smoothly and avoiding costly time delays.
Balancing tires in commercial and trailer applications provides several advantages. It is a worthwhile investment that contributes to the overall safety, performance, and cost-effectiveness of your commercial fleet.
Take Off Tire is one of the premier tire shops in Lincoln, NE and a great place to get your tires serviced. We also have an extensive selection of new tires to choose from. If you have any questions, give us a call at 402-413-6646 to talk to a dedicated tire salesman who will help you with any tire advise, or service, you may need!