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Maybe I'm just unlucky but I don't seem to find many garages that can do it properly. The Focus had some new front tyres about nine months ago but recently I've been on the motorway and at 70mph there's the annoying fidgeting felt at the steering wheel. Took it back, rebalanced, no better. So went back to a garage further afield I should have used before and they've got it spot on, as usual. Both the two garages about a mile from me can't get it right and I've found this at other places.
Why is it so hard? Equipment not calibrated right or operator not trained properly? What are the experiences of the panel?
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I had mine done successfully a few weeks ago. I was quoted £30 for all four by “the lad” over the phone. However when they did the job they charged another £20 for wheel removal and refitting.
I had watched them doing the job and it looked as if they were being thorough. It was done at the appointed time and the manager even drove it first to confirm it needed needed doing. They are well reviewed locally so I put the charge down to an honest mistake. I am not sure if it’s a usual practice to quote for wheel removal separately.
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I’m not sure how they hoped to balance wheels & tyres without removing them from the car.
That’s a new one on me, the price I’ve always paid is for removing wheels, removing old weights, balancing with new weights and refitting wheels.
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I’m not sure how they hoped to balance wheels & tyres without removing them from the car.
Strictly speaking, by keeping the wheels and tyres on the car, they'll also balance any other rotational bits. Doesn't happen in my experience, as can how you be certain a wheel is put back in exactly the the same position it came off if any later work's done?
Wheel balancing is a dark art that's often not understood by your average tyre fitting yoof.
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I’m not sure how they hoped to balance wheels & tyres without removing them from the car.
It was common when I started driving around 1970. I don't know how they worked out the required weights, but IIRC there was a rubber wheel driving the tyre.
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I’m not sure how they hoped to balance wheels & tyres without removing them from the car.
It was common when I started driving around 1970. I don't know how they worked out the required weights, but IIRC there was a rubber wheel driving the tyre.
Hers's a fab 60's gadget that uses a paper and pencil to record wheel oscillations. Thats not on the car, but I suppose the principle could be applied to an on-car setup.
No computer involved.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5UcdjUsuJs
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I had mine done successfully a few weeks ago. I was quoted £30 for all four by “the lad” over the phone. However when they did the job they charged another £20 for wheel removal and refitting.
Good grief! Inflation is well and truly established. In Feb 2020 I reshod the Audi with mail order tyres. They were changed - and balanced - by competent east European lads at a Northampton outfit for a tenner a wheel; disposal of old tyres included. (Hopefully they did not end up on a grass verge somewhere).
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I don't know what fraction of a millimetre off-centre is enough to be detectable when driving, but wheels are mounted on most hubs with 4 or 5 bolts, while the balancers I have watched only use one large central nut on a threaded shaft. With such machines getting heavy treatment day in, day out, it wouldn't surprise me to find that their centring is not identical to the car's ?
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I do have experience of balancing wheels, though it has been many years. Unless there is a problem with the equipment, I'm not really sure how they could be getting it wrong. But if it was there equipment, surely they would know about it from other customers?.
I'm wondering if it could be something else, something to do with the hub or suspension?. If that is the case, pretty unlucky that it shows itself at the legal limit, how is it at 65mph or 75mph?.
I remember when I was a bus driver, there was one particular coach where as you accelerated through 40-45mph there was quite a dramatic shake through the steering wheel. But below that speed and above it, absolutely fine.
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Kwikfit can check balancing for free but if they are out they'd charge you to fix it.
I have been to them few times and they said no adjustment is necessary.
I see that thread title is about balancing, I usually find more issue with alignment.
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I had a horrible steering wheel vibration at 70 mph. Several trips of tracking and balancing wouldn't sort it.
It was only when an indy garage and not a fast fit tyre chain took a look and swapped the front wheels that he found there was a slight buckle in one of them.
Edited by Gibbo_Wirral on 15/09/2022 at 13:11
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When I had the mgzs SUV; I bought an mg wheel. Took it to a fast fit centre for a new tyre and they couldn't balance it saying it was distorted. but I noticed the way he fitted it onto the centre boss. Kerriges tyre fitter in Needham market said nothing wrong and balanced it correctly.
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When I had the mgzs SUV; I bought an mg wheel. Took it to a fast fit centre for a new tyre and they couldn't balance it saying it was distorted. but I noticed the way he fitted it onto the centre boss. Kerriges tyre fitter in Needham market said nothing wrong and balanced it correctly.
IIRC the machine has to be calibrated using either a balanced wheel already, or a none balanced wheel, the machine calibrates according to what the wheel is, all the fitter does is use callipers to measure the width of the tyre, tyre/wheel dimensions are typed into computer keyboard- or used to be-, if the calibration is wrong and has been known, nearly all wheels will be out of balance by a small amount
also on some occasions I have noticed and commented to the fitter they haven`t always taken the wheel to the point where the weight is meant to be put on, they are in some cases taking it close but not to where its supposed to be, causing wheel to be slightly out of balance at speed only what I have noticed.
but out of round tyres can cause them problems as well but don`t often tell you
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I had a similar thing with a prevous car, a mate of mine said it was balancing/wheel alignment, I told him it was not because it varied depending on the road surface. I told him that because of the way it drives under diff road surfaces it had to be either the steering or suspension and had nothing to do with the alignment/wheel balancing. But, just to rule it out I had it checked. I tturned out I was right and the ball joint bush was worn and had to be replaced. The rumbling stopped after that was done, but I had the alignment etc with the job as well.
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I had a bad experience with a branch of the 'quick fitting' company mentioned above: I suspected a tyre fault and asked them to check the balance. They immediately whipped the weights off and rebalanced without checking.
I asked the manager what the problem was and he said they were out of balance. I asked which one, he replied 'All of them, badly'.
Liar!
I watched them and they had not checked. In fact the rebalance didn't sort the problem which was quickly diagnosed by an independent garage as a wheel bearing, which was replaced and problem solved.
I'll avoid that branch in future.
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I have never heard of balancing wheels while on the car. I have also bought quite a few tyres and had the odd puncture over the years. Never had a problem with wheel balancing at numerous outlets and the prices quoted for the job by some are a rip off. Around here always included in the tyre price and even when I have bought tyres on line fitting and balancing £10-£15 a wheel. Worth warning the tyre fitter if you have TPMS but the valves should be obvious. Centrifugal force which gets stronger the faster you go and if your tyres particularly the fronts are out it is very annoying.
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"I have never heard of balancing wheels while on the car."
I think it' gone out now, I've not heard of it being done for years. My parents used to take their cars into a place in Bath where they balanced tyres on the car. This would have been late 1970s.
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"I have never heard of balancing wheels while on the car."
I think it' gone out now, I've not heard of it being done for years. My parents used to take their cars into a place in Bath where they balanced tyres on the car. This would have been late 1970s.
I think its still done as its more refined balancing and more for older cars that have drums on the front and back the balancing then takes into account wheel bearing wear and drum balance, not needed on newer cars
Some garages dont balance properly as they are in a hurry
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formula one, near me, offer two levels of balance payments. my indie gets to zero most times but near to that is problem good enough. my experience is that cheap tyres go out of balance and the expensive ones don't
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Years ago, I had an Astra D GTE and the workshop manager balanced the wheels on the car for me, Slightly worrying to see it done.
When I bought the MGZS suv I bought a full size spare wheel and one of the nation tyre centres said wheel deformed couldn'y balance it. Took it to Kerridges own tyre suppliers in Needham Market and they Balanced it ok.
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<< I think its still done as its more refined balancing and more for older cars that have drums on the front and back ... >>
Good grief - those must be 'older' cars. I have owned cars for 60 years and never one with drums at the front. But I prefer drums at the rear because my driving style would let rear disc brakes seize up too easily.
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<< I think its still done as its more refined balancing and more for older cars that have drums on the front and back ... >>
Good grief - those must be 'older' cars. I have owned cars for 60 years and never one with drums at the front. But I prefer drums at the rear because my driving style would let rear disc brakes seize up too easily.
Lots of cars in the 1960's still had front drum brakes. Some MK1 Golfs had front drum brakes, I know, I had one!
The Astra I was referring to had front disk brakes and he still balanced the wheels with them lifted up on a trolley jack.
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No body has mentioned the wheel weights themselves and the progression from the crimped on bits of lead, you sometimes had two, to the modern alloy ones stuck out of the way on the inside of the wheel. You rarely see a squashed lead one in the gutter now
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You rarely see a squashed lead one in the gutter now
Either had a tendency to fall of if they weren`t either stuck on, or hammered on as they should be, stick on if alloy wasn`t clean didn`t stay on long
and some wheels needed more than 2 in different positions if the wheel had been clobbered enough times, some potholes can knock a wheel out of balance as well, and as these potholes get worse the more chance wheels need balancing, think of the damage a tyre sustains from these potholes
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I had a '75 MK1 Golf with disk brakes on the front. I never knew some had drums but a quick google says they did on the continent. I suppose they were a carry-over from the Beetle. Dreadful brakes with no servo on UK models, same as the UK spec MK2 Polo. Flintstone's car would probably stop better!
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Drum brakes leaking cylinders seized adjusters, rusty springs so many holes and groves in the shoes that you forgot where the springs fitted, metal fork bits keeping the shoes apart shoes down to the rivets or just uneven wear, are the shoes the right way up? a little hole to click the adjuster and falling on your backside when you finally got the drum off. Oh I forgot the spiders and the sheer amount or dirt and dust within. Otherwise a good invention to stop your car
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Dreadful brakes with no servo on UK models, same as the UK spec MK2 Polo. Flintstone's car would probably stop better!
I've had two cars with front discs and no servo. A '60s Triumph 2-litre Vitesse and a 750cc Fiat Panda. Drum brakes need no servo, as the shoe with a leading edge acts as a self-servo.
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Dreadful brakes with no servo on UK models, same as the UK spec MK2 Polo. Flintstone's car would probably stop better!
I've had two cars with front discs and no servo. A '60s Triumph 2-litre Vitesse and a 750cc Fiat Panda. Drum brakes need no servo, as the shoe with a leading edge acts as a self-servo.
I had a Ford Sierra with no servo briefly, because I broke the wee brittle plastic vacuum hose connector.
Think its lack probably saved me from a crash, poor mans ABS stylee.
I did fix it though, replacing it with the end of a Japanese ball-point pen.
Maybe unfair, but I had a lot more confidence in the Japanese pen than I would have had in an OEM Ford part.
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