Wheel Balancing - All You Need To Know

Standard balancing

A wheel is spun and the standard balancer identifies the imbalance in the wheel assembly. Weights are applied opposite the heavy area, so when spun the wheel rotates without imbalance.

Road Force Balancing

A wheel is spun and a standard balance measurement is taken but in addition to this the wheel is also taken on a simulated road test. This is where a load roller is lowered onto the wheel, putting the wheel under load to simulate actual road force.

This additionally identifies:

1. Road Force Variation: If the wheel is out of round (Run out) or there is uneven tread/tyre wall stiffness. All of which are contributing to vibration over and above that caused by simple imbalance.
2. Lateral Force: The amount of conicity ( the amount of Flex) in the tyre wall, which when excessive can cause the car to pull.