Well, they don’t stay balanced forever. When a tire manufacturer is producing tires, they balance them during manufacturing. Then, once the tires are placed on OEM wheels, another balancing process must take place to dovetail with the car, truck, or SUV because each wheel-tire combo can have slight differences in weight.
Wheel balancing should regularly take place to keep all in optimal alignment, occurring about every 6,000 miles or when you do your tire balancing. Other times to rebalance wheels can include when you:
– Swap out any part of the wheel-tire-rim system.
– Potentially damage, misalign or lose components by, for example: hitting a pothole or curb too hard and driving through thick mud or deep snow.
– Get a flat tire repaired.
– Remove or install your wheel covers.
If you keep your car, truck, or SUV parked for a length of time, this can cause flat spots in tires, which can trigger the need for wheel balancing. In some cases, the balance problem isn’t connected to what you’ve done or haven’t done. It could be a manufacturer’s defect or less than perfect installation.
With tires wearing unevenly, vehicle wheels can get thrown out of balance. If tire pressure is off, that’s another way that vehicle wheels can go out of balance. Before you know it, your car shakes at high speeds, vibrating and making alarming noises, and you no longer have a comfortable ride. Plus, your vehicle may well be pulling to one side. Next thing you know, you’ve got tires bald on the inside or tires bald on the outside—and neither is what you want. You might even notice that you’re getting poorer gas mileage.
Balancing your wheels helps to extend the life of your tires, helping the tread of tires to wear down more evenly and keep you on the road without bouncing. When a tire bounces, it no longer has constant contact with the road, which can make it more difficult to have enough control over the vehicle—perhaps especially when you need to brake to turn a corner. Balanced wheels also reduce the likelihood of a tire blowout.
Then, picture your suspension system, When the system senses vibration, it works to subdue it—which further wears down your tires as well as your shocks and struts, steering components, suspension bushing, and more. When you balance your wheels appropriately, it can prevent this situation from occurring.
Wheels actually come with multiple components; in many cases, this includes little metal parts on the outside of OEM rims that are weights used to balance the assemblies of your wheels and tires. So, although the parts themselves may be small, the role they play in keeping your wheels balanced is not. If weights become damaged, moved, or knocked off, it’s important to replace them to keep the wheels counterbalanced appropriately.
First, this is different from wheel alignments, which correct tire angles. With rebalancing, the tires and vehicle wheels are put on a balancing machine in an auto shop to see if the weight is evenly spread; if not, it locates the lighter or heavier areas in the unit that require adjustments. Perhaps this can be done by adding more weights, or maybe the technician will reposition how the tires are resting on the wheels and then appropriately balance them.
So, that’s the answer to the question of “Why do you need to balance wheels?” Sometimes, though, you’ll need to replace components such as stock wheels, OEM rims, centercaps, hubcaps, wheel covers, and more—and that’s where HubCap Haven comes in!
HubCap Haven is the company of choice when you need the following for your cars, trucks, and SUVs:
– OEM wheels/stock wheels
– OEM rims
– Wheel covers
– Hubcaps
– Centercaps
– Tire pressure monitors
We’ve got access to an inventory that numbers in the millions, so we’ll have whatever you need. Order from the comfort of home by using our website. Questions? Contact us online or call 877-482-4283. We look forward to serving you!