Do tyres Need balanced?

Ok just bought a car from arnold clark earlier in week sent it back yesterday as the tracking needed sorted and one of the front tyres was barely legal (they agreed to fix both ) when i picked it up they said everything was sorted but they forgot to balance the tyre and the service team had finished for the day... was told probs wont need it anyway and everything should be fine this sound about right? or should i pop down to quick fit just now?

Reply to
Colin Mckechnie
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I recently had 4 tyres took off and put back on. One of the tyres didn't need a balancing weight, but the other 3 did, so odds on it'll need balancing. OTOH you should be able to tell by the time you're doing 90 on the motorway.

Reply to
Doki

No, pop back to Arnold Clark when you can.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

Is there any vibration when driving? If there is, the wheel needs balanced. If not, don't worry about it.

Reply to
moray

Jesus Christ! Didn't you inspect the car before buying or had they taken the good tyres off and put rubbish ones on for you? Didn't you notice the car pulling to one side if the tracking was out? Have you checked for crash damage?

By "balance the tyre" they have probably adapted their terminology to something they think you will understand. They mean balancing the wheel. Have a look for the little weights on the others. Why go and pay another garage to do what you will be having done for free?

You sound like a salesman's dream, tell you anything and you will believe it. Did you buy the car because it "looked nice", "had an air freshener" or was only so many pounds a week with 30% APR, meaning it will cost double!

OMG.

Reply to
Rob

PLEASE take a picture of the "tyre" that has a balancing weight on it for me. Let everyone see it. In all the years I have worked with cars you are the first to have this done. Is this the latest boy racer con? Come in, let's stick weights on your "tyre" and inflate it with nitrogen!

It is the WHEEL that has the balancing weight applied. The WHEEL is the thing stuck on the car, the "tyre" is the black rubber bit around it.

It shows how much you know about cars.

Reply to
Rob

Technically speaking the WHOLE assembly is the 'wheel' . The middle bit you refer to is the wheel rim or hub.

It will be the TYRE that is predominantly out of balance. The weights are applied to the WHEEL RIM to dynamically balance the whole WHEEL (i.e. tyre + wheel rim assembly).

Reply to
Icky Thwacket

LOL, erm yeah i did see it before buying it and once i purchased and drove home felt it shudder so took it back and they replaced tyre and fixed tracking like i say not really mechanically minded hense asking sorry if it was daft question. Always said was going to learn a bit more about cars but never got round to it. As for buying because it looked nice tad harsh i go more for price and mileage truth be told and it was mint didnt have a mark on it and was under avg miles for age. The tyre didnt really spot initially my bad. Appreciate your advice and humour ;-) like someone else said i will take it back to arnold clark to be balanced.

Reply to
Colin Mckechnie

Incorrect tracking doesn't always result in a pull to one side.

Reply to
Chris Bartram

The message from "Colin Mckechnie" contains these words:

Oh dear!

Reply to
Guy King

In message , Rob writes

Oh FFS you are at it again! The wheel and tyre are balanced together so stop trying to be so pedantic. Everyone else knew what he meant so don't try and be clever.

You have already demonstrated how much *you* know about cars by your comments in the "busted spark plugs" thread.

Reply to
Paul Giverin

Why would tracking being out cause the car to pull to one side?

John

Reply to
John Greystrong

Picture the two front wheels towing out. Now all being equal, with both front tyres providing the same amount of grip on both sides, both tyres will try pulling the car to the respective side, but since both are pulling the same amount, they cancel out each others pulling forces. Now, say one tyre has more grip (could be a different type of tyre, more weight on it, different tyre pressure, different road surface compared with the opposite side), that tyre will have a greater pulling force to that side than what the other tyre can provide, so the two pulling forces become unbalanced, with the car being pulled to the side with the greater level of grip.

Same goes for towing in, except the pulling becomes pushing.

That's a simplified description, but gives the basic idea.

Reply to
moray

why indeed, in the real world? But the tiny world that Rob (or Ken, or whichever like-minded f****it it was) inhabits, it obviously works like that.

Reply to
Tim Vincent

..says the stupid f****it using Tiscali for an ISP and Outhouse Express as a Usenet client.

Reply to
Conor

You are not a mechanic and ICMFP.

Reply to
Conor

Many cars have the *wheels* balanced at the factory. So additional balancing is purely for the tyre.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

No it doesn't, sorry.

That would only apply if one wheel was toeing out which is obviously a ridiculous idea with just a seconds thought on how the wheels are connected.

So, how does tracking being out cause the car to pull to one side?

And why, without bits of large metal being bent, does the tracking go out?

John

Reply to
John Greystrong

It does.

At what point in that explanation did I say only one wheel was toeing out? You obviously can't comprehend the unbalanced forces bit.

If you can't understand how I explained it above, there's not much chance of you understanding how it can be affected by other things.

Bushes settle, components do get bent from kerbing/hitting pot holes (it only takes a very slight bend to affect the tracking), and may never of been set right from the factory, or not been set right by whoever last worked on the steering/suspension.

Reply to
moray

Unfortunately your explanation is rubbish. Unless you were actually trying to explain why a car will pull to the side with more resistance but then that wasn't the question.

So, how does tracking being out cause the car to pull to one side?

They do? Every year? How bizarre.

Then replace the bent bits.

Once.

Then get it fixed properly.

So why does the tracking go out? Or is it all a load of bollocks with various mechanics not knowing what they're doing and continually cocking it up?

John

Reply to
John Greystrong

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