How to Balance Car Tires
If your car tends to vibrate when you reach a speed between 50 and 70 miles per hour it is more than likely due to your tires needing to be balanced. This commonly happens when one side of a tire is heavier than the other.
If you have the proper equipment to balance your tires it is something you can easily do yourself by following a few simple steps.
- Remove the tires from the car.
- Remove any wheel weights that may be on the wheels.
- Place the tire and wheel assembly on the wheel balancer. This should be done by sliding the shaft through the hub of the wheel and securing it in place. Make sure the wheel is perfectly centered on the balancer.
- Gently spin the wheel to move the heaviest part of the wheel to the bottom and the lightest part to the top.
- Use a piece of chalk to mark the lightest part of the wheel.
- Put the wheel weights on the wheel. They should be attached along the radial line of the tire where it is marked with chalk.
- Position the wheel so that wheel weight is at the 3 o'clock position. Once it is set the wheel should be released. The wheel weight will move to the bottom if too much weight has been added and will move to the top if it does not have enough weight. The goal for it is to be perfectly set at 3 o'clock.
- Remove the wheel from the wheel balancer and remount on car once the wheel weights are in the proper place.