Tire Balancing or Wheel Alignment. How to Tell Which One You Need

 The road is filled with unplanned events and hazards just lying in wait to mess up your day. To all the potholes, curbs, debris, and uneven terrain out there, why are you the way you are? Unfortunately, as much as you try to avoid these things on the road, you'll likely wind up running into them eventually anyway. Your car is built to withstand a fair bit of punishment, but occasionally a bump or impact just sounds too bad to not have caused any damage. 

 In cases like these, it's likely that damage did occur and you'll need to get repairs underway. Typically, the auto service you're looking for in this case is either a rebalancing of your tires or aligning the wheels. But, with these two procedures often being used interchangeably, it helps to know which one is the one you actually need. Toyota of Orlando is here with answers. Check it out!

Balance v Alignment. Which Auto Service is the Right One?

These two auto service jobs are often mistaken or considered the same thing. The thing is, they solve 2 different issues and deal with different components and require different steps to complete. Here's our breakdown of these 2 Orlando procedures: 

Tire Balancing

Orlando balancing auto service works to current the weight distribution of your wheels and tires. Your wheel and tire and placed on a machine that analyzes the revolution pattern at specific RPMs and determines places on the wheel that would benefit from a little added weight. This prevents damage to the suspension, excessive vibration, and normal wear patterns for your tires. Typically, an Orlando auto service tech should perform this every 5,000 - 7,500 miles or every 2 years. Here's how to tell if this is the auto service issue you should check out:

• Uneven tread wear is common with an unbalanced tire. 
• Vibrations in the steering wheel, floorboard, and seat. 
• Strong impacts with potholes and curbs can cause your tire to fall out of balance. It's highly recommended you visually inspect your tire and wheel after something like this happens. 
• Leaving your car parked for extended periods of time can also cause an imbalance to occur by creating flat spots in your tires' tread. 

Wheel Alignment

While an Orlando tire balance involves physically attaching weights to your tires so they spin more effectively, wheel alignments have more to do with the direction your vehicle drives. A perfectly aligned set of wheels should follow a straight path. Here are a few symptoms to look out for: 

• Testing for an Orlando alignment issue is pretty easy. Simply let go of the steering wheel for a brief few moments and see if your car diverts from a straight path. 
• Your ride might also obviously tug to the left or right. This clearly indicates an auto service issue with the alignment. 
• Squealing noises can also indicate improper alignment along with vibrations in the steering wheel or on one side of your ride. 

Need help diagnosing these auto service issues? Visit Toyota of Orlando today at 3575 Vineland Road!