Wheel Balance / alignment

[puthari]

Hello everyone ,

For alloy wheels - 14' - is the Wheel Balance procedure the same ?. I mean , for the normal wheels , the Tyre centre personnel would add LEAD to balance the weight . does the same apply to Alloy wheels ?.

Please do let me know . I have 14" Alloy with Tubeless Tyres.
Regards:

[bhp]

i think its going to be the same procedure bcoz they have settings in their alignment machine and the balancing weights for alloys are those stcikering ones which are more than twice expensive than normal ..

[autopsyche]

Sticker weights for alloy rims are more expensive yes, the balancing procedure is basically the same but make sure the balancing machine has the settings for alloy rim seperately from steel rim (some of the local machines do not have that feature) coz the place where the weights are calculated to stick are different for both.

[sAP]

... the sticker-type weights for alloy wheels go on the inside of the wheel and are hidden from view (whereas weights on steel wheels go on the outside)

sAP

[paharino1]

I got my car back from Servicing & Wheel Rotation & Alignment around 2 months back..Post the Servicing , I have done around 3000kms of Highway driving & lots of driving on bad surfaces as well..
Is it recommended to go for a Rotation & Alignment again...Or should I wait for the next service due in 4 months ?

[sAP]

Originally Posted by paharino1

I got my car back from Servicing & Wheel Rotation & Alignment around 2 months back..Post the Servicing , I have done around 3000kms of Highway driving & lots of driving on bad surfaces as well..
Is it recommended to go for a Rotation & Alignment again...Or should I wait for the next service due in 4 months ?

Tire rotation is usually recommended once every 6000 miles (~9000 kms) or so. A good alternative is to see your vehicle manual or tire manufacturer's recommendation. So to answer your question, its too early.

But here are a few more pointers that might interest you just as well...

Tire rotation time also offers a good opportunity to have the tires and wheels balanced http://www.carcarecouncil.org/Tires_...rotation.shtml

Alignment is an activity that is actually done on the car, not really on the wheels (of course its connected to the wheels when its carried out) . So even if you change wheels, you do not really need re-alignment, only wheel balancing. *Wheel balancing is required everytime you mount a tire on a rim (for example during a puncture or installing a new tire on a existing wheel or a new wheel on existing tire)*

However, you will need re-allignment as well if your car has been subject to an extreme condition that its suspension could not handle (hard impact against the kerb, another vehicle or a really nasty pothole bang).

sAP

[santosh.s]

Originally Posted by sAP

However, you will need re-allignment as well if your car has been subject to an extreme condition that its suspension could not handle (hard impact against the kerb, another vehicle or a really nasty pothole bang).

sAP

That makes sense.

How necessary is it to re-align upon upgrading from normal wheels to say up-sized alloys/tyres?
I just replaced from 13" steel wheels on my brand new baleno and upgraded to 14" alloys and wider tyres. I was under impression that I don't need re-alighnment, but the tyre-wala strongly suggested me to get it done as soon as possible... the reasoning that he mentioned included the fact that the car was "put on jacks" apart from fitting different wheels... but I find it quite hard to believe! somebody please help, for obvious reason- I don't want to take any chance with the new car!

[sAP]

Originally Posted by santosh.s

That makes sense.

How necessary is it to re-align upon upgrading from normal wheels to say up-sized alloys/tyres?
I just replaced from 13" steel wheels on my brand new baleno and upgraded to 14" alloys and wider tyres. I was under impression that I don't need re-alighnment, but the tyre-wala strongly suggested me to get it done as soon as possible... the reasoning that he mentioned included the fact that the car was "put on jacks" apart from fitting different wheels... but I find it quite hard to believe! somebody please help, for obvious reason- I don't want to take any chance with the new car!

Re-alignment is not required when new wheels are installed, when a car is jacked up or when tires are replaced. You need to balance each wheel though -- whenever a tire is mounted or re-mounted on a wheel.

The thumb rule is (i) alignment is done to the car (the hubs in fact, though its done with the wheels installed) (ii) balancing is done to the wheel.

So did you get Aura's with a 54mm center bore?

sAP

[santosh.s]

Balancing was done on all wheels.
steering response was normal after changing wheels (no pulling left or right), so hope re-alighnment isn't required indeed!

Regarding alloys, I did not go for aura due to very limited choices. I think this is the most common reason behind many people not opting for them. I have put league LG175 design in so called hyper-silver color. Liked it in this snap, look decent yet attractive - http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/20973-post29.html (15" Alloys for my Optra)

size is 14x6J, pcd and offset are exact matches but center bore is bigger as expected... and it did cause centering problem, more details are posted here in the original thread: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/163246-post34.html (Solution for vibrations after installing alloy wheels)

[speedsatya]

get your wheel balancing and alignment done every 5k kms or every 6 months ...whichever is earlier ...

rotating tires every 5k kms is also advised

[nitrous]

Wheel alignment: every 5000 kms
Wheel balancing: every 10000 kms
Wheel rotation : every 10000 kms

This is my way. And i've learnt that if i keep it this way, my suspension will be in a good shape for a long time. Most of the car owners complain to tyre dealers that they got cheated with bad tyres(which wear out fast), but they never think that the suspension should be cared about.