Wheel Alignment vs Wheel Balancing: What's the Difference (And Do You Need Both)?

These two get mixed up constantly, and it's an easy mistake to make. Both involve your wheels, both get mentioned in the same breath at the tyre shop, and both can cause a car to feel "off" on the road. But they fix completely different problems, and getting one done when you actually needed the other means you're still driving around with the original issue.

Wheel balancing fixes vibration

Every tyre and wheel assembly has tiny variations in weight distribution around its circumference where nothing's perfectly uniform, not even a brand new tyre straight out of the box.

Wheel balancing corrects for this by spinning the wheel on a balancing machine and attaching small weights at specific points to even things out. An unbalanced wheel typically shows up as a vibration that gets worse the faster you go, often felt through the steering wheel if it's a front wheel, or through the seat and floor if it's a rear wheel.

Wheel alignment fixes direction and handling

Alignment, on the other hand, is about the angles the wheels sit at relative to the road and to each other  regarding the camber, caster and toe angles.

Misalignment shows up as a car pulling to one side, a steering wheel that isn't centred when driving straight, or tyres wearing unevenly on one edge. Unlike balancing, alignment isn't about the wheel spinning smoothly, it's about which direction the car actually wants to travel in.

Why you might need both at once

Here's where it gets confusing: the same event can cause both problems at the same time. A hard pothole strike can knock a wheel weight loose (causing a balance issue) while also bending a suspension component enough to throw off the alignment.

If you only get the wheels rebalanced and the pulling or uneven wear continues, that's usually the tell that alignment is the piece still missing and vice versa if vibration persists after an alignment.

How to tell which one you actually need

As a rough guide:

• vibration that changes with speed and smooths out or worsens predictably as you accelerate points to balancing.
•  A car that drifts to one side on a flat, straight road, or a steering wheel that sits crooked even though you're driving straight, points to alignment.
•  Uneven wear on the inside or outside edge of a tyre (rather than patchy wear across the whole tread) is also more of an alignment sign than a balance one.

If you're not sure which applies to your car, the simplest approach is to have both checked in the same visit.

 Most tyre shops, including TYREPLUS HTR's Hallam, Dandenong-area, Glen Waverley, Wantirna and Cheltenham stores, can check balance and alignment back-to-back and only charge you for what actually needs correcting. That saves you a second visit if it turns out to be the other issue.

Come and visit us today or call us on  (03) 9560 0442.