Tire Balancing vs Alignment

Wondering About the Difference Between Tire Balancing vs Alignment? Not sure if your car needs the tires balanced or if you should have a wheel alignment?

Alignment is often confused with tire balancing, but they are not the same. Your vehicle could just need a simple tire balancing and not a more costly wheel alignment.

Alignment or wheel alignment is the process of making sure all the wheels on your car are set to the proper angles according to the manufacturer’s specifications.

When it comes to alignment, those angles mean the CAMBER, CASTER and TOE.

Wheel alignment is about the different angles of your car’s wheels and tires.

Typically, you would have a problem with the wheel alignment of your car if, when driving on a straight and level road, you loosen your grip on the steering wheel and your car pulls towards one site or the other. Although that’s not the definitive test for alignment – it’s one just about anyone can do while driving.

From the chart, poor wheel alignment also leads to uneven tire wear as pictured.

On the other hand, wheel or tire balancing usually leads to a problem that is speed related. In other words, you don’t feel a vibration at slow speeds or city driving – but you DO feel a vibration at speeds over 40 mph.

It should also be noted that in some cases, the wheel vibration may go away as you continue to increase speed. That’s all dependent on how the wheel and tire is out of balance and by how much.