Balancing Truck Tires – The Important Points

Posted by Jackson Lee on April 29th, 2021

Truck tires are real investments that can be made to fleets. So, anything that helps in extending tire life may be worth of any possible consideration. Every time fleets balance truck tires through a heavy-duty tire balancer, it becomes beneficial because it tends to extend their tire life by a highly significant amount. 

Balancing the truck tires can help in increasing the tire life, decrease driver fatigue and create a safer vehicle from an overall perspective. Wheel balancing becomes equally important because wheels lose their balance with time. There are several factors that lead to distortion in the balance of the wheels. Factors concerning the weight distribution of your vehicle, road conditions, tread wear, etc can cause unevenness in the tires, which is known to further lead to uneven tread wear. What this results in is shakiness or vibration while driving the vehicle. Balancing truck tires also provide less rolling resistance than an unbalanced tire, which usually further translates itself to better fuel economy and more miles per gallon. 

Tire balancing intervals:

When matters come towards regarding how frequently to balance the truck tires, there are usually two conflicting schools of thought. 

• The first is to wait for the driver’s complaint.
• The second is about balancing at regular intervals.

Also, when an assembly is out of balance, it usually means that there is an unequal distribution of weight on the axis of rotation. This type of imbalance can be well address in two ways:

- Static balancing – A static balance treats the assembly line as a single plane. A static balance tends to add weight on the lighter side, thus making the assembly level on both sides. This tends to address the “HOP” these drivers experience when one side of the assembly is heavier than the other.

- Dynamic balancing – The method of dynamic balancing considers the assembly balance in two planes at the rim flange edges. It will not only aim at determining how much weight should be placed on each side but will also tell where the weight should be placed so that no part of the tire becomes extremely heavy. 

Note that if the assembly is in dynamic balance, it will undoubtedly also be in static balance. But, a static balance will not necessarily correct a dynamic imbalance. The major symptoms of wheel balance issues are vibration in the truck and irregular wear patterns on the tires. If there seems to be an indication of a balance issue, the first thing a fleet should do is to check the tire pressure because improper inflation can also lead to irregular wear. This irregular wear can cause radial runout, which tends to cause vibration from the irregular wear. So, the best way to reduce tear and wear is to develop a maintenance schedule over regular intervals.

Author’s Bio – The author is a vehicle enthusiast. This article deals in the importance of tire balancing and how it is beneficial.