Road Force vs Regular Balancing: What's the Difference?
You put on a fresh set of winter tires, and a few days later there's a shake in the steering wheel on the 401 or Highway 8. Drivers in Cambridge, Kitchener, Waterloo and Guelph often assume the tires just weren't balanced properly. Sometimes that's true. But a regular balance only checks one thing, and some vibrations come from problems a regular balancer can't see. That's where Road Force balancing comes in.
What a regular balance does
A standard wheel balancer spins the tire and wheel freely and looks for heavy spots. The machine then tells the technician where to add small weights so the weight is spread evenly around the assembly. That fixes imbalance, which is a common cause of vibration, but the tire is spinning in the air with nothing pressing on it.
What Road Force balancing adds
A Road Force balancer does everything a regular balancer does, plus it presses a load roller against the spinning tire to simulate the weight of the vehicle on the road. Hunter Engineering, which makes Road Force equipment, says this lets the machine find vibration problems that standard balancers can't detect, including:
Tire uniformity problems, where the tire is stiffer in one spot than another (this is what "road force" measures).
Rim runout, meaning a wheel that isn't perfectly round, such as a bent rim.
A tire bead that didn't seat properly when the tire was mounted.
An Infiniti technical service bulletin on Road Force balancing explains why this matters: the most common cause of vibration at highway speeds is the tire and wheel assembly, and the three main contributors are imbalance, radial runout and road force variation. The bulletin also notes that tire and wheel uniformity can only be measured under load, which a free-spinning balancer doesn't apply.
Matching the tire to the wheel
When a Road Force balancer finds a stiff spot in the tire, it can also recommend rotating the tire on the wheel so that spot lines up with the wheel's low point. Hunter calls this ForceMatching, and its operations manual says it's the same kind of match mounting tire and vehicle makers use to give new cars their smooth ride.
Why it's worth it for winter tires
Winter tires and winter wheels are mounted and balanced every season, so any shake shows up right away when cold roads are already rough.
Many drivers run a separate set of winter wheels. Our guide to steel vs alloy winter wheels covers why, and a bent rim from a pothole is exactly the kind of problem a load roller can reveal.
Tire pressure has to be set correctly first. Hunter's manual says incorrect pressure affects the results, and cold weather lowers pressure, as we explain in why your TPMS light comes on in cold weather.
One note for studded tire users: Hunter's manual says not to use the load roller on studded tires.
Signs your tires need balancing
We recommend having your tires balanced every 24,000 kilometres, or sooner if you notice shaking in the steering wheel or seats, uneven tire wear, or when new tires or a new set of wheels go on your vehicle.
Road Force balancing in Cambridge
At SVS Tires & Wheels we balance tires with Road Force balancing equipment and mount them with a touchless tire machine. That's how we install your new winter tires or new economy tires, and our wheel and tire packages arrive mounted and balanced. Switching over to a set you already own? Book a seasonal tire swap. We also service TPMS sensors when we install your tires.
Visit SVS Tires & Wheels at Units 7-8, 990 Bishop St N, Cambridge, ON N3H 4V7. We're open Monday to Friday, 10:00 AM to 5:30 PM. Call 519-267-4200 or book online.
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