Point the car up the Walsall Road towards Great Barr and a wheel light on weights will let you know. The balancing machine rides out to Perry Beeches and Booths Farm.
Stuck in the queues by One Stop, the car behaves impeccably. Let it stretch along the dual carriageway towards Great Barr, or follow the Outer Circle round Aston Lane, and an unweighted wheel sets the rim fizzing or drops a drone into the floorpan. The reasons are near at hand: kerbs on the rebuilt junction, holes down the Aldridge Road, and covers refitted at some point without ever being spun.
Each wheel in question is lifted away, clamped to the machine the van brings, and spun until the readout gives the heavy quarter and the weight wanted. On steel, the weights clip over the rim lip; on alloys they sit hidden on the inner face. Another run has to come back level before the wheel is refitted and torqued. Say on the phone whether it is the rim or the seat that moves; the price is settled then.
Level ground and open bays make the One Stop car park a good choice, as do drives in Perry Beeches and Booths Farm and the calmer terraced kerbs near Church Road. Waiting on the red route stretch of the A34 is out of the question.
| Near | Alexander Stadium, One Stop Shopping Centre, Perry Barr station |
|---|---|
| Typical arrival | A long run from London: allow 2 to 3 hours |
About wheel balancing nationwide → · Wheel balancing on the Perry Barr page
It pays to know the limits. A car easing towards the nearside along Wellhead Lane, or holding its wheel at a slant while the road runs true, has an alignment fault, and alignment means a ramp and measuring heads which are not part of what we provide. Judder arriving only through the brakes usually means warped discs. Weights are the cure for a new set, a cover lifted for a patch, and a weight lost in a hole.
Rim shaking in Perry Barr? Weights are set at the car in B42.
