The Small Heath Highway is where an unbalanced wheel makes itself felt, a buzz through the steering between Bordesley Circus and Hay Mills. The balancer comes to your B10 street instead of the car going to a garage.
Small Heath has one road built for steady speed, the A45 Small Heath Highway, and it is there that a wheel out of balance first shakes the steering or the seat. The Coventry Road shops and the terraced grid around Muntz Street and Somerville Road are too slow to show it, yet they cause it: kerb strikes knock weights loose, and the debris shed onto the Highway slips can dent a rim just enough to upset the balance.
The fitter parks as close as the terraces allow, removes a wheel and carries it to the balancer in the van. Spinning it reveals the heavy side, and weights go on until the reading settles; then it is refitted and torqued before the next comes off. If a rim is bent or a tyre bulged, you are told first. Small Heath callers hear the cost before the van leaves NW2.
Legally parked cars on the Muntz Street and Somerville Road terraces, a turning off Green Lane, or a bay at Small Heath Park all work. The Coventry Road red route and the Highway itself do not, and match days close roads by St Andrew's.
| Near | Small Heath station, Small Heath Park, St Andrew's stadium |
|---|---|
| Typical arrival | A long run from London: allow 2 to 3 hours |
About wheel balancing nationwide → · Wheel balancing on the Small Heath page
Balancing is due with every new tyre, after any puncture repair that had the tyre off its wheel, and whenever a weight has gone missing. If your car instead drifts to one side along the Coventry Road, or one tyre is wearing smooth on its inner edge, that is alignment, which needs a garage because we do not offer it. Describe what you feel on the Highway when you ring, and the fitter will say which it sounds like.
Small Heath wheels balanced at the kerb or in the park car park, ready for the Highway again.
