Wheel balancing
in Southam.

Shaking at speed in Southam? Balance the wheels where the car is parked.

Out of Southam, most drivers get up to cruising pace on the A423 towards Banbury or Coventry, or head for junction 12 of the M40 at Gaydon, and that is where an out-of-balance wheel gives itself away. A shiver comes through the steering when a front wheel is at fault, or through the seat when it is a rear. Cars bouncing along the lanes past Ladbroke and Napton on the Hill can shed a clip-on weight unnoticed, and a clipped kerb at a bypass roundabout does the same.

Any tyre that has come off its rim in Southam deserves balancing before it goes back on. That covers a new tyre, a puncture repair, a wheel that has lost a weight and one that took a hard knock against a Stockton kerb. The fitter removes the wheel, clamps it on the balancer inside the van, spins it to find the heavy spot, then adds weights until the readout settles. When phoning, say which wheel shakes and when it starts, and the price is agreed before anything begins.

Balancing is not alignment

It helps to know what balancing will not cure. If the car drifts to one side on the A425 towards Leamington, or the fronts wear down one edge, suspect the tracking and book it with a garage, since alignment never happens from our van. A rim bent out of true, or a bulging sidewall, shakes as well, and the fitter will show you rather than hang weights on a wheel that cannot run straight. Balancing sorts weight, not geometry.