Steering that quivers once the A38 stretches out beyond Minworth, then behaves in the Boldmere crawl, has a wheel short of weight somewhere. The machine to prove it travels with us.
This town gives a driver both ends of the scale in a single journey. Inching along the A5127 at Maney you would swear the car was fine; let it run out past Little Aston on the Walsall Road, or lengthen its stride on Kingsbury Road, and the rim starts fizzing or the seat develops a hum. Culprits are local enough: a weight jarred loose by a Lichfield Road hole, a kerb grabbed at Mere Green, a cover reseated but never spun.
Off comes the wheel, on to the balancer standing in the van, and round it goes until the display names the heavy quarter. Weights follow, knocked on to the rim edge of a steel wheel or stuck discreetly round the inside of an alloy, and the wheel is run once more to show a clean reading before it is torqued home. When you ring, say whether the shake reaches you through the rim or the seat, and the figure is fixed there.
Wide drives at Four Oaks and Streetly, kerbside room on the Walmley and Falcon Lodge estates, and the Good Hope staff car park where security allows it. Around the Red Rose Centre the bays are short-stay and tight, so a side street suits better.
| Near | Sutton Park, Red Rose Centre (formerly the Gracechurch Centre), Sutton Coldfield station |
|---|---|
| Typical arrival | A long run from London: allow 2 to 3 hours |
About wheel balancing nationwide → · Wheel balancing on the Sutton Coldfield page
Weights and geometry are separate problems. A B74 car easing towards the verge on the Walsall Road, or holding its wheel at an angle while Lichfield Road runs straight, has a geometry fault, and setting that right calls for a ramp and gauges we do not run. A shudder felt only through the brake pedal is a disc matter. Ask for a spin with a new set, after a cover has been off its rim, or when a weight has gone astray.
Wheels humming in B72 to B76? The balancer reaches Boldmere, Walmley and Four Oaks.
