The main difference of wheel alignment vs wheel balancing is quite significant. While wheel alignment corrects the angles of your car tires, wheel balancing corrects the weight imbalance of your car tire.

While both services contribute a smoother ride, These two routine maintenance are not the same service.

Both of the services often happen during one service, but they shouldn’t be confused by the same thing.

Wheel Alignment Vs Wheel Balancing

1. Wheel Alignment

Wheel Alignment Vs Wheel Balancing: What’s the Difference?

Wheel alignment or tire alignment is a process where the technician will align and correct the angles of your car tire and suspension so they always come in contact with the road.

With that being said, if you conduct a wheel alignment, your car tire or wheel itself will not get adjusted, instead it’s the system that connects a vehicle to its wheel.

Alignment keeps your car from tilting to one side to the right or left and it can improve your vehicle’s handling.

Some of the signs that your care needs an alignment including:

Car pulling to one side
Uneven tire wear
Steering wheel tilts off center
Squealing tire

There are 3 types of wheel alignment that you should know, including:

Two-Wheel Alignment: Also known as front-end alignment. This will align the two front wheels of your vehicle. The two-wheel alignment is usually conducted to the vehicle with a solid and fixed rear axle, thus impossible to adjust.
Four-Wheel Alignment: The four-wheel alignment will adjust all of the four wheels of your car and it usually can be done to most modern cars.
Rear-End Alignment: This type of wheel alignment is necessary if you drive a vehicle with a dynamic steering or independent rear suspension.

There are three parameters that usually used when doing a wheel alignment, those including:

Toe: Refers to the angle of the car’s position, whether the wheel is facing more inward (toe-in) or more outward (toe-out) when viewed from above.
Camber: Refers to the angle of inclination of the wheel, whether the top of the wheel tilts inward (negative camber) or outward (positive camber) when viewed from the front.
Caster: It is the angle of inclination of the steering axis when viewed from the side. If the caster angle is positive, the top of the steering shaft tilts backward; if it is negative, it tilts forward.

A wheel alignment is recommended to be conducted at least every once in a year to ensure a smooth and safe ride.

But, there are some exceptions that you should notice. If your car hits a pothole, curb, has an accident, or just went through tire change, it is best to go to your automotive shop to get your vehicles realigned.

2. Wheel Balancing

The next one is wheel balancing. This service is conducted to corrects uneven weight distribution in the heels by adding small metal weights.

During a tire balance service, your tire and wheel will be mounted onto a tire balancing machine. A technician will remove the old wheel weights and the machine will start to spin the tire.

The said machine will measure and spot if there’s any imbalance so your favorite technician can precisely install small metal weights to the wheel.

Here are some of the signs that your tires need balancing:

Vibration on floor, seat or steering wheel
Excessive tire wear
Damage to suspension
After you install new tire
After tire rotation

You might be wondering, what part of your tire needs to be balanced? Is it in the front or rear wheel? Well, the general rule of thumb is if the vibration is in the seats, it is most likely the imbalance is in the rear wheel.

However, if the vibration is in the steering wheel, it’s likely that your front tires need to be balanced.

So there you have it! The explanation about wheel alignment vs wheel balancing for your ride!