Wheel Balancing

It often happens that the steering wheel of a car is vibrating even after the tyres have just been replaced and the wheels were balanced on a wheel balance machine.

Some of this can be caused by poor fitment alloy wheels & cheap tyres or the wheel nuts and bolts but the normal cause of this phenomenon is run out. Although most garages wheel balance machine measures correct when balanced most garage mechanics are not trained to see and detect wheel run-out.

Here at R-Tec we have the top of the range Hofmann wheel balancers making sure we balance your wheels and tyres to eliminate vibration.

Our staff are fully trained to look for incorrectly installed wheels, problem tyres and wheel and tyre run-out. I.E heavy spots on wheels and tyres

Fitting stretched tyres supplied by is from £20 per wheel and can take up to 30mins per unit. Here at R-Tec we are specialists at stretching tyres where other tyre retailers cannot. Tyre stretching is when a smaller width tyre is put on a wider width rim to give it that stretched euro look.

The cause of run-out in general can be run-out of the rim, run-out of the tyre, and/or run-out of the tyre/rim assembly. In other words the wheel and tyre lateral/ side to side movement.

The consequence: The car is far from running smoothly, tyres wear out much faster, driving safety might be jeopardised, particularly when braking or cornering.

Our technicians at R-Tec look out for this and if we notice a problem we will work out a solution. Detection of all data such as wheel dimensions, lateral and radial run-out, number and position of spokes and imbalance is all that simple. An easy solution is normally removing the tyre and moving it 180 degrees so both the heavy spot of the tyre and wheel are in different locations.

Additionally when buying new colour coded wheels from us we use coloured wheel weights to make them as un-noticeable as possible after installation.

We only use Eco Friendly zinc weights

Wheel weights are tapped on the edge of the rim or stuck to the wheels of every car/ van in the UK in order to balance the tyres onto the wheels. These weights over time can often come loose and fall off. They are either washed into drains and sewers or gathered during street cleaning and placed in municipal landfills. The weights are susceptible to atmospheric corrosion. Wheel weights have been identified as the largest new route of lead releases into the environment.

The European Commission banned the use of lead wheel weights in 2005 ... and now most European wheels are balanced with zinc wheel weights but there are some unscrupulous tyre garages still using lead weights as they are cheaper than Zinc weights and most consumers will not notice.