WHEEL ALLIGNMENT AND WHEEL BALANCING

ABSTRACT:
A perfectly balanced and aligned wheel provides better driving stability and reduces the wear and
tear of tire over a period of time. A car needs to be checked for the alignment and balancing once in two or
three years. The process is now down with the help of modern day equipment which use latest 3D laser
technology to give accurate results. Once the wheel is balanced and aligned it improves the safety, stability
and life of tires of the vehicle.

INTRODUCTION:
Wheel Balancing is the process of dynamically distributing the weight of the wheel equally & evenly
all around its circumference as well as across its width to reduce wheel gyrations and wheel shimmy (an up
& down oscillation of the wheel). This is done by counter balancing with replaceable weights after wheels
are removed from vehicle.

Wheel Alignment is the process of adjusting the track angles of the wheels with respect to one
another as well as with respect to the chassis to improve steering ability of the vehicle. This is done by
adjusting angles such as Camber, Caster, Steering Axis Inclination, Toe-In, Toe-out etc. This is done in a
fully operational vehicle.

CAMBER:

DEFINITION: Camber is the tilt of the car wheels from the vertical. Camber is positive if the tilt is outward
at the top. Camber is also known as ‘ wheel rake’

EFFECT: The positive camber aids steering wheel return after completing a turn therefore increasing the
straight ahead stability. However this increases the turning effort required to turn the steering wheel.
Negative camber on the other hand reduces the tendency for the wheel slip sideways during cornering but
also increases the steering effort.

If the camber on both the wheels are not equal, vehicle will try to pull towards the side where the
camber is higher. Therefore vehicles with left hand drive have higher camber on the left wheel thus helpful
In pulling the vehicle towards the left side of the road an for the right hand drive vehicles it’s vice versa.

AMOUNT: Camber should not generally exceed 2°, however the exac amount is specified taking in account
of the king pin inclination.

Figure 1: camber
CASTER:

DEFINITION: The angle between the king pin (steering axis) and the vertical in the plane of the wheel is
called castor angle.

EFFECT: In rear wheel drive vehicles the steering axis pulls the front tyres, whereas the tyre drag on the
account of the vehicle weight on the vertical line and centre of the footprint. Thus in positive castor the
steering axis meets the ground ahead of the wheel thus reducing the drag and improves the directional
stability. Positive castor increases the effort required for steering and in case of negative castor steering
would be unstable.

When a vehicle having a positive castor takes a turn, the outer side of the vehicle is lowered while
the inner side is raised, that is the positive castor helps in the centrifugal force in rolling out the vehicle
while negative castor tends to roll in the vehicle.

AMOUNT: about 3° of castor provides good results.

Figure 2: Caster

TOE:

DEFINITION: Toe-in is the amount by which the front wheels are set closer together at the front than the
rear when the vehicle is stationary. On the other hand if the wheel is closer in the rear than in the front then
the differences between them is called toe-out.

EFFECT: In rear wheel drive vehicles, the rear axle pushes the front axle tyrs as thy roll along the road
causes rolling resistance which leads to rearward movement of the suspension armed against their brushings.
Due to this most of the rear wheel drives are provided with toe in to compensate the drag.

The case of front wheel drive is just the opposite, where the front wheel pulls the vehicle through
itself resulting in forward movement of the suspension arms against their brushings to compensate which
toe-out is given.

AMOUNT: toe-in initially provided does not exceed 3 mm.

Figure 3:Toe
MACHIERY AND PROCEDURE:
WHEEL BALANCING MACHINE:

HOFMANN-GEODYNA 4500-2P

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION:

The wheel balancer for garages, car dealerships and tyre shops with small to medium tyre service
volume. With automatic input of distance rim/machine, rim diameter and rim width and semi-automatic pre-
selection of weight locations with easy ALU mode.

 Electro-mechanical Power Clamp device

 Virtual plane measurement (VPM) technique (patented)
 Automatic input of distance rim/machine, rim diameter and rim width (3D SAPE)
 Conspicuous LC display
 Semi-automatic pre-selection of weight locations with the easyALU mode
 Hidden weight mode
 Automatic braking of the wheel after measurement
 Pedal-operated main shaft lock
 Optimisation (patented)
 Gauge arm with wheel weight clamp (patented) and adhesive weight positioning system
 Conspicuous weight tray
 4 User profiles

Figure 4: Wheel Balancer

WHEEL ALLIGNMENT MACHINE

JHON BEAN-V2000 IMAGING WHEEL ALIGNER

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

The John Bean V2000 offers customers the full 3D imaging experience with fast-rolling run-out
compensation, full vehicle dimensions, and less dependent on lift calibration. Online connectivity allows for
automatic software and vehicle specification updates as well as web-based report management.

 Innovative, patented camera technology - provides a unique imaging alignment system that replaces
the traditional PC and cabinet aligner with a simple tablet and fixed beam configuration creating an
exclusive solution that combines uncompromised performance and reliability as well as compact
instillation at a low price.
 Next generation productivity enhancing software - automated caster sweep, help videos, A-arm
adjust and EZ-TOE.
 High reliability - with no PC. Unique tablet interface uses standard tablet while all user data resides
in the aligner. All new graphic display optimized for maximum clarity and visibility.
 Online connectivity - allows for easy access to shop reports from the cloud to view, print, email or
text from anywhere. Software and vehicle specification updates are downloaded automatically.
 Simple installation - simply mount the camera beam at required height and start work.

Figure 5: Wheel Aligner

WHEEL BALANCING PROCEDURE:

 The wheels are deflated and previous weights are removed if any.
 The wheels are inflated with nitrogen and mounted on to the machine.
 The machine rotates the wheel in a particular rpm, the machine then provides the necessary
weights to be added for balancing the wheel
 The necessary weights are then added to the rims of the wheel, there are usually in the form
of clamps.
 The process is again repeated till the machine shows 0 reading, thus the wheel is balanced.
 The same procedure is repeated for all the four wheels to be balanced.

WHEEL ALLIGNMENT PROCEDURE:

 The car is parked on the alignment rack, the angle measuring instruments called target are
clamped on to the four wheels.
 The steering is adjusted as required and the machine shows the initial camber, castor and toe
readings
 The readings are compared with the specs provided by the manufacturer, changes if any are
made as per requirements
 The camber, castor and toe is adjusted by tuning the required systems and the new values are
noted.
 The new values are made as per the specs, thus the wheel alignment is done for the vehicle.

OBSERVATION:

VEHICLE DESCRIPTION:

MODEL NAME: Maruti Suzuki Wagon-R (2010)

TRACK WIDTH: 1475 mm.
WHEEL BASE: 2400 mm.

ALLIGNMENT SPECS INITIAL READING ADJUSTED

READINGS
RIGHT LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT LEFT

CAMBER -00°50’ -00°50’ -00°25’ -00°25’ -00°25’ -00°25’

CASTOR 02°35’ 02°35’ 02°50’ 03°04’ 02°49’ 03°07’
TOE 00°10’ 00°15’ 00°09
 Figure 6: Wheel Alignment Details

RESULT:
The wheel alignment and the balancing was done with the help of the machinery and the wheels
aligned as per the required specs and balancing of the wheel was also done in improve the stability, safety
and to reduce the wear and tear of the wheels.

REFERNCES:
 Automobile Engineering by Kirpal Singh
 Maruti Suzuki Wagon-R catalogue.
 https://www.ceat.com/blog/car-tyres/get-to-know-your-car-how-often-should-wheel-
alignments-be-done.html
 https://www.johnbean.com/en-us/p/v2000
 https://www.hofmann-equipment.com/en/p/geodynar-4500-2p