Precision Performance
The Complete Guide to Tire Changes and
Wheel Balancing in Calgary
In Alberta, the relationship between your vehicle and the ground beneath it is arguably the strongest link to safety and performance and, therefore, one of the most important aspects of automotive excellence. Here at Autobahn Motor, we pride ourselves on providing your vehicle with the highest level of maintenance while making sure to maintain its original engineering. With the extreme seasonal changes in Canada’s prairie provinces, tire changing and wheel balancing in Calgary involve far more than just a quick stop at a gas station; they require a complete professional service. Our professional service of
tire changes and wheel balancing in Calgary is meant to facilitate your vehicle’s capability to handle with precision, stability, and efficiency as expecte
Seasonal Tire Change: Importance and Strategy
For Calgary there will be plenty of different things to contend with when it comes to the changing seasons; amongst these would be what we'll cover in this article about seasonal tire changes and how to effectively implement them. The seasons itself are not only changing; the physics of the road will change along with them due to temperature. Tires thermally expand/contract with temperature changing, which affects their grip. When seasonal tire swap takes place while maintaining adequate temperature then they’re able to perform as designed.
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Tire longevity can also be increased by understanding the importance of having tires swapped seasonally by a professional. They will provide you with good quality tires and wheel balance in Calgary depending on the weather conditions, so you can use them during your peak usage period when they are working optimally:
• Winter tires are made of a different rubber compound than summer tires (hydrophilic) and have more grooves than summer tires; therefore, winter tires provide more grip than regular (or all-season) tires.
• Summer/Performance tires provide stability for high-speed cornering than winter/performance tires (soft rubber) when they’re warm outside and maintain being stable when warm.
• If you change your tires at the right time, you will increase the lifespan of all tires. For example, winter tires will wear more quickly if they are used in warm temperatures compared to using them in temperatures below freezing; thus making them last, in essence, twice as long, if you were to only use them in the right temperatures.
Wheel Balancing is an Engineering Balance
The technical details of wheel balancing may not be understood by most drivers; all they are often aware of is that they need to swap out summer-fall and winter tires. When you purchase a new tire, you might not realize that even a "new" tire will have some weight asymmetries; as long as there is more than 3-4 grams of a weight difference from one area of the tire to the opposite area, significant unbalanced centrifugal force can occur at higher speeds (such as at highway speeds), resulting in extreme tire vibration.
Physics of Balance
A computerized wheel balancer will make sure your wheels are properly balanced at Autobahn Motor (Calgary) during the tire-changing process. These machines "spin" the wheel assembly at high speeds, allowing them to determine the exact location of heavy spots. Various weights are then added to the inside or outside of the rim in a highly accurate manner using accurate calibration methods.
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· When your tires are perfectly balanced, you will find the following benefits:
· No more shaking/vibrating steering wheel or floorboards
· Balanced wheels will not be damaging your wheel bearings, shocks/struts by way of hammering effect
· More fuel-efficient by way of smoothness in tire rolling; requires lower energy to keep moving, thus costing you less money than unbalanced tires.
· Identifying Signs for Service
Your car often "talks" to you, telling you what it needs through its feedback with touch. You should stop by our service centre (Autobahn Motor) if you notice any of these symptoms.
Steering Wheel Shake at 80-110 km/h
If you notice your steering wheel shakes at speeds between 80 km/h and 110 km/h, your front wheels likely require a wheel balance
Uneven Treadwear (Cupping/Scalloping)
If you have a tire with the tread showing uneven wear patterns (i.e., "cupping" or "scalloping"), it's a good indication that the tire is bouncing around, most likely due to being out of balance.
Noise While Driving
If you hear a rhythmic sound (humming or thumping) that gets louder as your speed increases, it may indicate an issue with either the tire's balance or its structure.
Seasons for When to Change Your Tires
In the Calgary area, the best gauge for when to put your summer tires on is the May long weekend, and for winter tires, the first week of October.
Calgary’s Best Tire & Wheel Change Service is the Autobahn Motor Difference: Our Technical Approach
We take pride in offering a work process that mimics the high level of European automobile engineering. The process we use for tire change & wheel balance in Calgary is multi-stepped and completely transparent.
Step 1: Complete Tire Inspection
Before we remove any lug nuts we will first inspect the tire for dry rot, sidewall bulges and that there is enough tread depth to be able to use the tire for another season.
Step 2: Mounting Tire to Rim
We mount tires to rims using tire changers that do not mar the rims. By doing this we keep your expensive alloy wheels from being scratched and help ensure that the bead is seated properly in order to prevent "slow leaks" that can result from the extreme temperature fluctuations that occur in Calgary.
Step 3: Computerized Dynamic Wheel Balancing
Not only do we "static" balance wheels, we also perform "dynamic" balancing. This means that we take into consideration the width of the tire to ensure that the weight is distributed correctly across the width of the tire so there will not be any left to right "wobble" or up to down "hop".
Final Torque of Wheel to Vehicle & Calibration of TPMS
All wheels are tightened by hand to the manufacturer's specifications. The Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) will be reset prior to you leaving our shop so you will not have a vehicle dashboard full of warning lights when you leave.
Calgarians have been able to rely on Autobahn Motoring for assistance with their vehicles for decades because of our trustworthy, highly skilled way of servicing vehicles in this area. We understand the types of conditions faced by drivers in Calgary due to the nature of the Foothills (i.e., surprise chinook winds that create slushy roadways) and the cold weather (January).
In order to ensure that we are able to take care of all vehicle types – from the average domestic daily driver to a high performance European import – our facility has the latest diagnostic equipment. When searching for a business that offers *tire change and wheel balance near me; you will be looking for more than just an automotive shop; you would be looking for a business that can help extend the lifespan of your automobile.
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