Rice Tire – Mount and Balance with the Pros
To begin with, we at Rice Tire take vehicle safety very seriously. An unbalanced tire/wheel combination on your vehicle can be very dangerous. At the very least the cyclical vibrations will cause excessive wear on your tires, suspension, chassis, alignment, and bushings while the very worst could lead to loss of control of your vehicle and possibly an accident. If you “feel” or become aware of any of the following conditions bring your vehicle in for an inspection and service right away at any of our ELEVEN Ricetire.com locations (see our full list below).
Tell tail signs of an out of balance tire/wheel combination –
- When you feel vibration in the steering wheel or if you feel it coming up from the floor or through the seat of the car.
- Sometimes this vibration can be identified as a strong humming that you might hear.
- When inspecting your tires, you will notice uneven wear patterns on one or more of your tires.
- You may notice missing wheel weights
- You may see a sudden and marked increase in fuel consumption.
What is wheel balancing?
Wheel balancing is necessary process when tires are mounted to a rim to compensate for the sometimes-uneven distribution of rubber within the tire itself. It’s accomplished by a qualified technician and wheel balancing machine. The tech mounts the tire/wheel combo on the machine, the machine spins the tire/wheel at a high rate of speed and the computer identities the location of the out of balance area. The tech then applies small weights opposite of those areas at the perimeter of the rim/wheel. Most big tire brands have tighter quality control and thus require the use of fewer and smaller weights. Off brands and used tires can sometimes be so far out of balance that they require the use of many and heavier weights.
If your car has a wheel balance issue, you’ll most likely need to have your wheel alignment checked as well as the vibration may have thrown it off. The good news is the techs at Rice Tire are trained to look for and inspect a car for all the thing that may have been gone awry while you were riding on that unbalanced tire/wheel combination and we can take care of all of that in same visit.
If your reading this online and you happen to be shopping for tires, you’re in luck! We carry the best tire brands available, Michelin, Dunlop, Goodyear, Continental, Firestone, Uniroyal, BFGoodrich, Falken, General, and others.
Rice Tire is your best bet in local tire shops and normally has them in stock. An easy to use “search widget” on our website can tell what we have and produce an instant price quote for you.
Simply search by tire size or make, model and year of car and we’ll match the right tire with your car, truck, or SUV.
While you’re here getting things checked out, we’re also able to do numerous other jobs for you like oil and filter changes and can replace your brake pads if you need them too.
Last but certainly not least, we take pride in what we do under your car as well as in our super clean waiting rooms stocked with the best coffee around. Check out our reviews, we were voted the Best Place to Buy Tires by the Culpeper times!
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Areas Served : Maryland | Virginia | Washington, DC | and surrounding areas
| Cumberland | District Heights | Gaithersburg | Halethorpe | Hagerstown | Winchester |
| Brandy Station | Harrisonburg | Manassas | Verona | Frederick |