Tyre Fitting and Balancing
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In any vehicle, whether passenger or race, it is
important to have well balanced wheels. Wheel balancing
helps increase drive comfort (by reducing wobbles) and
as a result, overall handling. A wheel is balanced on
two planes: vertical (called the radial, or static plane),
and side-to-side (referred to as the dynamic plane).
Disturbances of vertical balancing (up and down movement)
can best be thought of as wheel 'bounce'. Radial or
static disturbances occur in the form of side-to-side
shakes or wobbles. A well balanced wheel should spin
with all of its weight evenly distributed.
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A good wheel alignment is essential to the handling
performance of any vehicle, motor sport or otherwise.
Alignment is for the most part determined by the angles
and positions of three components of front suspension:
caster, camber, and toe.
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Tyre buffing is a process of shaving a portion of tread
off a tyre in order to gain increased traction in dry
tarmac conditions. This works largely by removing tread
'blocks', which are the areas of rubber between tread
grooves. When the tyre heats up, these tread blocks expand
and the surface area of the tyre which contacts the road
decreases (and consequently traction also decreases).
Tread blocks also heat up faster and again reduce traction.
This overall process is referred to as 'tread flex'.
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Tyre Care & Maintenance Tips
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Breaking in new tyres is an effective procedure
for increasing the competitive life of a tyre,
although its initial benefits are not always
noticeable. The break-in procedure can be
summarised in two phases: the initial run, and
the 'cure' time.
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Although an accurate overall guide to tyre inflation
pressure is not possible, it is possible to give a
basic overview of optimal tyre pressure based on vehicle
weight (assuming the car is front engine, rear wheel
drive). There are a number of factors which will alter
the accuracy of the table below. For example, front-wheel
drive cars, which place a much higher load on the front
tyres, require a higher inflation pressure. Vehicles with
independent rear suspension (IRS) can often run lower tyre
pressures than non-IRS cars.
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