Why I Have to Do “Wheel Balancing”?

INTRODUCTION

“Most of the car owners go for wheel balancing these days, Should I also go for it? What really it do to my car? What are the advantages of wheel balancing??? ” If you are reading this article; It is most probable that you also have above questions on your mind. The real case of this is that “Out of balance” tires cause car to vibrate at some speeds (typically between 50 - 70 mph). Tire is said to be out of balance when one part of the tire is heavier than the others places. Strictly saying, 1 oz of imbalance in a front tire is well enough to start a clear vibration in your steering wheel at around 60 mph.

WHEEL BALANCING EQUIPMENT

To precisely balance tires or wheels, tire seller or the repairing store must have a modern and precisely calibrated “spin balancer”. These apparatus should be competent of getting static (stopped) and dynamic (rotating) balance. Anyway, the old “bubble wheel balancer” can do a well-mannered work by getting static balancing correctly, but the dynamic balance only can be achieved by spin balancer equipment. This is especially vital with today's heavier tire rim sets, and totally necessary to run flat tires that have thick stiff side walls.

The majority of wheel balancers nowadays have self calibrated electronics with precision to hundredths of an ounce. Digital displays also put together information faster to read and realize, so the probability of making a fault is less. Modern equipments have automatic data-entry for wheel width/diameter save the time.

The majority wheel balancers nowadays function at lower speeds. This help to expand the life time of the motor and reduce the risk to the operator. But the old equipments operate faster at roughly about 500rpm equals to 55-60mph to produce a efficient signal. Anyway, further precise electronics in modern wheel balancers are competent of picking up the vibrations at lower speeds at about 100rpm equivalent to 10-5mph. Following image shows a modern wheel balancer.

WHEEL BALANCING

For the balancing purpose, Technician will mount the wheel on balancing instrument which will spin the wheel to find the heavier area. Then the technician will balance the heavy part by attaching small “lead weight” on the contradictory side. Most of the people are amazed by feeling smooth their car after balancing the all four wheels.High quality tires/wheels will go out of balance rarely. But as most of we are general public in every way, we are not always rich enough to afford those highly prices tires (As an example, I use 8 to 10 $ used tires for 2nd car at my home, the old Datsun 120 Y). So it is always better to balance the wheels at least in 6 months intervals or more frequently if you can.

What is Power Steering ???

INTRODUCTION

Really this is what helps us steer the vehicles by boosting up steering attempt of the steering wheel. The Hydraulic or electric system adds controlling energy to the steering machinery, so we only need to provide less effort despite the conditions. Power steering helps very much when a vehicle stopped or when moving slowly.

Representative power steering systems enhance steering effort using an actuator (hydraulic cylinder) which is element of servo system.These systems really have straight mechanical link between the steering wheel and the connection that steers the wheels. This means power steering system failure will still permits the vehicle to be steered using manual effort alone. If the power steering system needs oil, the oil level must be always kept at some satisfactory level to stop getting less performances or damage to the system.

Other power steering systems (e.g. largest off-road or construction vehicles) have no direct mechanical connection to the steering linkage and they require power. Systems of this kind have no mechanical connection. In other systems electric motors provide the assistance instead of hydraulic systems (electronically assisted power steering). As same as hydraulic types motor will supply power to the actuator and is controlled by the rest of the power-steering system.A small amount of construction vehicles comprise a two-part frame (with rugged hinge) and this hinge will allow the front and rear axles to become non-parallel to steer.

Identifying Power Steering Problems

If your power steering system looks like having some problem, it is more likely to have some kind of oil leak. It may be a sluggish or rapid leak. The leak has to be fixed quickly to avoid bigger problems. You can identify a leak by lowering of power steering fluid. You must always check the power steering fluid in your car frequently.

If your do notice that the power steering starts buzzing and then gradually get bad over a some more days/weeks, it is most probable to have some slow oil leak. Then suddenly the power steering not works properly, and then it must be due to some blown seal or the power steering pump has some leak. Also one can visually check the power steering lines and look over your drive-way to see whether puddle like fluid accumulates on floor. It is always better to go to a service personnel at once you identify a power steering fluid leak to avoid more costly to repair problems.

We will see some more deep ideas about power steering systems in my next article on this topic

Car Cleaning and Its Importance…

Car cleaning refers to cleaning interior, exterior and engine. But normally we are as busy people; we do not have time to clean all parts of the car. Cleaning the under side and engine of a car is not taken into consideration here for normal day to day cleaning (Cleaning in scheduled servicing is enough for under side and engine of the car). So as mentioned in the first part of this book, it is important to keep a car clean because it increases the life time of the car and keeps the car in nice condition.

Keeping the body of car with dirt will lead to corrosion on body. If you clean it regularly, beauty of the car will remain for a long time. Always use a good quality car wash ( eg. California Gold Car Wash) but not normal soap or any other reagent. It is important to not to keep mud and dust on the body.

To keep the shine of car, wax it in every six months. Waxing kit like Turtle Car Wax Kit will help you to do it at home on your own. Parking the under direct sun light reduces the shine of paint. So park your car under a shade whenever possible. When car is parked in a garage, it must be a ventilated garage.

Cleaning of interior includes cleaning dashboard, seats, carpets door boards etc. You not need to go to an interior cleaning center in every week. Vacuum cleaners, soft brushes and soft cloths can be used for simple interior cleaning at home. It is better if you can go for a complete interior cleanup for every six months. For that,you may use a product such like Meguiar's Complete Car Care Kit if you want to do it at your home. It will help to keep healthy not only your car; it will also keep you healthy.

Driving through Water....

When we drive a car in out day to day life, we find lot of obstacles in roads. Water covered areas or flooded areas are one of the main obstacles we may find on a road. The decision we take to Drive trough it or not is a very critical decision. Because if we don't know the road well it is dangerous to drive through since we have no idea about distance of the water area, depth of water, cracks or holes in the road etc.

Driving through a deep and long water area is always not recommended for a normal car. Because in a normal car, interior, engine and electrical systems are not water proofed. If water touches any electrical parts, electric shots may possible. If water goes in to engine through silencer, air intake etc, car will stop and water inside car engine means another engine repair! Also water goes in to internal parts drastically shorten the life time of the car.Also when we buying a used car, we should bring some mechanic to check weather the car is previously flooded. Especially a car flooded with sea water may quickly become unusable.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      You may attempt to drive through a water area if you are familiar with that road and if you know it is safe to through. Typical procedure of driving through a water area is driving in moderate speed (10-20 Km/h) in gear position one without slowing down the engine until you cross the area. You can't stop the car in middle of water because if you stop, water may go in to the engine through the silencer and engine will stop eventually.

Dashboard Warnings…

On a car dashboard there are lot of indicators and meters. Meters of course we can clearly see what is happening as they displays what is all about and what is the level of it ( e.g. fuel meter shows fuel level, Speed o meter shows the car speed etc.) but when considering warning indicator lights, they have special meanings which we should have a clear understanding about them.

At Startup:

The meaning of startup here is that the instance you are putting the car key into keyhole and attempt to start the vehicle. When you turn on the car (before ignite the engine) all the warning indicators will glow. This does not mean that your car is in a trouble but it means that corresponding warning system is in test mode. Soon after you started the engine all of these indicators must be gone of if corresponding system does not have a problem. Following picture shows a car dashboard with warning indicators on at the startup position.