Here's About Spooring and Balancing that You Must Know!

Spooring and Balancing - Many are still mistaken about spooring and balancing, what is the difference between these two fixes? Of course you know that both are related to vehicle wheels, but in which part maybe you still don't understand correctly.

Spooring

First, let's talk about spooring first!

So the story goes like this, if you know that the wheels of the car are actually installed at a certain angle with certain requirements, this is made for purposes such as comfort while driving, light vehicle handling and normal tire wear.

The adjustment angles of the wheel are called Wheel Alignment .

Maybe for our own country Wheel alignment is known to align the front wheels (Front Wheel Alignment).

OK so we can tell that the Spooring has something to do with the wheel angles.

But what angle? so why this angle can make driving more comfortable, tire wear more evenly and make the car stable?

The picture above is a vehicle that is in spooring. So if you see a vehicle affixed to the wheel and placed on the four post carlift, the vehicle is in spooring. In the spooring process, the corners associated with the vehicle's wheels are reset, for a safer and more comfortable driving.

What angles are set when spooring? Ok this has to do with the factors of the wheel alignment itself.

There are 5 factors included in Front Wheel Alignment (FWA):

1. Camber

Camber is the tilt of the wheel with respect to the vertical line when viewed from the front or rear of the vehicle.

There are 2 angles of camber, positive camber and negative camber

Negative Camber (-): If the wheel is tilted towards the inside of the vehicle

Negative camber makes the vehicle tend to be straighter and more stable. Maybe the problem is the heavier driving. However, if the negative camber angle is too large, it will have an impact on wheel wear that occurs on the inside of the tire.

Positive Camber (+) : If the wheels are tilted towards the outside of the vehicle

Positive camber makes handling lighter. However, if the positive camber angle is too large, it will have an impact on wheel wear that occurs on the outside of the tire.

The following are problems that occur related to camber:

• The outer surface of the tire, wear is not normal
• It takes a lot of energy when turning
• Brings up shimmy (vibrating steering wheel)

2. Caster

Caster is the tilt of the top steering axis towards the front or back of the vertical axis line when viewed from the side of the vehicle.

There are 2 caster angles namely negative caster and positive caster

Caster Negative (-): If the tilt of the top steering axis is towards the front

The negative caster makes the steering lighter but the stability of the vehicle when going straight is reduced and the steering is less controllable.

Caster Positive (+) : If the top of the steering axis tilts towards the rear

The positive caster provides vehicle stability when going straight and turning power after turning.

The function of the caster angle is so that the steer can return straight after the vehicle turns.

3. Steering Axis Inclination

Caster is the slope of the Steering Axis Inclination when viewed from the front/rear.

4. Toe Angle

Toe Angle is the difference in the distance between the front and rear wheels. If the front wheel is shorter than the rear, it is called toe in, but if the front wheel is longer than the rear, it is called toe out.

5. Turning Angle

Turning Angle is the angle of each wheel when the steering wheel is turned to the maximum. The turning angle of the inner wheel is greater than the turning angle of the outer wheel.

Ok so above are the corners that are part of the Front Wheel Alignment.

Now what about balancing? what is the difference with spooring?

Balancing

Balancing is the process of balancing the wheel so that the distribution of mass / weight is even, so that the wheel can rotate on its axis of rotation without vibration.

So when the wheel rotates there will be a centrifugal force on each part of the wheel. If the rotating wheel has an uneven mass, for example there is one area that has a weight that is not the same as the other areas, then that area will be attracted by the direction of the force out of the radius of the wheel.

This unbalanced wheel will cause variations in centrifugal force, as a result the wheel will move up and down or from one side to the other. If the vibration cannot be suppressed by the car's suspension system, the driver will feel the vibration. This is the reason why when at high speeds the driver feels vibrations. Because there is an unbalance on the wheels.

The solution is to make the mass on each wheel evenly distributed (making the center of gravity exactly on the axis of rotation), so that the force will be balanced and the centrifugal effect does not have an inhibiting effect.

That's the difference between spooring and balancing, so spooring is the process of aligning the wheels by adjusting the geometric angles, while balancing is the process of balancing the mass of the unbalanced wheels so that vibration does not occur.