Rebalancing necessary

[Gecko123]

I bought my tires from Costco and they offer free rotation and balancing for the life of the tires.

I don't mind rotating the tires myself. Actually I prefer doing it myself as I amy pretty picky. Anyways, my question is about the rebalancing. If my vehicle steering wheel does not vibrate nor shake when I am driving at 60-80 mph, is it necessary to rebalance on a regular basis as suggested by Costco


I know some of you may say why not if its free. Yeah but I don't want to wait in line on my weekends at Costco

Any ways your thoughts. I do rotate my tires very regularly myself to to keep all for tires wear very even

 

[R.A.]

Yeah, tire wear down unevenly. That's why you rotate and rebalance.

 

[03_4x4Runner]

I have done many rotations on many cars over the years without rebalancing and never had a problem. I only rebalance when I feel a vibration. On my 2011 Avalon I get free service for 2 years and when Toyota rotates the tires at 5k miles they do not balance the tires. The tries are wearing fine.

 

[LTDSC]

id wait until you can feel an imbalance. But as long as you're rotating regularly i dont see an issue.

 

[Gecko123]

Yeah, tire wear down unevenly. That's why you rotate and rebalance.

I am talking about RE-balancing not initial balancing. If you balance them once and your alignment is good there shouldn't be a reason tires start to wear unevenly, correct? Or am I missing something.

 

[R.A.]

I am talking about RE-balancing not initial balancing. If you balance them once and your alignment is good there shouldn't be a reason tires start to wear unevenly, correct? Or am I missing something.

Reread my statement. Tires wear unevenly. That's why we rotate and REbalance.

Normally, I cannot tell whether I need a rebalance on SUV tires. But with the service being free, it's not a bad idea to do it every 10K or so. I rotate every 5K with my oil change. I rebalance as needed or every 10K; had to rebalance a tire due to losing a wheel weight just last month (after I just rotated/rebalanced the month before/2000 miles).

Alignments are something totally different then balancing a tire.

Do what feels right. If you think you don't need to rotate or rebalance your wheels or tires, then that's fine with me.

 

[Gecko123]

Reread my statement. Tires wear unevenly. That's why we rotate and REbalance.

Normally, I cannot tell whether I need a rebalance on SUV tires. But with the service being free, it's not a bad idea to do it every 10K or so. I rotate every 5K with my oil change. I rebalance as needed or every 10K; had to rebalance a tire due to losing a wheel weight just last month (after I just rotated/rebalanced the month before/2000 miles).

Alignments are something totally different then balancing a tire.

Do what feels right. If you think you don't need to rotate or rebalance your wheels or tires, then that's fine with me.

I understand alignment is a different but what I was getting at is if your alignment is good and wheels are balanced the tires should wear evenly. If alignment is off it will cause uneven wear and hence eventually throw your wheels off balance.

 

[Atlanta_man]

Discount Tire pulls the weights and balances them all at rotation time.
New weights always seem to go on in different sizes and places based on the dirty reference spots on the rim.

 

[MikeInNH]

If the re-balancing is offered for FREE...then might as well.

While the balance of tires does change ever so slightly over time...I've never seen the need to re-balance for the sake of re-balancing. The ONLY time I've ever had to re-balance was when a weight fell off after hitting a frost-heave too hard. I've never experienced a problem with uneven wear or vibration or shortened life of a tire by NOT having them re-balanced.

 

[KidVermicious]

Just pay attention to your tires. If they start wearing unevenly or if you pick up a vibe, rebalance them. I wouldn't burn a Saturday afternoon getting them balanced just for the heck of it.

 

[TechWrench]

I agree that regular tire rotation is a good idea to help to prevent uneven tire wear. But, I am not a big fan of having tires re-balanced for no other reason than 'It's free'. If you are NOT having a vibration from the wheels, then I see no reason to have the weights removed and new ones put on. I am not a big fan of giving a shop any chance to cause a problem that wasn't there in the first place. We have all heard of nightmare stories of poorly trained 'techs' or or sloppy work being performed at chain shops. I rotate my own wheels, because I don't trust tire shops to follow my rotation pattern, I don't want to have to spend my time waiting in their waiting room for it to be done, and I want to be certain the proper lug nut torque values are being used. I do not trust some 'trainie' with an air gun and a torque stick to mount the wheels properly. I have seen too many instances where it wasn't done properly, just quickly. But, if you are experiencing any type of wheel vibration, then by all means have the balance checked and corrected if necessary.

 

[Gecko123]

I agree that regular tire rotation is a good idea to help to prevent uneven tire wear. But, I am not a big fan of having tires re-balanced for no other reason than 'It's free'. If you are NOT having a vibration from the wheels, then I see no reason to have the weights removed and new ones put on. I am not a big fan of giving a shop any chance to cause a problem that wasn't there in the first place. We have all heard of nightmare stories of poorly trained 'techs' or or sloppy work being performed at chain shops. I rotate my own wheels, because I don't trust tire shops to follow my rotation pattern, I don't want to have to spend my time waiting in their waiting room for it to be done, and I want to be certain the proper lug nut torque values are being used. I do not trust some 'trainie' with an air gun and a torque stick to mount the wheels properly. I have seen too many instances where it wasn't done properly, just quickly. But, if you are experiencing any type of wheel vibration, then by all means have the balance checked and corrected if necessary.

i know where you are coming from about not trusting shops doing it. i purchased a set of snow tires one time at a different place and they put one tire in the wrong direction (my snow tires were directional). When i told the person at the front desk, he said, oh no, those are not directional. I said, look at the tires. The tread for one is a dead give away and secondly, on the sidewall has a rotation direction arrow. So they fixed it and then a few days later on the highway i noticed very bad vibration, they didnt balance it properly. Oh bother. I think they didnt bother re-balancing it after putting the tire back in the right direction.

i also dont like the idea of them removing and adding weights on the rims as they can leave a mark and on different locations of the rim.

 

[Sungod]

You only need to rebalance them as needed. If you don't have a vibration, you are not going to improve anything. Your tires do not wear unevenly unless you are out locking them up and flat spotting them. what you will find when you rebalance tires that are not out of balance is that the weights go back in the same spot.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

As the tire wears down its going to become out of round and balance, normally over the life of the tire under good conditions (good wear pattern, proper alignment, ect) you wouldn't have to waste your time on rebalancing you average tire. You can have Costco do the rebalance if you want, but honestly unless you feel a vibration I wouldn't bother.

 

[Sungod]

As the tire wears down its going to become out of round and balance, normally over the life of the tire under good conditions (good wear pattern, proper alignment, ect) you wouldn't have to waste your time on rebalancing you average tire. You can have Costco do the rebalance if you want, but honestly unless you feel a vibration I wouldn't bother.

How can a tire that rotates in a circular pattern become out of round?

 

[BlackWorksInc]

How can a tire that rotates in a circular pattern become out of round?

Think about potholes, high speed bumps, skids, ect ect. Its all very minuscule but over the course of say 40,000miles it does alter the shape of a tire. Under normal conditions its not going to be enough to cause an issue, but think of it this way. You've seen sidewall buldges caused by impacting a pothole or curb? Similar idea. Also I have had brand new tires be visibly out of round.

 

[nevada]

Think about potholes, high speed bumps, skids, ect ect. Its all very minuscule but over the course of say 40,000miles it does alter the shape of a tire. Under normal conditions its not going to be enough to cause an issue, but think of it this way. You've seen sidewall buldges caused by impacting a pothole or curb? Similar idea. Also I have had brand new tires be visibly out of round.

the rubber also wears at a slightly different rate throughout the diameter of the tire.
and the fronts will wear differently aswell. and likely will require a rebalance before the rears.

but, as said, there is no reason, and you gain nothing by balancing them before you're getting vibrations.

 

[Barefoot]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

No vibe=no rebalance

 

[Sungod]

Think about potholes, high speed bumps, skids, ect ect. Its all very minuscule but over the course of say 40,000miles it does alter the shape of a tire. Under normal conditions its not going to be enough to cause an issue, but think of it this way. You've seen sidewall buldges caused by impacting a pothole or curb? Similar idea. Also I have had brand new tires be visibly out of round.

Unless you lock up the brakes, the tire will stay round. Even still, it has nothing to do with balance. You can't balance out lack of roundness. Balancing has to do with weight. Unless you are removing a substantial amount of weight the tire will remain balanced. You would have to remove a fairly large chunk of rubber to require additonal weight. I am sure that happens with guys running on rocks, but for the average every day driver, it is a rare occurance and typically would result in a new tire anyway.

I agree that it is possible for a tire new tire to be out of round, and you can still get a nasty vibration from those even though they balance out perfectly.

I say this all as it relates to the OPs question of does he need to reblance his tires and my answer is as a rule, no, but there there could be special conditions that could require it. Knowing how tricky it is to get toyota wheels to balance, I wouldn't risk a good balance just for the sake of doing so.

 

[Gecko123]

OK, sounds like most of you agree as a general rule (but there are exceptions), re-balancing is not necessary.

I think it might be Costco's way of getting more customer visits and ultimately generate more sales in their stores. Most people will shop at Costco while they are waiting for their car.