# tire balancing?



## jargey3000 (Jan 25, 2011)

never mind balancing your portfolio ... what about your tires?
each year, when i get my winter & all-season tires on /off, i get the tires going on balanced. costs about $10/tire extra for the balancing, so it mounts up. Is it worth it? what the heck does "balancing" do anyway? and how long after driving off do the tires actually stay "balanced"?? any comments from the auto mechanics in here?


----------



## Daniel A. (Mar 20, 2011)

Tire balancing is important just look at how much weight is added to balance, out of balance tires at high speed affects handling and puts a lot of stress on wheel bearings. 
They should stay balanced between your summer/winter change.


----------



## LBCfan (Jan 13, 2011)

They should stay balanced until something happens to change it. Things like loosing a balance weight, excessive wear, plug insertion and a few other things. I've never had tires balanced other than new unless the tire was removed from the rim for repair. If you have separate rims for your summer/winter tires you don't have to balance them that often. If you change tires on one set of rims you should balance them.


----------



## hboy43 (May 10, 2009)

Hi:

I agree that usually balancing is only necessary when mounting a tire on a rim.

An out of balance tire is hard on things and sometimes is really annoying to listen to. I recall once hearing a really low frequency disturbance at 2 or 3 Hz (Of course I cannot hear 2 or 3 Hz, I could hear higher frequencies fading in and out at that rate). WTF? Then I realized it was the beat frequency between two out of balance wheels!

One other point, frozen dirt and ice can temporarily throw a wheel out of balance, so first clean the wheel and take a test drive before heading to the shop.

hboy43


----------



## jargey3000 (Jan 25, 2011)

ok, ok thanks (no i dont have separate rims for summer / winter....maybe next car)


----------



## 1980z28 (Mar 4, 2010)

Tire and wheel balance are done years ago as a static balance

To day tire machines balance tire and wheel assemble dynamically

To get a proper balance you have to balance all of the rotating assemble as a whole,on car balance

All balancing is done to within a .25 of a gram ,if operator keeps his finger it will go to .10 of a gram

Also you can put weights on outside ,inside of rim or stickon weights anywhere,it`s how the machine is set up

Tires can rotate on rim after mounting or pick up stones and that will defeat balancing

Remember the brake rotors and axles have rotational mass

So do you want fries with that burger


----------



## jargey3000 (Jan 25, 2011)

"_Tires can rotate on rim after mounting or pick up stones and that will defeat balancing_"

soooo.... is it worth the $100 a year or so to have them balanced...?
(LOTSA fries please!!!!)


----------



## 319905 (Mar 7, 2016)

The reason I have summer/winter rims is because not all installers are knowledgeable in rim preparation, e.g., alloy rims corrode over time and if not properly prepared, results in slow leaks, potential loss of control, rollovers ... learned through experience (just the slow leaks, not the rollovers). I always do a walk around the jeep before heading out even with the tpms ... just habit I guess. The current tires required balancing once ... when they were installed. I did lose a weight once, had to stop at a garage and have that wheel balanced.


----------



## LBCfan (Jan 13, 2011)

jargey3000 said:


> "_Tires can rotate on rim after mounting or pick up stones and that will defeat balancing_"


Your tires will only rotate on the rim if: you drive on one flat or if you are driving a dragster pushing 1,000+ HP thru low inflation slicks.
You'll pick up a few stones larger than .25 gram on the way home from the tire shop, won't hurt much and in any event is unavoidable.



jargey3000 said:


> soooo.... is it worth the $100 a year or so to have them balanced...?


It depends. If you drive 1,000 miles per year never exceeding 20 mph, probably not. If you drive 20,000 miles per year treating speed limits as a suggested minimum, definitely. Short answer, I would do it.


jargey3000 said:


> (LOTSA fries please!!!!)


Only if they are salt-free, fat-free, gluten free and made with organic, free-range, non-GMO potatoes.


----------



## Barwelle (Feb 23, 2011)

I don't bother with it unless I can tell something is wrong... you can tell if a tire's out of balance if you feel a vibration that increases/decreases in frequency in correlation with the speed you're driving at. More important is to check the tires a couple times a week, if you're driving it every day (or every time if you only drive it occasionally) to make sure there's not a slow leak.

free-range potatoes? why don't we throw in 'low-carb' while we're at it...


----------



## RBull (Jan 20, 2013)

Unless you have a piece or junk or run only at very low speeds you can't drive a car at all comfortably without balancing the tires, after just mounting on the rim. You're stressing bearings and suspension bouncing down the road without balancing.

You should make the investment on an extra set of rims. I've often bought them used for under a hundred for a steel set and then seasonally mount and dismount the wheels. Within a year they're paid for vs what you're doing. Even new steel wheels are usually $60-75 each so after 2-3 seasons you've paid for them from balancing savings, and it adds value to your car on resale.


----------



## OhGreatGuru (May 24, 2009)

OP does not have a second set of rims; and consequently one set is being removed from rims and a different set installed each change. Under these circumstances the tires need to be re-balanced each time. Even if the replacement tires (through some fluke) matched the balancing weights used for the tire being replaced, it wouldn't work in practice. The weights are usually deliberately removed when changing a tire, as installing a tire on the rim will usually dislodge some of the weights anyway.


----------



## LBCfan (Jan 13, 2011)

Barwelle said:


> free-range potatoes? why don't we throw in 'low-carb' while we're at it...


Thanks, missed that one. Can anyone think of something else left out? How about 'heritage' or 'locally sourced'?


----------



## 30seconds (Jan 11, 2014)

What "greatguru" said. Buy a set of steel rims with and hub caps, they will easily pay for them selves after a couple winters.


----------



## tavogl (Oct 1, 2014)

Hey guys, now that you are talking about this, I just got a new car and one of the rims had a small scratch, the dealer agreed to fix the wheel of course. I took the car home and they came to my place, took the wheel off the car, put the spare tire on and fixed the rim. They are coming tomorrow to install the tire on my car again, should i ask the dealer to balance it? it's a rear wheel.


----------



## zylon (Oct 27, 2010)

Experiment conducted re tire rotation:

new car off the show room floor
95% hwy driven - never on a gravel road
forward cross rotation every 10,000 km
tires never removed from rims and not re-balanced after initial installation 
achieved 100,000 km from one set of tires
tires had even wear and still within safety requirements when replaced
Conclusion: *forward cross rotation* is worth the extra effort.









http://forums.genvibe.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=31703


----------



## coptzr (Jan 18, 2013)

Rebalancing each set per year should not be required. This would be costing you $80 per year+tax? 

First suggestion, leave all season manufacturer recommended tires on factory OEM rims. If you require winter tires, than search for another set of OEM matching rims. Many reasons for this. First everything matches what the vehicle was designed for. Secondly you can use the same lug nuts for both sets. Third you have many spares in case you have wheel damage(flat, dent, etc..). If you want to cheap out with steel rims, consider this. Most do not have the proper backspacing, width, offset as your factory wheel. They do not have the exact stud hole and center bore diameter as factory. Thirdly and most important, you MUST use a second set of lug nuts, do NOT interchange them between newer style aluminum and aftermarket cheap steel rims. As vehicles and products have changed over the years, they are less forgiving with the standard summer and winter tire on rim changes. Rims are lighter materials and design, tires are wider and lower profile to install and sensors are easily damaged. Damage one of these a couple times over the life of the vehicle you will kick yourself you did not buy 2 full sets at the start.

As for the image posted above, this is no longer as applicable as most newer quality tires are directional and sometimes even asymmetrical.

In summary, 2 sets of OEM rims, one with summer/all season, one with winter, rotate front to back to front each year. Store covered/indoors with proper air pressure. Check air pressure at each oil change.


----------



## jargey3000 (Jan 25, 2011)

thanks for all the good info.
yes 2 sets of tires/rims is the way to go (although i've also considered just getting non-studded winter tires on & just leaving them on year-round... you have to remember that here in NL we get about 6 months of winter & 6 months on "not winter"!)
but i intend to sell current car in next little while, so i wont bother with 2 sets for this one.
happy motoring!


----------

