tire rotation

Must I balance the tires at EVERY tire rotation?

Not unless they are out of balance.

Ah, but Ray, how can you know whether they're balanced unless you have them balanced? And if they're just slightly out of balance (not enough to feel thru the steering wheel) how would you know?

If the tires are not enough out of balance to move the steering wheel or feel through the chassis, then they are balanced enough.

Okay, Ray, I'll defer to your greater knowledge and experience on this. Thanks

Because "mack" could, he/she/it opin'd:

Ray's advice is spot on.

To really know for sure, after I rotate my tires I take the car out on a test drive and if I don't feel any imbalance at 97 MPH, I know they're good enough.

"But ossifer, I was only checking the balance on my tires!" usually works . . . .

-Don (last time it only cost me 240 bux 'cause it was below 100 MPH)

You're welcome. Your wallet will thank you too!

I just ask the tire guys to run a simple check when rotating the tires - leave the old weights alone, throw the tire and wheel on the machine, and spin it once. If the machine display comes up with a perfect { 0.0 0.0 }, throw it back on the car. NEXT! If all four come up good, it takes 30 seconds a tire.

If it comes up a bit off, it wore funny. Throw on a quarter-ounce or half-ounce of lead on in the right spot and put it on the car.

If it comes up way off, then it probably threw a weight. Yank off all the old weights and start over.

And any good tire shop shouldn't be charging you for this simple service at a rotation, especially if you regularly buy all your tires there. If they are charging, it means you are patronizing the wrong tire shop and it's time for a change.

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