how often to balance tires?

How often do you guys have your tires re-balanced?
Until now, I just did it when I got new tires.

 

When you get new tires and as needed afterwards. I don't get mine balanced
unless there is a vibration that could be from the tires or the shop does it
for free when I have them rotated. Some places will do that if you bought
the tires there.

HTH
WW

 

It depends a lot on the car and the tires. Some tires seem to get out
of balance as they wear much moreso then others. And some vehicles
seem much more sensitive to the slightest out of balance in a tire
then others. I've had cars where I"ve had to have the tires
rebalanced every 5000 miles and I"ve had cars where I could go 20K
miles and not have any need for rebalance. Ditto on the tires, I've
had some tires get off several ounces in only 5000 miles and other
tires that were still dead on after 20K miles.

 

If you rotate your tires normally, get it done whenever the steering
wheel shakes. Finding an unbalanced tire is a pretty good reason to
rotate the tires even if they do naturally wear evenly. An unbalanced
rear wheel can cause suspension and tire wear without you noticing.

 

Twice a year. I run snow tires in the winter and normal in the summer. The
place I bought the snows (Direct Tire in MA, USA) offers free switchover and
rebalancing if you buy tires from them. I suppose to be precise each set is
balanced and rotated just once a year.

Dave

 

Assuming you paid for free lifetime balancing, the answer is: every
time they rotate them. Regardless of the annoyed looks that you will
get.

You can't discern slight imbalances but the tires will be affected, if
not the rest of the car. The only way to be sure is to put it on the
balancer. If they sold it to you, make them live up to it.

 

The new tire I've bought required rotation at 10,000 kms intervals in
order to be covered if you make a warranty claim. This is good time to
get it done because the weights could have come loose or a chunk got
broken off. If you've come to squealing stop, you will have lost a bit
of rubber. That will need some adjustment. Better safe than sorry
later.