# Balancing tires - benefits? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 1, 2009, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/balancing-tires-benefits/479468 "2009-01-01T15:27:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![solkoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@solkoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solkoe)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/balancing-tires-benefits/479468/1 "2009-01-01T15:27:18Z")
I just switched to my snow tires. The mechanic charges $20 for the switch and $40 to balance the tires. I decided to do it myself and save some cash. What is the major problem with not balancing my tires? I just returned from a 1000 km trip and I didn’t notice anything unusual. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/balancing-tires-benefits/479468/2 "2009-01-01T15:34:20Z")
The theory is that by the time you notice it, the tires have begun to wear unevenly, reducing their useful lifetime. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/balancing-tires-benefits/479468/3 "2009-01-01T15:50:36Z")
Are the snow tires on their \*own \*rims? If so, it is my understanding that balancing only needs to happen once, after the tires are put on the rims. But I could be wrong. Perhaps \*\*Rick \*\*or \*\*Gary \*\*could chime in. ---
**Author:** ![BrandonR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@BrandonR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrandonR)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/balancing-tires-benefits/479468/4 "2009-01-01T15:55:04Z")
Balancing ensures… Well, that you’re tires are in balance. If they’re not balanced (even by a small amount), they can create some significant problems due to the vibrations that are going to happen as you hit higher and higher speeds. I’m sure you’ve been on a highway before and seen someone’s tire that appeared to be wobbly as it cruised down the road. It’s definitely not good for the tire, and adds much unneeded stress to it. Imagine a high-speed ceiling fan with one of the blades having a heavier weight than the rest. It’s unbalanced and is going to wobble; wobbling can create a significant problem for the fan if left untreated either by the vibrations causing premature failure or simply by fan wearing prematurely. It’s more or less the same concept with your tires. I just assumed that balancing was a standard part of installing new tires. It’s the alignment that I always viewed as optional. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/balancing-tires-benefits/479468/5 "2009-01-01T16:41:44Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Are the snow tires on their \*own \*rims? If so, it is my understanding that balancing only needs to happen once, after the tires are put on the rims. But I could be wrong. Perhaps \*\*Rick \*\*or \*\*Gary \*\*could chime in. Sorry, not them, just a stupid old Engineer, but yes, unless something changed geometrically or weight-wise with the tires, they should not need re-balancing if they were previously in balance and already on the rims. Exceptions always apply, such as if the rims were damaged while in storage, etc., etc. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/balancing-tires-benefits/479468/6 "2009-01-01T17:32:19Z")
Are you sure it wasn’t $40 for an alignment? As others have said, balancing tires usually only happens when the tires are put on the rims. While not always needed, people often do an alignment when putting on new wheels/tires. ---
**Author:** ![Fantome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Fantome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fantome)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/balancing-tires-benefits/479468/7 "2009-01-01T17:47:09Z")
> [@BrandonR](#): > > I’m sure you’ve been on a highway before and seen someone’s tire that appeared to be wobbly as it cruised down the road. There are few reasons a tire can appear that way, but an tire that’s not balanced correctly isn’t one of them. There’s no visual difference between a balanced tire and an unbalanced tire. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/balancing-tires-benefits/479468/8 "2009-01-01T17:50:04Z")
> [@BrandonR](#): > > I’m sure you’ve been on a highway before and seen someone’s tire that appeared to be wobbly as it cruised down the road. I think wobbly tires are probably due to bent wheels, rather than balancing. I think this because the wheels are attached to the axle very rigidly and I don’t think that an imbalance would cause an apparent wobble. What I have see though, is bouncing tires. As anyone who has driven with an unbalanced wheel knows, there is a lot of vibration until you reach a certain speed; at which point it smoothes out. The wheel/tire system has reached a resonant frequency where it bounces up and down at such a rate that the vibration isn’t felt by the driver. This is the same principle they used in the commercials of trucks driving over railroad ties while the ride inside is nice and smooth. Of course having the rubber on the road only a fraction of the time is a safety issue. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/balancing-tires-benefits/479468/9 "2009-01-01T18:25:52Z")
It sounds like the OPs tires had their own wheels. Mount and balancing is usually charged together. They wouldn’t charge $20 for mounting tires and an extra $40 to balance them. The $20 was probably just for swapping 4 wheels/tires for four others. The front tires can wobble due to imbalance. Jeep owners like myself know all about “death wobble” from imbalanced tires. At 55 the steering wheel starts to shake violently and if you stick your head out the window you can watch the tires wobble side to side. While other factors can cause it, it is almost always a balance issue on Jeeps. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/balancing-tires-benefits/479468/10 "2009-01-01T18:33:13Z")
> [@Fubaya](#): > > The front tires can wobble due to imbalance. Jeep owners like myself know all about “death wobble” from imbalanced tires… While other factors can cause it, it is almost always a balance issue on Jeeps. I used to have a '46 CJ2A. I founded The CJ2A Page since there was a CJ3B page but no CJ2A-specific site, and I thought there needed to be one. It became too popular for me to handle (and I was going through a very rough patch in my life at the time) so I turned it entirely over to one of my readers. This is from the [FAQ page](http://www.thecj2apage.com/faq.html): > [@](#): > > \*\*Willys Death Wobble \*\* > Q: Willys Death Wobble. If I’m driving at a slow speed on a rough road, my Willys will develop a low-speed shimmy/wobble that makes it uncontrollable as the steering wheel bounces left and right. I have to stop the vehicle and it’s okay when I start up again. The '48 I owned back in the '80s did the same thing. What causes this, and how can it be fixed? > A: There are several things to look at. Are your springs flat up front? How’s your wheel alignment? Check the shims in the steering knuckles. Are your wheel bearings loose? Is your bell crank worn out? And yes, a steering dampener works well. Still check out other items first. > > A: “Just wanted to chime in that another very common problem is king pin bearings being worn. If you remove the kingpin and look at the cup which is pressed into the axle housing you will usually notice that it is worn ( known as brunelling , may not be spelled correctly). The cup should be smooth. This is very common on a vehicle that has lock out hubs. Since they are driven with the front axle disengaged and not spinning , the upper kingpin does not get properly lubricated. Another thing is to fill the knuckle after your rebuild with chassis lube instead of 90 weight. The only draw back is in really cold weather it makes the vehicle harder to steer initially. Hope this helps all that are interested.” ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/balancing-tires-benefits/479468/11 "2009-01-01T19:02:30Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > I used to have a '46 CJ2A. I’m drooling. That’s my dream Jeep. I hope to restore one someday. My experience is with newer Jeeps, specifically TJs, and the death wobble is not related to bumps but happens on smooth roads at 50-60mph. There are many reasons to get the wobble so let me rephrase “it is almost always a balance issue on Jeeps” to “a balance issue will almost always give you death wobble,” although most of the problems I have seen come from imbalance (but most people go for the steering dampener first, but that just masks the problem for a while.) I have a friend who builds Jeeps for offroad (and works on stock jeeps too) that I help from time to time and we’ve ran across it many times, and I think everyone in our club has had it happen to them a few times. It’s happened to me three times from throwing a weight, a couple times from spinning the tire around the rim while offroad and numerous times from getting mud in the wheel. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/balancing-tires-benefits/479468/12 "2009-01-01T19:06:30Z")
> [@Fubaya](#): > > I’m drooling. That’s my dream Jeep. I hope to restore one someday. [This one was mine](http://www.thecj2apage.com/1946_willys_cj2a/jw46.html). ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/balancing-tires-benefits/479468/13 "2009-01-01T20:10:18Z")
> [@solkoe](#): > > I just switched to my snow tires. The mechanic charges $20 for the switch and $40 to balance the tires. I decided to do it myself and save some cash. You’re going to balance the tires yourself? How? ---
**Author:** ![Fantome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Fantome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fantome)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/balancing-tires-benefits/479468/14 "2009-01-01T22:06:04Z")
> [@Gary\_T](#): > > You’re going to balance the tires yourself? How? I think he meant he’s just switch them himself and forgo the balancing, but when I went to auto mechanic school years ago we had a static balancer similar to this lying around. Of course it wouldn’t be as accurate as a dynamic balancer, but I’m sure it’s better than nothing. ---
**Author:** ![solkoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@solkoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solkoe)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/balancing-tires-benefits/479468/15 "2009-01-01T23:21:05Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Are you sure it wasn’t $40 for an alignment? As others have said, balancing tires usually only happens when the tires are put on the rims. While not always needed, people often do an alignment when putting on new wheels/tires. Could be but I thought the guy said balancing. ---
**Author:** ![solkoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@solkoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solkoe)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/balancing-tires-benefits/479468/16 "2009-01-01T23:25:02Z")
The $20 was for the swap of 4 tires for 4 tires. I bought a 2 ton jack and a 12 V tire drill and did it myself. My snows are already on rims. I guess I’m risking uneven wear and possible shimmy. I don’t highway drive much so I’m not too concerned. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/balancing-tires-benefits/479468/17 "2009-01-01T23:40:12Z")
> [@Gary\_T](#): > > You’re going to balance the tires yourself? How? J.C. Whitney used to sell a simple kit that appeared to work for a friend of mine who balanced tires at home for several years. I do not recall how it worked, but I rode for thousands of miles in his cars and never felt a wobble or unusual resonance from the tires. I personally never trusted the DIY approach to it, and had it done professionally. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/balancing-tires-benefits/479468/18 "2009-01-01T23:50:31Z")
> [@Una\_Persson](#): > > J.C. Whitney used to sell a simple kit that appeared to work for a friend of mine who balanced tires at home for several years. I do not recall how it worked, but I rode for thousands of miles in his cars and never felt a wobble or unusual resonance from the tires. I personally never trusted the DIY approach to it, and had it done professionally. The DIY units I’ve seen consist of a cone with a circular bubble level on top. This allows you to perform a “static” balance. The units at the tire change places use a “dynamic” balancer. Supposedly, a dynamic balance is better than a static balance. Not sure why; I suspect it has something to do with gyroscopic forces, or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2009, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/balancing-tires-benefits/479468/19 "2009-01-01T23:55:05Z")
> [@solkoe](#): > > My snows are already on rims. If they’re already on rims, and they were properly balanced when the tires were installed on the rims, then I don’t think you need to get them periodically balanced unless you suspect something is wrong. Checking the balance half-way through the life of each tire probably wouldn’t be a bad idea. But again, I don’t think you need to get them balanced each time you install them on your vehicle unless you suspect something is wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2009, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/balancing-tires-benefits/479468/20 "2009-01-02T01:08:05Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Supposedly, a dynamic balance is better than a static balance. Not sure why; I suspect it has something to do with gyroscopic forces, or something like that. It’s a bit more complicated than that, I fear. Some of the harder problems I had in Engineering Analytical Mechanics was doing the hand calculations for dynamic balancing wheels. I couldn’t do it now to save my life. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/balancing-tires-benefits/479468.md?page=2)