gsr.sedan

Should the tires be (re) balanced when they get rotated?

I just had the tires rotated on my work van at Walmart and amazingly, they balance all four tires as they rotate them. They take off all of the old weights, re-spin the individual tire on a machine and then put new weights on. That seems really thorough.

But my Acura dealer wants $90 just to check fluids, lube job and rotate tires WITHOUT any kind of balance. The acura service guy just said that the tires should only be balanced if I having problems with one of my wheels shaking or rattling. I don't mind paying the money if it's worth it, but I starting to get suspicious about my dealer.

So who's right, Acura or wal-mart? Should the tires be balanced everytime the wheels get rotated? or is balancing them at wal-mart only going to get me into trouble and I should just just leave the original acura weights on the wheels.

I only have about 9000 miles on these tires.

acuraholic

I don't think they NEED to be rebalanced everytime. Wal-Mart is just making sure it's done right I guess. Taking off the Acura weights isn't going to have any negative effects. A weight is a weight.

lustedp

The usually do not need to be rebalanced.

When you get new tires there are plenty of places to get them mounted that give offer free lifetime balancing/rotating (i.e. discount/american tire co.).

As far as $90 for fluid check and lube job....are you sure they aren't lubing YOU up? ;P