Anecdotal, but a few years ago I purchased an entire winter tire/wheel setup from TireRack (Alpin PA4 + chinese Motegi wheels). Once I got them on the car, it was obvious there were vibration/shimmying issues. I took them to someone with a Hunter machine and all four assemblies were way way out of spec. like 30-40# of RFV, IIRC. I was not surprised in the least. Someone at TireRack didn't do their job, and to make matters worse, they adamantly tried to blame my car until I got them checked indepenently.
Fast forward a little, I got them to send 4 new tires. My indy guy was able to balance most of them to within spec. However, the problem persisted. TireRack kept insisting it was my vehicle, to which I repeatedly denied, as the outgoing summer set ran perfectly (Michelin P4S on OEM Lexus wheels). I returned the winter set and swapped for a new summer set under the Michelin satisfaction guarantee and I just toughed it out for the winter, and after a year and going to the BBB, I got them to take the wheels back as well.
The following winter (1 year later from the original order), I re-ordered an entire winter/wheel setup, only this time I went with Michelin X-Ice Snow and Italian-made OZ's. Threw them on the car and wouldn't you know it, smooth as glass. Maybe I got unlucky and then lucky, or maybe TireRack actually did what they purport to do, which is to only ship the most uniform and balanced products out there using their Hunter machines. Who knows. To this day, I don't know the RFV of the new winter set, as I never needed to. In fact, they ran so smooth that I left them on until July.
I suspect the culprit were the cheap chinese Motegis. Even with a proper RFB, they still rode like trash. The takeaway here is, you get what you pay for, and while RFB is an incredible diagnostic tool, having RFV within spec does not mean those wheel/tires will ride smooth, and being out of spec will typically manifest as noticable NVH. In other words, IME, you do need to have your assemblies to be within spec, but it still might not guarantee a smooth ride, even if your car is brand new.
I usually only go with Michelin, but have had good results with Conti DWS. I think for my next summer set, I'm going to try the new Conti ExtremeContact Sport 02. Slightly cheaper than P4S but they seem to perform at least as well or better, given the reviews.
One last tidbit: when my indy guy does my RFB, he spends at least a few hours on it. At least 30 minutes a tire. Anything less and you're getting fleeced, like at a Discount Tire where they claim to do it in 20 minutes total.