How often to balance and align?

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RamFan

RamFan

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Hello all,
My Charger calls for tire rotations every 6k miles. In order to save a few pennies I planned on doing them myself, but I got to thinking. Should I just have my local tire shop do them and get 'em balanced and an alignment done? How often is too often for a balance and an alignment? Would I be wasting money?

Nico
 
Those are both "when you need them" items, not things you do on a schedule.

The Buick Rendezvous we bought in 2007, brand new, has 70000 miles on it and has never had an alignment and it tracks perfectly, steering wheel is straight, and tires are wearing beautifully.

Tires - balance them when you feel a vibration on the highway, generally speaking. A quality tire might go its entire life without having to be re-balanced after the initial mount and balance, I have a set on another car that are like that. Then again I have a set of tires that seem to need balancing every 18 months or so, build quality must be not as good and I imagine something about the construction is shifting internally ever so slightly.
 
Originally Posted By: bxd20
Those are both "when you need them" items, not things you do on a schedule.

The Buick Rendezvous we bought in 2007, brand new, has 70000 miles on it and has never had an alignment and it tracks perfectly, steering wheel is straight, and tires are wearing beautifully.

Tires - balance them when you feel a vibration on the highway, generally speaking. A quality tire might go its entire life without having to be re-balanced after the initial mount and balance, I have a set on another car that are like that. Then again I have a set of tires that seem to need balancing every 18 months or so, build quality must be not as good and I imagine something about the construction is shifting internally ever so slightly.


This. A lot of shops' balancers are out of calibration and are just as likely to get the tire out of balance as in balance, not to mention issues caused by over torqueing lug nuts with an impact. Same thing with alignments, they might not get it any closer to spec than it started with. If there's not a problem, tire wear, vibration etc don't potentially create one by trying to fix something that isn't really broken. It wouldn't be a bad idea to rotate the tire every 5000-7500 yourself maybe while doing an oil change.
 
Don't put a lot of miles on my Malibu LTZ, but I have the tires and alignment done annually.
 
I only do alignments when getting new tires, which for me is every 60-70k/1.3 years or so. I do, however, rotate and balance every 10k.
 
I agree, do it as it's needed.

I rotate my tires when i do oil changes. So for some of my cars it's every 5k while for another it's every 10k (which sees more highway cruising)

I usually shew through a set of tires and get an alignment when the new ones are put on. That keeps the new tires wearing evenly, helping them last as long as possible. It usually doesn't need an alignment until the next set of tires go on in 40-50k depending on brand and driving conditions.

I usually try to avoid going to the shop as much as possible. This saves time and money.
 
Originally Posted By: Chris Meutsch
I only do alignments when getting new tires, which for me is every 60-70k/1.3 years or so. I do, however, rotate and balance every 10k.


Wow. Excessive, in my opinion.
 
Originally Posted By: Malo83
Don't put a lot of miles on my Malibu LTZ, but I have the tires and alignment done annually.


You have what done with the alignment, a rotation or a balancing. Either way, they should give you a before/after print-out. Do you mind if I ask how much weight they add, and how far off your alignment was. Thanks in advance for sharing.
 
Like said, you're doing nothing more than introducing more problems to the vehicle by getting alignments done without symptoms.

Total waste of time and money.

Joel
 
I get alignments every year because my car spends 90% of its time on the awful Chicago streets. Each year the alignment is out of spec in a few areas.
 
Years ago a good Machinist once told me that as long as your tires wear evenly , you don't need an alignment. He said that once you get an alignment, you will need them periodically, as they can never get them as tight as the factory.

It seems to be working for me. I rarely get any of my vehicles aligned and routinely get 60,000 to 80,000 miles on factory tires (except Van and Corvette). I do rotate tires every 7500 miles.
 
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I purchase tires at Sam's Club. Their pricing are very competitive and they have lifetime (of the tire) balance and rotation, along with flat repair. My mom purchased tires about a year ago, had a nail, they replaced the tire because they said it was in the sidewall, even though it was 2" off the sidewall into the tread. I think someone there needed a good tire.

With this, I rotate and balance at every oil change which is every 5,000. If I didn't have free rotation and balance, I'd probably still rotate every oil change but balance when they felt out of balance.

I get an alignment with the purchase a set of new tires.
 
So If I'm gauging everyone's opinion correctly; alignment unless pulling is obvious isn't required and may not provide a benefit, balancing however say every other rotation (12k miles) may not be a bad idea.

I spoke with the local shop and they provide lifetime service for $88, I think I may take them up on it.
 
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