I usually get all my work done at the Toyota dealership, but I thought I'd save some money this time, and have Sam's Club balance my tires. I had bought 4 Yokohama directional tires from my dealership last year because the tires included free lifetime rotation. Low and behold, I come to learn last month that the balancing is NOT free at the dealership--just the rotation is free. In fact balancing 4 tires would cost $60 at the dealership, or the "cut-rate" of $40 for me since I bought all 4 tires at the dealership. Nice cut-rate, ay? Sam's Club offers both free tire rotation AND balancing when you buy the tires at Sam's.
Here's the rub. Maybe the quality of work performed on Toyota cars is greater at the Toyota dealership than at any other non-Toyota automotive place, since the dealer's techs work just on Toyotas all day long. I say this because within a day or two of having Sam's Club rotate and balance my 4 tires for just $15 total, at least one of my wheels started to squeak when I would apply the brakes. My wheels never, ever used to squeak. Now one or more squeak from 20 percent to 50 percent of the time whenever I apply my brakes.
Does it sound like the two young 20-something technicians at Sam's Club who rotated and balanced my tires may have done something wrong by mistake? I did see them apply some weights to one or two tires. One tire had two differently shaped weights applied to it. Maybe an error was made. It's just so odd that within a day or two of their work, one or more tires have started squeaking. I think it's just the passenger front tire that's squeaking, which is one of the tires they applied weights to. But it could be other tires squeaking too--I haven't determined yet exactly which tire(s) are the squeakers when braking, but the squeaking happens from 20 to 50 percent of the time when braking.
I usually never have the tires re-balanced when rotating, but several months ago, I had a flat within the first 2 or 3,000 miles with these tires, and the hole was plugged, so last Friday I thought I'd have the tires re-balanced when rotated at Sam's since the dealership would have charged $40 to $60 for the balancing.
Also, is there some inexpensive contraption I can buy to balance the tires myself? Thanks.
Here's the rub. Maybe the quality of work performed on Toyota cars is greater at the Toyota dealership than at any other non-Toyota automotive place, since the dealer's techs work just on Toyotas all day long. I say this because within a day or two of having Sam's Club rotate and balance my 4 tires for just $15 total, at least one of my wheels started to squeak when I would apply the brakes. My wheels never, ever used to squeak. Now one or more squeak from 20 percent to 50 percent of the time whenever I apply my brakes.
Does it sound like the two young 20-something technicians at Sam's Club who rotated and balanced my tires may have done something wrong by mistake? I did see them apply some weights to one or two tires. One tire had two differently shaped weights applied to it. Maybe an error was made. It's just so odd that within a day or two of their work, one or more tires have started squeaking. I think it's just the passenger front tire that's squeaking, which is one of the tires they applied weights to. But it could be other tires squeaking too--I haven't determined yet exactly which tire(s) are the squeakers when braking, but the squeaking happens from 20 to 50 percent of the time when braking.
I usually never have the tires re-balanced when rotating, but several months ago, I had a flat within the first 2 or 3,000 miles with these tires, and the hole was plugged, so last Friday I thought I'd have the tires re-balanced when rotated at Sam's since the dealership would have charged $40 to $60 for the balancing.
Also, is there some inexpensive contraption I can buy to balance the tires myself? Thanks.