How often should tire balancing be checked?
This can best be answered by simply remembering the thousands of revolutions which most tires make every day in simple driving conditions. Now take into the account that every road is not perfect and may have cracks, holes, rocks, glass, many kinds of other hard and sharp debris, all of which can come into fast and frequent contact with the tire as it is driven. Each one of these tiny contacts in themselves may not make any significant difference in the wear and life of the tire, but again these events are repeated thousands of times a day, over and over.
The result: the tires wear, but not only that, because the contacts with foreign objects are not usually in any regular orderly sequence, the tires will probably wear unevenly. Very gradually this uneven wearing of the tire changes the balanced condition which was established when the tire was installed. It is not likely that the change will become noticeable very suddenly unless there has been some unusual impact or extremely harsh road conditions. However, if a tire is tested after it has been used for a few months or after 1,000 to 2,000 miles of driving, it is not at all unusual that there has been a sufficient change to make a detectable difference.
Obviously the ideal would be to have your tires balanced every day you start out just as it would be great to change the oil, lubricate, wash and polish and do other types of up-keep and maintenance but in real life this isn't practical. Under average driving conditions, experience of many thousands of motorists has shown that it is advisable to check the balance on tires every time they are being rotated (between 4 and 6,000 miles) and certainly any time it becomes necessary to make a repair to the tire because of a puncture.
The conclusion?
Tire balancing is important to keeping your vehicle in good mechanical condition. If it is only attended to when there is a noticeable vibration in the ride or is felt via the steering wheel, it may have already caused considerable stress on your vehicle.
1. Always balance new tires when they are installed
2. Check tires for proper balance whenever tire rotation is performed at intervals of 4,000 to 6,000 miles.
3. Have any tire which is repaired, balanced again to compensate for the weight change produced by the patch and the damage being fixed.
