[Karl Childers]

A car question if anyone feels like tackling it, wheel balancing in particular. 20 year old Subaru Forester that I've owned since new, it still runs good  but looks a little tatty, it's now used as a winter car for the wife and I. Being a cheapskate when I replaced the tires recently (all 4) I got a great deal online, free delivery etc. I then broke down the old tires and mounted the new ones myself. I don't have a wheel balancer that can handle a car tire so I figured I'd have a shop spin balance them but out of curiosity I took it for a test ride and from 0 to 80 mph there is no vibration in either the front or rear which surprised me. Any vehicle I've ever owned if the tire threw a wheel weight I could feel the vibration either through the steering wheel or seat depending which end of the car it was on. My question is should I bother to get them spin balanced? It's an old car with 200,000 + miles I don't spend anymore than I have to on it and with no symptoms I'm tempted to leave it as is. Opinions?

[tooseevee]

A car question if anyone feels like tackling it, wheel balancing in particular. 20 year old Subaru Forester that I've owned since new, it still runs good  but looks a little tatty, it's now used as a winter car for the wife and I. Being a cheapskate when I replaced the tires recently (all 4) I got a great deal online, free delivery etc. I then broke down the old tires and mounted the new ones myself. I don't have a wheel balancer that can handle a car tire so I figured I'd have a shop spin balance them but out of curiosity I took it for a test ride and from 0 to 80 mph there is no vibration in either the front or rear which surprised me. Any vehicle I've ever owned if the tire threw a wheel weight I could feel the vibration either through the steering wheel or seat depending which end of the car it was on. My question is should I bother to get them spin balanced? It's an old car with 200,000 + miles I don't spend anymore than I have to on it and with no symptoms I'm tempted to leave it as is. Opinions?

           I agree with you. If you're not getting that little, sometimes almost imperceptible, tiny judder in the steerin' wheel at each 10mph increment, I wouldn't worry about spin balancing. And I know you will "feel" it if it's there because you know this vehicle well.

            You'll see if there's any "judder" you can't feel by looking at the treadwear pattern after 4 or 500 miles.

[cyrusb]

That is interesting. Did you remove the existing wheel weights?
 And I also agree, if you cant feel it, you're good.
 May be a good time to buy a lottery ticket.

[Karl Childers]

That is interesting. Did you remove the existing wheel weights?
 And I also agree, if you cant feel it, you're good.
 May be a good time to buy a lottery ticket.

I did remove the old weights.

Yeah I was thinking that or Vegas. 

[Bilgemaster]

If there's no perceptible hippity-hop you might have just gotten lucky with the balance. Time will tell how lucky should uneven treadwear become apparent.

Some tires have a "balance dot" painted on the sidewall, which is generally the light spot and the part of the tire that should be oriented at the valve. This old Cycle World article describes this and other tire mounting matters: https://www.cycleworld.com/sport-rider/motorcycle-tire-mounting-and-balancing-tips/

If your tires start to exhibit signs of imbalance in poor handling or uneven wear, you could either pull 'em off for proper balancing, try those "balancing beads" some use, or even something like "Slime" or similar puncture-sealant goo to ameliorate a mild imbalance. But you may well be just fine as is. It happens.

[Karl Childers]

I'll add one more bizarre aspect to this, The tires are General Tire brand. When I looked at the sidewall and saw the country of origin was Russia I winced a little bit, a normal reaction for a former Dnepr owner. I would have expected these tires to have shaken the car to pieces without balance weights!

[Carl Fenn]

Well that’s just the way things are you can have a balanced wheel change the tire remove the balance weights and then fit new tire and find it’s balanced it happens sometimes you will soon know if they are out of balance.