do you think warehouse clubs really rebalance tires when rotating?
 

We took my wife's car in to get the Premiers rotated, a little over at 9k, and I noticed that on the receipt, the job was rotate, rebalance, reinflate.

Since I chalked the tires (ser#'s were not unique), the backs made it to the fronts, but the tires were not adjusted for psi. I wonder if they really would bother to rebalance every time? Or even check that?

Also noticed that they have such a service for $21.99 (rotate and balance), and you don't have to be a member. They did replace a broken green valve cap (coworker said overtightening will do that). Just curious, maybe next time I'll chalk the wheel weights lol

Not just warehouse clubs but I've gone to dealership service depts where they don't even rotate tires, much less balance them. So it really is YMMV depending on where you go.

Unless you get a noticeable vibration or shimmy, I wouldn't worry about re-balancing them every time they are rotated. Today's tires and wheels are so precisely made, with so little runout compared to decades ago, that vibration/balance problems are generally a thing of the past.....as long as you stick with stock wheels/tires and don't vary the size. Go with aftermarkets/conversions, though, and you may (?) be rolling the dice. You aren't guaranteed to have problems with aftermarket stuff (many people don't), but it definitely increases the risk.

I think you mileage will vary. Just like any place, dealer included.

That said, we have had tires done at Costco. Didn't seem to have any issues.

It's pretty rare, and quite unnecessary to rebalance tires that often. I've never heard of any place offering that with the usual rotation service. Something is fishy or misunderstood.

Go to discount tire, they never steer you wrong, I've bought 3 sets of tires from them, they are top notch in terms of customer service and always have the best prices. My main thing I love about them is that they don't sell junk tires. If they start seeing an increase of customers coming back with a certain model tire, they quit selling it, because it costs them money to replace a defective tire, rebalance, do warranty work, etc.

Re-balancing when you rotate, I bet a lot of these shops just place the wheel on the balancing machine, if it meets spec(or is pretty close), it goes back on the car.

This. It takes well under a minute to verify balance. Re-balancing doesn't have to mean anything is changed, just that after the process the wheel is balanced. If it was balanced before, no changes are warranted.

Yep, that's the place....I remember asking when we got the Premiers, do you have the adapter for lug centric balancing? The guy said we have every adapter under the sun....

Good point that they could have checked the balance and it was fine...but they did not release some nitrogen to bring the psi down to spec, that's for sure....my experience with nitrogen is that it "does" respond to temp....maybe not as much as air...

I would also assume it means the balance is just checked.

Also, I only have cars road force balanced nowadays. If they don't have a road force balancer I skip the balance. I'd be surprised if Costco did. My mechanic doesn't, and he knows not to balance my wheels.

I got a tour at the Porsche dealership and saw the equipment. When I was shopping around to get my online tires mounted, I asked the BMW dealership (figuring at least they'd be careful with the rims), and they said they get $75/wheel. I was like yikes, is that for Road Force? The guy goes no, we only use that if needed, when there's an issue. Most of the time, there isn't. I said wow, Firestone gets $17/per. this I found inappropriate--some girl goes yeah, because you get some minimum wage tech mounting your tires, do you want that? That's kind of unfair. I know at least on the LS and my wife's SUV, they do a fine job with the 4 wheel alignments. In the end I went to an indie, because I hate the idea of people jacking the BMW improperly and breaking the jack pads. They charged me $30/wheel, no scratches, balanced fine, installed my online new tpms, but I don't think it was road force....(didn't ask, figured I'd be back if any prob)...p.s. my wife's has a TSB stating wheels must be lug-centric balanced...costco did it and no issues...