Toyota suggests rotating tires every 5000 miles or 6 months, but does not suggest re-balancing or at least checking the balance. Should tire balance be checked every 5000 miles/6 months? What does Toyota charge for checking balance & re-balancing? Also, when should wheel alignment be checked?
i suppose if you rotate balance and align every 5k, it would only cost a c note or so, unless someone offers lifetime free?
I just did a "4 tyres for price of 3 + $1" from local dealer. They fitted them onto my winter steel rims, included (non TPMS) rubber valve stems and balanced them for no charge, and will do the swap (plus free alignment check) in a month or so when the snow starts to fly! I rotate wheels every 5000 miles.
Balancing the tires it is not a must unless you have some issue, and usually this is not related to the mileage of the car, the common problems are caused by the bad roads we are driving.
I get my tires at Sam's and they check the balance and rotate every 5000 to 7500 miles. I always get even tire wear between all four tires and never a vibration issue.
In probably a half million miles, I've never had to rebalance unless I had a tire repaired and removed from the rim. I've had wheels that weren't true, cars not aligned correctly, delaminations, punctures, etc.
Thanks for the responses that re-balancing & alignment is not necessary after rotation, if a tire has not been removed from the rim, has had no vibration or no large pothole/curb impacts, etc. We are new owners of a Prius v Model 5 (17 inch Toyo tires); so we plan to use Toyota's free maintenance for 2 years or 25000 miles. Does ToyotaCare for the first 2 years (probably our case) check tire balance, uneven tire wear patterns, etc., as part of its free tire rotation every 6 months. After 25000+ miles when we have to replace the stock Toyo tires, we will look for a LRR tire dealer, who offers free rotation with re-balancing, if possible.
Those 17" Toyo are really awful tires. I threw mine away after about 2K miles and saw instant improvements in ride, tracking, handling, traction and MPG. Not to mention they are noisier than they need to be. Jes sayin'. At the very least I would be doing everything possible to make them wear out faster.
...I don't get this ,I bought brand new a prius v Two with Yokohama tires on and the Five that's more expensive get cheap Toyo tires on?
Don't make any assumptions about the tire based on the brand. They are all made-to-order OEM tires, and dirt cheap.
Five years ago I bought a new Yaris with GoodYear tires on and after 10,000 miles I could see cracks on them,I rather have the Yokohama no matter how cheap they are.
rdgrimes, what did you replace your stock Toyo 17" tires with? We have no complaints with our stock Toyo's at 1200 miles, but this is our first hybrid; so we are not used to, but enjoying the smooth quiet ride with 46-47 mpg. It is good to hear that the Prius v Model 5 with new tires can get even better!!
