How often should the Sprinter wheels be balanced?

[fjc]

How often should the Sprinter wheels be balanced?

I usually take my car in every 5K to get balanced. I can feel the difference afterward.

[Davydd]

After 200,000 miles with three Sprinters I have only had three wheel balancings all when I replaced the OEM tires. Every Sprinter had good tire wear before and after tire changes. I guess I am lucky in that regard. I've read of many problems online.

[hepcat]

On my vans and motorhomes that use 16" wheels, when I have the tires replaced, I have them use tire balancing beads; the same stuff they use in 19.5" and 22.5" truck wheels. It's once and done for the life of the tire.

[Rocketman53]

If you're "feeling the difference afterward" you might want to check alignments. Properly balanced tires, properly aligned and inflated, should wear properly, and not give you a difference to feel after 5000 miles, especially if you are rotating them. Have you noticed any uneven wear patterns?

[avanti]

When I was a kid, I owned a 1967 VW bus. Because I loved it so much, I used to take it to the dealer for routine service. I always had the impression that I could "feel the difference" afterwords. Even then, I knew the this was nonsense and that it was all in my head, but I could still "feel" it.

There are reasons why medical researchers use double-blind studies.

[booster]

Once properly balanced (which often doesn't happen on the first try for some reason) I have never had to rebalance tires unless they throw a weight or get damaged, including the 16 wheels on the Roadtrek 190 Chevy.



What I have found is that other factors can make it appear that the tires are out of balance, like mud trapped on the inside of wheel or rotors that are out of balance. The rotor balance issue is much more common than most would think, including tire shops. If indexing the wheel onto different orientations on the studs, it is time to start looking for an issue other than tire balance.

[Rocketman53]

Originally Posted by booster

Once properly balanced (which often doesn't happen on the first try for some reason)...

In my days as a tire installer we suggested people put some miles on before balancing the tires/wheels, unless they wanted otherwise. The reason was because the new tire "reshaped" after driven a bit in a way that is unique to the vehicle and its road dynamics. That was particularly true of steel-belted radials. I can't speak to more modern materials and designs, although I suspect it is much the same. Dynamic spin balancing was also generally much more effective than static bubble balancing on automobiles.