How Much Does a Wheel Balancing Cost?

$ Costco: $24 per 4 wheels

$ $ PepBoys: $60 per 4 wheels

$ $ $ Car Dealerships: $80-$100 per 4 wheels

As a car owner, giving the proper maintenance to the car is vital to have it always in good condition, but it is also essential for safety purposes.

One of the most important maintenance services to do on a vehicle is wheel balancing.

Wheel balancing, also known as tire balancing, is a maintenance service that corrects the uneven distribution of the weight of your tires so they can rotate evenly when on the road.

Table of Contents

Why Doing a Wheel Balancing is Important?
Top Companies
Things to Consider

Why Doing a Wheel Balancing is Important?

When a tire is not well balanced, it can bring you many issues like vibration, which is caused by the wobble of the tire.

As the tires are the only part of the car that is in contact with the road, having control over them is essential, so if the tires are imbalanced, this could lead to a loss of traction and bad control, making it possible for them to become an accidents risk factor.

You can easily correct and prevent this by doing wheel balancing, which usually includes tire mounting and tire rotation.

This service can cost $6 to $20 per wheel, which in total can be $24 to $80 for all four wheels.

The price will always vary depending on the make and model of your vehicle and the place where you do it, like tire stores, automotive repair shops, and car dealerships (these last being the more expensive ones).

Top Companies

You can have a wheel balancing service at tire dealers like Firestone or Goodyear, car repair shops like Meineke or PepBoys, automotive departments at retailers like Costco or Sears, and most car dealerships (which typically are the most expensive ones)

Company	Price Range/Wheel
Costco	$6
Walmart	$10
PepBoys	$15
Car Dealerships	$20-$25

Things to Consider

Before Buying:

An important question would be: When it’s the perfect time for wheel balancing? Many indicators can tell you when it is time. Vibration is the most significant indicator that your car needs wheel balancing. Sometimes the vibration tells you which tire needs balancing (if you feel the vibration in the steering wheel, then probably the front tire needs balancing, and if you feel it in the seats, then the problem it’s probably in the rear). Many people wait till vibration appears to do it, but experts say you should have your tires checked with each oil change, which is every 5,000 to 10,000 miles, to see if they need it.

Car experts will want to try and do a wheel balancing at home. But this is a service we recommend better done by a professional, as you may not have all the necessary equipment at home (like a tire balancer, which tells you where to place weights on the tire to balance it). There’s a way to do a wheel balancing without removing them from the vehicle, but it isn’t easy, and it’s not for everyone. Here’s a video that shows how to balance tires at home.

When Buying:

The process may vary depending on where you bring your vehicle for this service, but the procedure follows similar steps in all places. Goodyear tells us all about how a typical wheel balancing service is done: first removing the tires and wheels, putting them on a balancing machine, spinning them to make sure the weight are where they need to be, detecting any imbalance, compensating the weight difference, and remounting the wheels and tires on the vehicle at last.
Usually, this process also includes tire and wheel rotation, which means changing where an individual wheel-and-tire is located on the vehicle. This is done because tires in the front wear down faster than those in the back.

After Buying:

Make sure to schedule your next wheel balancing appointment when you go for your oil change.
If you are buying new tires or your existing tires will be dismounted for repair, you should do a wheel balancing as well after the tires are back in your car.
After a wheel balancing, you should also do a wheel alignment to ensure the wheels are running in parallel.

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Giovanna Soto

Price Specialist at Costopedia

Hi there! My name is Giovanna and I’m a Med Student from Venezuela. My not-so-hidden passion for writing and research lead me to start working as a freelancer in 2016, and it’s been quite an interesting journey ever since. Speaking three languages (Spanish, English, and Italian) also contributed a lot by opening many doors for me in this field. I love to write my articles the way I would love to read them, full of interesting and true facts about the topic, and easy to read and follow, making them valuable for anyone out there. I like my job as a freelancer because I get to try and learn new skills with each new job, so I’m always excited to start new projects and for what’s next.