Originally Posted By: Ducked
So early balancing requirement is an indication of non-uniform construction, which MIGHT in turn be an indication of relatively poor quality.
Depends what you mean by "poor."
I'd certainly characterize it that way. The best tires rarely need re-balancing, and I rarely see the point of buying anything else; the marginal cost of those tires over inferior options is very small relative to most cars' total cost of ownership, but the performance and safety advantages are large. So yeah, I'd say a need for re-balancing generally suggests poor quality -- "poor" not in the sense of "worse than average", but in the sense of "worse than is usually worth considering."
To be fair, though, most tires are fairly likely to need re-balancing, including a lot of models that most people think very highly of -- like the General Altimax RT43, apparently, which might be the most frequently recommended single tire model here. So, if you go by most people's tire quality standards, the need for re-balancing is just part of the game and no indicator of poor quality.
Also, AFAIK, periodic balance checks are considered good practice for any car that will be driving at triple-digit speeds, even if you're using the best tires. Not sure how relevant that is here, but there it is FWIW.
So early balancing requirement is an indication of non-uniform construction, which MIGHT in turn be an indication of relatively poor quality.
Depends what you mean by "poor."
I'd certainly characterize it that way. The best tires rarely need re-balancing, and I rarely see the point of buying anything else; the marginal cost of those tires over inferior options is very small relative to most cars' total cost of ownership, but the performance and safety advantages are large. So yeah, I'd say a need for re-balancing generally suggests poor quality -- "poor" not in the sense of "worse than average", but in the sense of "worse than is usually worth considering."
To be fair, though, most tires are fairly likely to need re-balancing, including a lot of models that most people think very highly of -- like the General Altimax RT43, apparently, which might be the most frequently recommended single tire model here. So, if you go by most people's tire quality standards, the need for re-balancing is just part of the game and no indicator of poor quality.
Also, AFAIK, periodic balance checks are considered good practice for any car that will be driving at triple-digit speeds, even if you're using the best tires. Not sure how relevant that is here, but there it is FWIW.
