Swap to summer wheel setup - balance/alignment?
 

Question for ya'll.

As an owner of my beloved X5, I am trying to find out, do I need a balance and/or alignment done?
I bought the X in August last year with summer rims/high performance summer tires. When we had a in September I realized I needed winter tires. So I bought rims off kijiji and brand new winter tires from Kal Tire. Kal tire installed it all. Now, with winter hopefully nearing an end, I want to put my summer rim/tire combo back on soon.
Now, do you guys think that I need to get this setup either balanced, aligned, both or neither? I don't want to see my summer tire setup (or winter obviously) wear out prematurely or not act to it's full performance as each tire is very costly.

Thoughts?
Also, I ask because,
1) I have never owned a awd vehicle until this one
2) I don't remember the last time I had a balance/alignment on any vehicle

The balancing is almost always done off vehicle. Removing the wheels will not change anything. If you aren't feeling vibration as you drive, the balance should be fine. If you are feeling vibration, balance is one thing to check.

Alignment is up to you. Does it handle strangely when accelerating or braking, or jerk sideways when you hit a bump? The tires will tell most of this story - check the tires that have been on the vehicle. Measure the tread depth on the inner and outer edges. Is the wear uniform? No cupping or feathering?

How many miles do you have on your winters? What do they look like, and have you had any of the symptoms previously noted? Particularly if wear/wobble etc., and you have no history of an alignment on the vehicle and it has usual miles [what year is it? mileage?], you might want to have balance on the summers/4 wheel alignment when you have them mounted. All alignments are not the same. I had mine done at a shop with the proper equipment, name of which escapes me at the moment, for a reasonable price.

Removing/replacing wheels does not require an alignment. The balancing is related only to the wheel/tire combo per wheel, and the alignment is related to the suspension. You can swap wheels (that have been balanced when the tires we first mounted to the wheel) as much as your heart desires and need nothing.

With that being said, if you cannot remember when you last had a an alignment it would be a good idea to have it checked.

Check your receipt or give Kal Tire a call (if you don't remember)...but many tire stores usually sell or offer lifetime (of the tires) balancing.

Discount Tire here in the USA offers lifetime balancing...and since I purchased both my summer & winter tires from them (for multiple vehicles over multiple years)...as a customer benefit...they also offer free mounting/dismounting of the summer/winter set-up...and they also balance them for free.

The free balancing is a nice benefit because you can lose a weight over the course of the year that the tires are mounted...so the next time they go onto the vehicle...if the wheels did lose a weight or for some reason were out of balance...it would be caught at the next change-over.

Again, you need to ask Kal Tire about this and if they offer these benefits to customers that have purchased from them.

Good luck.

When you put the summers back on, be sure to check for proper inflation. Some people store tires at higher inflation, you might want to do that for your winters (someone else will have to tell us both why that is done).

If the tires were stored upright, they might have flat spots on the bottom. These will round out after 3-5 miles of driving, but until they do it will feel like something is really wrong. That is normal (some tires do this just sitting in a warm parking lot all day at work).

Rebalancing should not be needed unless they were damaged or a weight removed. Alignment is in the suspension, not the tires/wheels, so is independent of wheel changes - as others have already posted, determined in part by tire wear and in part by feel on the road, and best by measurement at a shop if really concerned.

My two cents here. You said it youself, your summer/performance tires are quite pricey, so why not start the season off with a balance (check to see if you dropped a weight last season??) and an alignment, make sure that you use a shop that knows how to align the X5 (apparently there are issues!! might even be a good idea to use a local dealership, if you need any parts or work done, you can decide to either do that yourself, or have an indy shop do it , or if the price is right, the dealership.)
I always bag and tag my tires each season, I also wash and wax the rims inside and out too, makes them look new when i put them on next season!
i store my wheels inflated to proper pressure, and on their sides stacked in the shop out of any direct sun in their bags (thank you kal tire!!)
after a rough winter its a good idea to give the suspension a thorough once over so your summer season is as pleasant and surprise free as it can be!
:cool:

If the summer set ran smoothly and steered well when you took them off, I would put them back on and go...

Use a decent torque wrench, maybe re torque in 500+ miles, and if they run smooth again, and steer well, you should be fine.

Imo, alignment is one of the most overdone 'maintenance items' there is, unless one is hammering on badly potholed roads all winter. My 50Cts...
GL, mD

Thanks guys.

I measured the tread depth of each summer tire and they were all looking very good. I did notice that two of the rims looked like they lost balance weights, so I decided to drop off all 4 sets of tires/rims at a shop to be balanced. As for alignment, I don't think I'll require one. The X handled like a dream all summer/winter.

Oh, I will be replacing my swar bar links, that shouldn't require an alignment afterwards, should it?

Thanks again