Help, please. Tires, balance, what is problem?

I would say buy better tires. Michelin has always served me well, they usually get 100k miles on my Prii, hold their balance extremely well, have never failed even when worn thin, a real win win even if they cost twice as much. Costco or Sam's have them on sale every other month, plus give free rotations and balances.

If desired have an independent shop check the alignment.

Unless it was wrecked or routinely driven into giant potholes, alignment or suspension is an unlikely cause. Driving long distances on a severely low tire could be a problem, but we are talking 10 psi on a Prius.

 

Your tire pressure sensors will light up long before that.

She'll be waiting a very long tome to see that happen on a 2005.....

 

wow...two blowouts.
That is rare and may I say could be scary.

My guesses, bad tire maker, too much air pressure, road debris, too much high speed for too long.

I can't recall ever seeing a tire that did not need balancing, even when rotating the tire around the rim for best beginning balance.
So, you tire dealer does not seem the best.
Yet true, the lack of balancing can "cup" a tire's threads and this cupping is hard to eliminate even with miles.

FWIW. Use name brand tire, don't over inflate, use Road Force (brand name) balancer, find a new shop.

Good luck.

 

@Elizabeth2005 recently wrote:

We have a 2005 Prius with about 170,000 miles. It's just getting broken in. Should be good for many more miles!!

Tires were fairly new. Just before a recent road trip, we took it in. Dealer said no balancing of tires was needed. This sounds reasonable. If you have no noticeable vibrations in the steering wheel, or shimmies of the car, balance should be close enough to not be an issue.

But on the trip, there were two blowouts. I find it hard to believe that balance of a tire would have anything to do with a tire blowing out. I've had my share of flats, etc and they've never been from a balance issue. And I've driven some cars that had seriously unbalanced tires.

Even with the two brand new tires, when we got back from the road trip, the same dealer told us we needed four new tires because of tread wear caused by improper balancing when the new tires were put on during the trip. Personally, I would throw the BullShi* penalty flag....

Other than the fact that I think we need a different dealer, it seems like we need something besides new tires. My opinion is NAILED IT...

Is there a balance problem? Unlikely, as if balance was off enough to cause a blowout, the car would have shaken your brains out first...

An alignment problem? A suspension problem? Much more likely than a balance issue....

Or is this just not a car that we can take on 500 and 600 mile road trips any longer? If your Gen 2 was even moderately taken care of during it's life, it likely has a lot of life left in it

 

Tire issues have nothing whatsoever to do with what kind of car it is or the age of the car. It could be a 1957 Edsel and if the wheels themselves are not compromised, then new (or "fairly new") tires on that are no different than if it was a 2020 Prius.

So your question is completely independent of the car being a 2005 Prius.

But you didn't really say enough to comment. So the tires were "fairly new." Why did the question of balancing come up with the dealer? Was something odd going on with how the car drove? What made tire balancing a question with the dealer? (And stop going to dealers especially for something as routine and basic as tires. Find a local, reputable tire/alignment shop or something like that).

And, as noted by Kenny94945 to have 2 blowouts on a trip is bizarre. Do you mean flat tires? Presumably these blowouts meant getting service (roadside assistance / tire shop or whatever). What was said about the cause of the tire failures?

It's not from balancing, I can assure you of that.

And yes, your "Dealer" is full of it. A tire balance problem will create uneven wear. But not anything that is noticeable in in the 500 mile range. A severe alignment problem will kill tires fast, but to kill a tire in 500 miles? It would likely be that the car is not driveable.

All I can say (again, I guess) is to find a reputable local shop that specializes in alignments (and most will also specialize in tires). Local means NOT a big-time brand name. Ask around among people you know and find a place names something like "Bob's" or "Tom's" where Bob or Tom live somewhere in or near town and have worked hard to gain a good reputation.