A seasonal changeover is two balancing jobs
Anyone running a separate winter set is mounting tires twice a year, and each of those is a balancing event rather than a tire swap.
Treating the changeover as a lift-and-shift is where the vibration complaints come from. Weights get lost, assemblies are reused on different corners, and a set that was smooth last March is not smooth this November. Balancing each time is part of the job rather than an extra.
It is also the moment to have the removed set read. The wear pattern on tires coming off is physical evidence of what the vehicle has been doing, and it costs nothing to look at while they are in your hands. Uneven wear points at alignment, cupping points at suspension, and both are handled here.
What balancing is protecting
An unbalanced assembly vibrates at speed, and the vibration goes into the tread, the suspension and the steering continuously.
The tread wears in patches, which takes a set off early. On a commercial tire it also costs the casing its retread life, which is a second loss on the same tire. The shake in the steering wheel is only the part you can feel.
Everything from a car to a loader
Billings carries all nine Purcell tire categories, and the balancing work covers the range: passenger and light truck assemblies, commercial truck and trailer, agricultural and equipment.
That range is the reason this store suits a mixed operation. A business with pickups, a tractor-trailer and a machine can deal with all three at one address, which is not true at Belgrade, the other Purcell location in Montana, where there is no alignment.
When it is worth asking for
The national tire and wheel balancing page lists the occasions. The one specific to running two sets is the changeover itself, twice a year, which is the version people skip because it does not feel like new work.
A vibration at every speed or a steering pull is a different problem, and alignment is the place to look.
About this store
The Billings store is open Monday to Friday, 7:30 AM to 5:00 PM, managed by Larry Wagoner, at 2604 Belknap Ave. It also offers wheel refurbishing, which is what to check when a vibration survives rebalancing.
See the national tire and wheel balancing page for all 51 locations.