stupid question: how do I know if my wheels/tires are not balanced?

[kathymoore]

stupid question: how do I know if my wheels/tires are not balanced?

I bought the 4 tires from Tire Rack and took them to my Toyota dealer who installed/balanced the tires/wheels for $16 each, or $64 total, plus $4 for the county disposal fee. I thought it was a pretty fair price because that's less than what the NTB and Merchant's Tire people want.

That was two days ago. I've driven about a hundre highway miles at 60 to 70mph. I am hearing strange wind-noise-like sounds. The faster I go, the louder/faster the sound becomes.

Took the car back to the dealer today and they checked it out. The advisor told me the balance was okay on all four and they even "dynamic balanced' the wheels. I have no idea what that means. I just know that my car feels and sounds different. Customers were not allowed to look into the work area and I couldn't even figure out how they were able to determine all 4 wheels/tires were correctly balanced in only 5 minutes. Doesn't it take longer than 5 minutes just to take the wheel off and put it on the balance machine?

Please give me some advice.. sorry for this silly question.

[Silver Streak]

What tires did you buy? They are possibly more aggressive than the ones that came stock with your Toyota. Usually, the stickier the tire, the louder it is. If your wheel is not balanced, you'll feel vibrations instead...not sure how they can figure out if it balanced in 5 minutes.

What size is the tire? Is it the same as stock? If not, the wider the tire, the gripper it is, and then your car will perform differently.

Just remember, not all tires will sound/feel the same. For instance, when you put on snow tires, it sounds like you're in a train....