Dear Tom and Ray:
I am getting new tires on a pretty new car (about 2 years old). Is it necessary to have both the tires re-balanced and the four wheel alignment?
Tires are not cheap that are worth buying . You have an all wheel vehicle where all 4 tires should be the same and rotated on a regular schedule . The 4 wheel alignment will help the tires wear more consistently .
So Yes the balance and alignment is just a good thing to do.
Also as far as we know Ray does not answer here.
New tires ALWAYS have to be balanced, and the installation fee for the tires normally includes the fee for balancing. As to whether it needs alignment, that is dependent on the condition of the roads in your area, and whether anyone driving it has ever “clipped” a curb.
I get my tires from Costco, and the receipt always includes some “boilerplate” verbiage about alignment being recommended. Just bear in mind that if your new tires begin to exhibit uneven wear, the tire mfr will not cover that wear because it would be an indication of bad alignment.
I prefer to get an alignment with each set of new tires. Some people will say that it’s not needed unless you see abnormal tire wear, but by the time you see that you’ve reduced the life of the tires and you might get more noise from them as well.
Yup!
Shortly after I get new tires, I have a 4-wheel alignment done.
If the old tires have worn evenly side-to-side, that means your alignment is fine. After a couple alignment tweaks by dealers in its first year, my 1999 Honda Civic needed no alignments until 2018, when it get hit and the right steering knuckle (and much more) got bent. After installing a new (used) knuckle I had it aligned.
If the tires lasted the expected lifetime and were worn evenly, you should not need an alignment. I would expect the OEM tires to last around 50k miles. If you have been off roading with this thing, then a new alignment is probably a good idea.