I recently bought a new set of tires. When I picked up my car the guy at Big O Tires told me I had a rear wheel out of round. He spun the tire on a spoke, and if I looked carefully I could see a wobble. They were able to balance the wheel with the new tire. The guy suggested that I get a new wheel, but said it’s not urgent.
Appreciate your thoughts.
It’s entirely possible for one wheel to be out of round. If it’s hard to see on the balance machine it may not make any difference.
Can you feel it when you drive? How long have you had the car? The wheel may have been like this for a long time.
Has there been abnormal tire wear on that particular wheel? If not I’d probably ignore it.
If I was buying new tyres and I had a wheel out of round, I would want to replace it sooner than later, to prevent uneven wear on the tyre.
You did not say what kind of wheel you have. I suspect it is a fancy alloy wheel. You might find that a replacement is expensive. You may be able to have the wheel trued. Check local shops.
I am not a fan of the fancy wheels. Most are more easily damaged than steel wheels.
The only way this could happen to a wheel is through impact damage. If I discovered a wheel out of “true” by enough to be visable via simply spinning it, I’d replace it immediately.
If it’s an OEM alloy wheel, you can save a ton of cash by looking on th einternet for an aftermarket exact replacement. I replaced one (impact damage to the rim edge) for way less that 1/2 what the dealer quoted me.