Will the dashboard let me know when to get the balancing done

You're dash will NOT tell you when to get your tires balanced. Your tires do not need to be balanced after installation unless you notice a wobble in your steering at certain speeds. You would usually address this issue after a new set of tires were installed. As far as rotation, that should be performed at every oil change to minimize differences in wear over the life of the tire... Finally, you should have an alignment performed whenever you replace all four tires, sooner if you notice the car pulls left or right on even/level terrain.

 

If you have an owners manual, please read it.
If not, visit a Toyota dealer and get one.

To make things easy, most people rotate the tires when the oil is changed.

You know the "tread life" of the tires by inspecting them every 5000 miles or so.

 

Tread life can be measured visually. Every tire has wear bars built into the tread. If you look at the tread you will see little bars that go across the tread. When the tread has worn down and is level with the bars, its time for new tires. I rotate my tires at every 5K mile interval.

 

Your dash will only let you know when your tires need to be rotated when it starts rattling from the tires not having been properly rotated.

It's pretty simple.
First of all, you need a dial-type or digital gauge, and depending on where and how much you drive, you need to measure your tire pressures at least every month. Actually? More than that, but I'm being realistic here. Don't get a stick-type gauge, and don't rely on the TPMS (little light) to tell you when your tires are low out of spec.
There is a decal (usually inside the driver's side door sill) that will tell you how much air to keep in the tires. On my 2010, IIRC, it's 35psi for the front two and 33psi for the rear two tires.
Why the difference?
Because the Prius is a lot heavier in the front, which is one of the reasons to rotate the tires.
FWIW......you can probably increase each tire by 5-psi (40psi/38psi) and get a little more mileage and a little more tire life, but the car will ride a little more stiffly.
That's your choice and people get into long and stupid arguments about what is "better."
I'd go with 40/38, but it's YOUR car.

If you don't do this, then don't worry about balancing or rotating your tires at all and just let the dealer worry about it.
Replace them when you hear the Wha-wha-wha from them cupping, or when the tires are worn enough to warrant replacement.
If you get all of the servicing done at a Toyota dealership, then they will keep track of when rotations are done or needed to be done.
If you're not familiar with the maintenance schedule, then history suggests that you might get duped into buying some unneeded service for your car.
There's also the possibility that they may not keep tabs on your tire rotations, or they may just "forget" to document or even perform the rotations.
Finally, there's spin balancing, alignments, and the whole Nitrogen scam.

What I would do (and what I have done) is get replacement tires at a big box store (Sams/Costco) and keep tabs on rotations and balancing with the paperwork that they provide with the tires.
These stores provide lifetime rotation and balancing (and a prorated road hazard warranty) when you buy their tires and they will perform these services every 6,000 miles or so, which is about how often I have mine rotated and balanced.

I don't bother with nitrogen. If you go to Costco, or any place that puts nitrogen in your tires, take the black valve caps off of your old tires before you go into the store and put them in your pocket or purse.
When they're finished, you might notice that they've put a set of bright lime green caps on your tires.
Take these off immediately and replace them with the black ones.
The black ones don't protect the valve stems any better, but the green ones might lead whomever works on your car to believe that you're more gullible than you really are, and they might try a(nother) scam on you.

How long your tires last is a function of how well you maintain your tires, how you drive the car, and what kind of tires you buy.
Soft tires wear more quickly, but can provide better performance in some areas.

Most Prius tires should last about about 50-70,ooo miles, but I've seen tires having to be replaced at 25,000 miles.
A quick visit to your local tire shop will reveal how your current tires are wearing and how much life they have left in them.


Good Luck!



Short Answer: I rotate and balance mine every six to eight thousand miles.

 

The black ones don't protect the valve stems any better, but the green ones might lead whomever works on your car to believe that you're more gullible than you really are, and they might try a(nother) scam on you.

What is this all about?

 

Easy.
Should You Fill Your Car's Tires With Nitrogen?
Do Nitrogen-Filled Tires Enhance Fuel-Efficiency? - Scientific American
Nitrogen in tires - Q&A
The Straight Dope: Is it better to fill your tires with nitrogen instead of air?


Nitrogenated tires are, in my never to be humbled opinion, a rip off.

However (comma!) About 150 years ago Phineas Taylor Barnum was thought to have said that:
"There's a sucker born every minute!"
It was actually one of P.T. Barnum's rivals that coined that phrase, but since gas is pretty expensive these days, and since every body over the age of six pretty much knows not to pay MSRP for cars, and SINCE car dealers still have to buy property and build massive showrooms and make a profit????

They do goofy crap like "sell" nitrogen.

See Also:
Fabric and pair protection packages.
VIN etching.
OEM warranties.
GAP insurance.
Credit life coverage.

Most good really good scams have a shiny bauble to distract your attention away from what's going on in your wallet or purse.

With Nitrogenated tires?
Its the green caps.
They also alert anybody who is going to be working on the car in the future that the owner might fall for other scams like unnecessary throttle body cleaning, extra transmission flushes, A/C "restorizers" etc.


Your call.

Good Luck!

 

Thanks for the article!

 

I just got new Michelin tires at Costco and they gave me Silver Valve Caps. Now what do I do?

 

OOOOHHHH! those are the high performance valve caps, you'll notice the hp increase. Really

 

I am going to screw with my dealer next time I get service and put one black cap, one silver cap, one green cap and one red cap on each different valve stem, that should confuse them

 

I'd not consider GAP insurance a scam. It's protection should your car be declared a loss but you still owe more on it than it's worth.

Naturally, you drop the coverage once your amount owed is lower than the car's value, but even Toyota Finance's GAP plan allows you to terminate the plan once it is no longer needed, and you get a pro-rated refund of the premium not used. It really protects them just as much as it protects you. They probably bank on people not getting around to cancelling the plan once it's no longer needed.

 

Just make sure the red one is on the left side and the green one is on the right.....

GAP insurance isn't necessarily "a scam" but getting it at a dealership usually is.
So is the dealership financing "zero-zero" program.

It's like the Nitrogen scam.
Putting nitrogen in your car's tires is totally not a scam, and there's clearly some infinitesimal advantage.
It's what they're charging for the service that's a rip-off.

Same with financing and insurance.

 

Nope ... You may have a tire pressure indicator sensor ... Will indicate low air pressure. As for the balancing ... I'd recommend every 6,000 miles rotate your tires and rebalance as normal tire maintenance. We'll work the expense.

Good luck.

Mr. Bill

 

The website warns that the low-profile tires on the 17" wheels may get less than 24,000 miles. I assume the regular tires on the 15" wheels get the 50,000-70,000. That's the main reason I decided against the 17" wheels, I'd be replacing tires every other year.

 

Unfortunately, few places offer GAP insurance, so I had to buy it from the dealer/Toyota.

 

Nitrogen filled tire is a freaking scam. The true purpose of nitrogen filled tires is to eliminate moisture in the tires and stabilize the pressure difference between hot and cold. Seriously. The air already has 78% nitrogen. The best you'll do at a tire shop is 95% nitrogen after purging several times. Even then, you'll still have oxygen in the tire which will induce moisture. You're not driving an earth mover, a space shuttle or a jumbo jet. You don't need nitrogen filled tires. The nitrogen you pay from tire shops are half assed anyway. Many just fill it one time with nitrogen tank without purging. No tire shop is going to build a sealed, 100% nitrogen filled tire mounting enclosure where the mechanic is in a space suit just to charge you $10 per tire to fill with 100% nitrogen. NASA, Boeing and Airbus might. Ohh wait, not NASA, they retired the Endeavor, Discovery and Atlantis years ago.

 

The only positive use of nitrogen is in wheels that are chrome plated. Moisture inside a chrome plated wheel really messes it up. Nitrogen filled wheels/tires don't have moisture problem.

 

Balancing tires every 6K miles is just a waste of money.

Unless a tire experiences a major trauma......or a balancing weight falls off......they should not need to be re-balanced for their whole life.
I consider having it checked at 20K miles, unless the tread is about gone at that point, or when a vibration is noticed.

 

While not 100% perfect, you can FEEL if a tire is out of balance...or at least HEAR it. Balance issues so minor you can't hear or feel it usually have little impact on tire wear.

I've NEVER had a tire balance issue during the life of a tire UNLESS (1) there was a tire puncture/repair (rebalance required to compensate for patch/plug), or (2) the tire is defective and coming apart from withing (e.g., belt separation).