lib

I had a very slow leak repaired at a local tire shop yesterday. The guy said he found a small nail in the passenger front tire tread field (not sidewall). He broke down the tire and patched it. This morning the front end had a vibration in the steering wheel at 55-60 mph. that felt like a tire out of balance. I returned to the tire store and a service-writer asked me if I'd been offered the option to pay for a re-balance of the tire after the patch was done. I said no, they checked the paperwork, and said I was correct. They assured me it was common for a patch to throw a tire out of balance. I then sought out the manager. He told them to balance both front tires, no charge, and I was on my way again.He said a patch doesn't normally affect the balance of a tire! It drove correctly after the re-balance.
When I worked around a tire store we always marked the stem, weights, etc, with chalk sticks before breaking it down- then put them back to the marks we had made before re-installing the tire on vehicle. I don't remember the patches causing balance problems. Was somebody trying to blow smoke up my...........?

Frankie the Fink

I've never had to have a tire rebalanced due to patching a puncture.
I'd bet dollars to doughnuts Bubba knocked a wheel weight off doing the patch.