I have been told by a corvette specialist shop that I need to have my balancer replaced. When I look at the balancer, while the engine is running, it appears to have some run out or wobble. I have no experience with this condition or point of reference to determine if the wobble is "excessive" and the balancer is failing. The car goes down the road just fine and seems to perform well. Based on how the car runs, I would not suspect I have a bad balancer. My car has 23K miles on it. I have put a dab of white paint on the balancer and after some miles will look to see if there has been any movement following the paint being applied. I plan on keeping the car long term and I live in SW Florida. I do not intend to race or track the car. I want to do whatever needs to be done so I can drive the car as worry free as possible.

What I'm hoping to learn:
How does one confirm that the balancer is bad? What is the best value (not cheapest) balancer for how I use my car? What additional parts should be replaced (tensioner, belts, bolt etc.) and what additional services should I consider? Is it worth having the balancer pinned? I don't know how this type of service is billed: Is it typically quoted as one price or is it reasonable to expect to pay time and material? What is a reasonable hourly labor rate in SW Florida? Presuming I need to have the balancer replaced, I think I'm asking what I should expect to pay to have this job done? Obviously, what is replaced and the specific parts used as replacement will have an impact on the cost of the job. Has anyone had this job done by a shop in the Sarasota to Naples corridor and been happy with the outcome? Not asking much am I?

 

I'm curious what Corvette specialty shop said it needs to be replaced, and what you had the car in for when they recommended replacement of the balancer.
The oe balancer will fail. It's a really poorly made balancer and a bad design. The problem with waiting is when it comes apart it can cause extensive damage to the front of the motor.
The best is always a matter of opinion. The most expressive is ATI. The common best value is the Powerbond. A favorite for the money is the summit. EVERYONE will agree to not use an oe balancer. When you change it, pin it. You'll get mixed opinions and statements to only pin it if you're going to add a super charger. There's no key way on the snout of the crank. It's way to cheap and easy to pin it while you're changing it to not pin it.
As for how to tell... My opinion is any wobble is too much. Again the balancer WILL have to be replaced at some point anyway. Why wait? The painting a line and watching it is a good test.
As for expected price to pay, did the shop that said it needed to be replaced give you a quote? The last quote I got in the Sarasota area was $1300 but that was a couple of years ago. It was priced as labor at their hourly rate and parts. That's the way every shop should charge.
When changing it, change the belts, tensioners, pulleys, etc.

 

Is your 2012 GS a manual coupe (non convertible), if so it has the dry sump engine and will need the same balancer as the z06 fyi