Is spare wheel balanced from factory?

[Mannym5]

I noticed the spare on my black diamond has no wheel weights on it. The rest of them all have visible external weights. Has anyone else noticed this, or is it possible my spare balanced without the need for weights? I plan to do a 5 wheel rotation at some point soon. Should I get the spare thrown on a balancer first?

I tried searching, but couldn't come to a conclusion. I read that f-150 raptor spare's do not come balanced.

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[‘21OBX]

Hmm I rotated in the spare on mine when I upgraded to badlands wheels. I’ll have to go look. Seems these days weights are stuck in the middle and on the back side. So they are not obvious.

 

[Jawaburger]

My Black Diamond has a balancing weight on the spare.

 

[Mannym5]

Hmm I rotated in the spare on mine when I upgraded to badlands wheels. I’ll have to go look. Seems these days weights are stuck in the middle and on the back side. So they are not obvious.

Yeah, I think badlands weights may be on the inside. My black diamond steelies have external weights that are more noticeable. I added photos as a reference.

 

[Mannym5]

My Black Diamond has a balancing weight on the spare.

Ok good to know, thanks.

 

[djbuff303]

I just did a 5-tire rotation on my Wildtrak - they checked the balance of all 5 as they rotated them. All were fine except for the spare, which did have to be balanced.

 

[FlyingScot]

My WT has balancing weights present on the spare. Whether it's actually balanced or not

 

[Roger123]

I just rotated my BL tires and the spare was indeed balanced. You do need to program the TPMS though, I used this one from Amazon and it worked perfectly.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09Z2P1P75?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

To me, it wouldn't make sense for them not to balance the spare, they would need two tire "lines" one for balanced and one for unbalanced. I'd think it would just be easier to balance every tire. It may make sense on cars with a different rim/ tire for the spare but not on Bronco.

 

[Jjt24]

I just rotated my BL tires and the spare was indeed balanced. You do need to program the TPMS though, I used this one from Amazon and it worked perfectly.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09Z2P1P75?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

To me, it wouldn't make sense for them not balance the spare, they would need two tire "lines" one for balanced and one for unbalanced. I'd think it would just be easier to balance every tire. It may make sense on cars with a different rim/ tire for the spare but not on Bronco.

I was just going to say this, it would be a much more complicated process with an unbalanced spare.

 

[Mannym5]

I did my rotation. Spare had one weight on the inside. So it is balanced after all. Tpms automatically programs once you are at speed. No need for a programming tool from my experience.

 

[kodiakisland]

It would make no sense to not be balanced. They are not mounting tires on the assembly line.

 

[Roger123]

I did my rotation. Spare had one weight on the inside. So it is balanced after all. Tpms automatically programs once you are at speed. No need for a programming tool from my experience.

I was tempted to try it without programming. The tool was only $20 and it takes about 3min so I just went ahead and programmed them.

Are you positive the car "sees" all the wheels in the correct location? We had this issue with a GM rental car a few years ago, the pressures displayed on the dash but none of the locations were correct due to someone rotating the tires and not programming.

My Jeep has a "smart" system, you do not need to program the TPMS after rotating and I was surprised the Bronco manual tells you that you need to re-program if you do a 5 tire rotation but you're ok if you do a 4 tire.

 

[Mannym5]

Yes I am positive because I specifically had more air in the spare prior to the rotation. After going for a ride the computer updated and showed higher psi on the corner I put the spare on.

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