Balancing has to do with thumping or vibrating at highway speeds. What you're describing has more to do with the alignment. The first suspect is the new tires themselves. Look at the old tires to see if they have special ratings for vehicle weight. Battery-powered vehicles weigh close to twice as much as gas-powered vehicles, so they need tires with much stiffer sidewalls. They might also require higher than normal air pressures. Standard car tires have maximum pressure ratings of 35 psi or 44 psi. You'll find those in tiny letters on the sidewall. Compare that to the pressures listed on the door sticker. Some Tesla models call for 45 psi, so they can't use standard car tires.
Alignment issues can show up when replacing tires because with deeper tread, those blocks of rubber have more freedom to flex. Worn tires, while being more prone to hydro-planing, have less flex, so they respond less to cross winds and grooves and bumps in the road. A big unrecognized factor in alignments is chassis ride height. That must be correct to maintain the proper geometric relationship of the steering and suspension parts. With the extra battery weight, the springs can be expected to sag from age faster than normal. The lowered ride height can gradually change the alignment and how the car feels so slowly that you don't notice it until new tires are installed. It's like when we grow older and our feet change, but we don't notice it until we buy new shoes.
Where I would start is by measuring ride height. The specs are included in these images below. The ride height will take some work to interpret what they're looking for. You might instead consider visiting any tire and alignment shop for the height information. They all have small books that list every model and year, where to take the measurements, and what they should be. It looks to me like what they're asking you to do is the same as Chrysler's method where you take two readings per corner, then subtract one from the other to get the value. They do that indirect method because it eliminates the variable for different size tires. It's not important how high the car is off the ground. The readings we're after refer to the angle of the control arms, and the related geometric angles.
Measuring ride height is just the first preliminary step in the pre-alignment inspection. If chassis ride height is okay, it's okay to continue with the regular alignment check. All alignment computers have the capability of making printouts of the results. Sometimes you have to ask for that, but you must ask before the equipment is removed from the car, otherwise that data is lost. If you can get a copy that shows the "Before" and "After" readings, and post it in your reply, I can interpret the numbers for you.
Also keep in mind different tires react differently, and often by mixing two different brands or models, the front and rear of the vehicle react differently to road forces. You may find any unusual handling symptoms are gone when you have four matching tires
Images (Click to make bigger)
Monday, August 18th, 2025 AT 5:28 PM