I have my own (read very cheap) method of balancing, and I do believe it is worth the effort to do. It takes me longer to balance than it does to remove the old and mount the new tire.
I use the rear axle because it is longer than the front making it easier to work with, a pair of very free spinning bearings I sourced at a hardware store mounted at each end of the axle, and regular old jack stands which I already owned to rest the whole wheel, axle, bearings assemble on. The bearings are free spinning because they have no seals of any kind. I use a little light machine oil and they seem to spin forever. This is important because the installed wheel bearings have seals which cause too much sticktion to spin freely enough for the task. The tire will stop rotating sooner (not always reaching the heavy spot) than it would if you had the free spinning bearings giving you a less accurate indication.
I always strip off the old weights first, no reason not to if you’re actually going to balance the tire…