Is there any advantage in balancing the throttle bodies?

One of my throttle bodies had to be replaced a last year. I don't believe the throttle body required replacement because it was "bad" as much as it was out of balance with the other one. Rather than replace both with new units, I created a system that would allow me to test and measure the performance to determine which throttle body was bad and what was wrong with it. I used the tool to find a used unit ($150) that matched the performance curves of my best of two, replaced the bad one and nearly a year later, no codes or limp mode.

As for your question about balance. Before my TB gave up the ghost and started throwing codes, the performance of the car degraded. Not the power itself, or even how smooth it ran. It was the hesitation. Before, I felt there was a "turbo" like lag in the acceleration. I think now that lag was the ECU trying to keep the two units in synch by adding a delay. After fixing the issue, the lag is gone.

Here's a link to an article I wrote about the process: https://www.ferrari360.org/2020/07/bosch-throttle-body-replacement.html

 

Interesting subject.

I just happened to watch this today and learned a lot. He mentions that balancing the throttle bodies is done by a certain driving procedure.

Pertinent stuff starts 18 mins in...First Drive in 10 Years - Garden Find V12 BMW E31 850i Revival - Project Marseille: Part 4 - YouTube

 

Yes, throttlebody adjustment and balancing can make a huge difference depending on how out of sync they are, how stretched the cables are, etc. Mine were recently done and it definitely gained some power, and drives much smoother.