diff --git a/pkg/cmd/roachtest/tests/rebalance_load.go b/pkg/cmd/roachtest/tests/rebalance_load.go
index 49065005c95a..a82f65bec90e 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/roachtest/tests/rebalance_load.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/roachtest/tests/rebalance_load.go
@@ -40,7 +40,10 @@ const (
 	//
 	//  mean_tolerance = mean * meanCPUTolerance
 	//  [mean - mean_tolerance, mean + mean_tolerance].
-	meanCPUTolerance = 0.1
+	//
+	// The store rebalancer watches the replica CPU load and balances within
+	// +-10% of the mean. To reduce noise, add a buffer (5%) ontop.
+	meanCPUTolerance = 0.15
 	// statSamplePeriod is the period at which timeseries stats are sampled.
 	statSamplePeriod = 10 * time.Second
 )
@@ -103,6 +106,16 @@ func registerRebalanceLoad(r registry.Registry) {
 		c.Put(ctx, t.DeprecatedWorkload(), "./workload", appNode)
 		c.Run(ctx, appNode, fmt.Sprintf("./workload init kv --drop --splits=%d {pgurl:1}", splits))
 
+		db := c.Conn(ctx, t.L(), 1)
+		defer db.Close()
+
+		require.NoError(t, WaitFor3XReplication(ctx, t, db))
+		t.Status("disable load based splitting")
+		require.NoError(t, disableLoadBasedSplitting(ctx, db))
+		t.Status(fmt.Sprintf("setting rebalance mode to %s", rebalanceMode))
+		_, err := db.ExecContext(ctx, `SET CLUSTER SETTING kv.allocator.load_based_rebalancing=$1::string`, rebalanceMode)
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+
 		var m *errgroup.Group // see comment in version.go
 		m, ctx = errgroup.WithContext(ctx)
 
@@ -113,7 +126,6 @@ func registerRebalanceLoad(r registry.Registry) {
 
 		m.Go(func() error {
 			t.L().Printf("starting load generator\n")
-
 			err := c.RunE(ctx, appNode, fmt.Sprintf(
 				"./workload run kv --read-percent=95 --tolerate-errors --concurrency=%d "+
 					"--duration=%v {pgurl:1-%d}",
@@ -130,20 +142,6 @@ func registerRebalanceLoad(r registry.Registry) {
 		m.Go(func() error {
 			t.Status("checking for CPU balance")
 
-			db := c.Conn(ctx, t.L(), 1)
-			defer db.Close()
-
-			t.Status("disable load based splitting")
-			if err := disableLoadBasedSplitting(ctx, db); err != nil {
-				return err
-			}
-
-			if _, err := db.ExecContext(
-				ctx, `SET CLUSTER SETTING kv.allocator.load_based_rebalancing=$1::string`, rebalanceMode,
-			); err != nil {
-				return err
-			}
-
 			storeCPUFn, err := makeStoreCPUFn(ctx, c, t, numNodes, numStores)
 			if err != nil {
 				return err
@@ -193,7 +191,7 @@ func registerRebalanceLoad(r registry.Registry) {
 					concurrency = 32
 					fmt.Printf("lowering concurrency to %d in local testing\n", concurrency)
 				}
-				rebalanceLoadRun(ctx, t, c, "leases", 3*time.Minute, concurrency, false /* mixedVersion */)
+				rebalanceLoadRun(ctx, t, c, "leases", 5*time.Minute, concurrency, false /* mixedVersion */)
 			},
 		},
 	)
@@ -207,7 +205,7 @@ func registerRebalanceLoad(r registry.Registry) {
 					concurrency = 32
 					fmt.Printf("lowering concurrency to %d in local testing\n", concurrency)
 				}
-				rebalanceLoadRun(ctx, t, c, "leases", 3*time.Minute, concurrency, true /* mixedVersion */)
+				rebalanceLoadRun(ctx, t, c, "leases", 5*time.Minute, concurrency, true /* mixedVersion */)
 			},
 		},
 	)