Joined Nov 2005
L10: Grand Master
Forum Thread
Tire mounting
September 24, 2012 at
09:05 AM
in
Autos
I got in on the DTD deal a couple weeks ago as my car will need new tires by the winter. So now I have 4 tires sitting in my garage waiting to be installed.
I'm looking for a place to mount/balance them and to my surprise, a couple shops have refused. Their excuse is "if we tear it, then we owe you a new tire" .... Uh OK. I understand that some shops could refuse on principle (e.g. they want you to buy the tires from them for profit), but work is work - if it takes a tech 1 hour to mount and balance 4 tires and you pay him $20 and charge $100 - that's $80 in your pocket. I'm also looking for a 4 wheel alignment, which is pure profit. I can understand perhaps turning down this business when your shop is packed (better to sell tires at a profit, too), but why do it when you're not busy?
Has anyone seen this excuse before?
I'm looking for a place to mount/balance them and to my surprise, a couple shops have refused. Their excuse is "if we tear it, then we owe you a new tire" .... Uh OK. I understand that some shops could refuse on principle (e.g. they want you to buy the tires from them for profit), but work is work - if it takes a tech 1 hour to mount and balance 4 tires and you pay him $20 and charge $100 - that's $80 in your pocket. I'm also looking for a 4 wheel alignment, which is pure profit. I can understand perhaps turning down this business when your shop is packed (better to sell tires at a profit, too), but why do it when you're not busy?
Has anyone seen this excuse before?
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Like,
"I paid $40 extra to get an OEM serpentine belt so I know it's good."
"That's great, but that belt is just a Gates belt with an OEM sticker on it."
Would you like to join Moot and myself; we carry weapons of mass destruction
when we go out with our Shopping Carts
You're pretty cool, and I think you would add a delicious element to our adventures.
Like,
"I paid $40 extra to get an OEM serpentine belt so I know it's good."
"That's great, but that belt is just a Gates belt with an OEM sticker on it."
when we go out with our Shopping Carts
You're pretty cool, and I think you would add a delicious element to our adventures.
All of our shit is OEM when we get down to business, you know what I mean Deusx?
when we go out with our Shopping Carts
You're pretty cool, and I think you would add a delicious element to our adventures.
All of our shit is OEM when we get down to business, you know what I mean Deusx?
I'm looking for a place to mount/balance them and to my surprise, a couple shops have refused. Their excuse is "if we tear it, then we owe you a new tire" .... Uh OK. I understand that some shops could refuse on principle (e.g. they want you to buy the tires from them for profit), but work is work - if it takes a tech 1 hour to mount and balance 4 tires and you pay him $20 and charge $100 - that's $80 in your pocket. I'm also looking for a 4 wheel alignment, which is pure profit. I can understand perhaps turning down this business when your shop is packed (better to sell tires at a profit, too), but why do it when you're not busy?
Has anyone seen this excuse before?
Without reading the thread, Walmart is your answer. $48 to mount/balance/valve stem 4 tires without TPMS, another $30 for the sensors to be reset.
Deusx, you are a hunka, hunka burning machinery, that needs to be with us or against us, when we go on our adventures. With your strength and our cunning wiles and imagination, think of the possibilities
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As someone that was an auto tech for many years, that price from WalMart is hard to beat. The street corner tire shops here in the hood get $40 to do the job so $43 is damn good. One thing to check is that they don't slam down the lugs so hard with the air gun that you can't get the lugs loose. I make it standard practice if anyone takes the wheels off besides me to give all the lugs a once over. Nothing worse than sitting on the side of the road with a flat and not being able to get the wheel off.
As someone that was an auto tech for many years, that price from WalMart is hard to beat. The street corner tire shops here in the hood get $40 to do the job so $43 is damn good. One thing to check is that they don't slam down the lugs so hard with the air gun that you can't get the lugs loose. I make it standard practice if anyone takes the wheels off besides me to give all the lugs a once over. Nothing worse than sitting on the side of the road with a flat and not being able to get the wheel off.
They should charge you a premium to do it if they want, exactly what they would make on their own tires.
I hate when they use the air wrench on the keyed lug. No matter how tight the regular ones are, a decent lug wrench should get it off. At best you'll need to use your foot. But I've broken the key for the keyed lug before because some ass used the air wrench on it. That one is not supposed to be tightened that much, the key won't hold up to the rigor, even if you HAVE an air wrench to put it on. I needed a tow after breaking that key.
They should charge you a premium to do it if they want, exactly what they would make on their own tires.
Steak is different, because you're also paying for the chef's experience in selecting a good piece of meat. The mechanic isn't going to sort through a case of alternators and grab you the best one. You're going to get the same alternator you can buy yourself.
They should charge you a premium to do it if they want, exactly what they would make on their own tires.
I hate when they use the air wrench on the keyed lug. No matter how tight the regular ones are, a decent lug wrench should get it off. At best you'll need to use your foot. But I've broken the key for the keyed lug before because some ass used the air wrench on it. That one is not supposed to be tightened that much, the key won't hold up to the rigor, even if you HAVE an air wrench to put it on. I needed a tow after breaking that key.
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They should charge you a premium to do it if they want, exactly what they would make on their own tires.
I hate when they use the air wrench on the keyed lug. No matter how tight the regular ones are, a decent lug wrench should get it off. At best you'll need to use your foot. But I've broken the key for the keyed lug before because some ass used the air wrench on it. That one is not supposed to be tightened that much, the key won't hold up to the rigor, even if you HAVE an air wrench to put it on. I needed a tow after breaking that key.