$160 for Mount and Balance and Valve Stems !

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Originally Posted By: dishdude
Originally Posted By: stephen9666
Originally Posted By: Chris142
I was quoted $80 per wheel mount and balance from a local firestone when I walked in with carry in tires.


I had my Hankooks (ordered from DTD) mounted/balanced at my local Firestone for $80 total for four. That includes lifetime rotate and balance. Are you sure there wasn't a miscommunication?


I think a lot of Firestones are franchises, so YMMV as far as pricing.

Could be, but I'm talking about the Firestone Complete Auto Care stores, not just a tire shop with a "Firestone" sign. I googled "Firestone Auto Care franchise" and didn't find anything reputable. This is the only thing I found and it appears this site just copied the info from the "About us" Firestone page.
http://www.franchiseclique.com/franchise/Firestone-Complete-Auto-Care


I've never heard that Firestone Complete Auto Care stores are franchises. There clearly are independent dealers that sell Firestone tires, but I'm talking about the Firestone Complete Auto Care stores.

http://www.firestonecompleteautocare.com/
 
More info here:

Quote:
Bridgestone Retail Operations, LLC. (BSRO) operates the world’s largest chain of company-owned auto care centers. Through its 2,200 Firestone Complete Auto Care™, Tires Plus™, Expert Tire and Wheel Works retail locations across the United States, BSRO owned stores address the needs of today’s consumers.


Here's an article about BSRO opening some new stores:
http://www.tirebusiness.com/article/2013...-stores-in-2013

More here, too:
http://www.bridgestone-firestone.com/corporate/retailoperations/index.html

These seem to indicate to me that the Firestone Auto Care stores are corporate owned.
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Originally Posted By: stephen9666
Originally Posted By: dishdude
Originally Posted By: stephen9666
Originally Posted By: Chris142
I was quoted $80 per wheel mount and balance from a local firestone when I walked in with carry in tires.


I had my Hankooks (ordered from DTD) mounted/balanced at my local Firestone for $80 total for four. That includes lifetime rotate and balance. Are you sure there wasn't a miscommunication?


I think a lot of Firestones are franchises, so YMMV as far as pricing.

Could be, but I'm talking about the Firestone Complete Auto Care stores, not just a tire shop with a "Firestone" sign. I googled "Firestone Auto Care franchise" and didn't find anything reputable. This is the only thing I found and it appears this site just copied the info from the "About us" Firestone page.
http://www.franchiseclique.com/franchise/Firestone-Complete-Auto-Care


I've never heard that Firestone Complete Auto Care stores are franchises. There clearly are independent dealers that sell Firestone tires, but I'm talking about the Firestone Complete Auto Care stores.

http://www.firestonecompleteautocare.com/

They're all company owned. A franchisee would balk at having to do things like lifetime alignment checks or free rotations on tires they didn't install themselves.

As for a place to do it, I remember the first time I ordered from Tire Rack, I had them directly shipped to a "preferred installer". It was a local independent. They charged $10 for their own or $15 for outside tires. I ordered from Tire Rack another time and had them sent to my office. Our boss asked me about it when he found out that there were four tires sitting in our storage area. I wasn't in trouble; he was just asking me what it was like ordering tires online. I was about to take them to the same place I had them done before, but instead just asked at a local Goodyear-branded independent shop a couple of blocks from work. They said it would be $20 each and I dropped it off with no fuss. It did take two trips to load the tires in the hatch of my Integra though.
 
I had the same experience as the OP last month when I bough a set of CS4s from DDT. Local price quotes ranged from $65 to $100+ and one shop - with ZERO customers - wouldn't budge $10.

Off to Walmart - installed for ~$25. I understand that the local shops aren't making any money off of tire sales when customers bring tires in, but they are loosing $50-$70 of pure bottom line. They're paying the guys in the bay, so there is no additional overhead associated with doing the install.
 
I bought two full sets of snows from Tirerack and went to local shop for about $25 each. It was a little more because I wanted the road force balance with the GSP9700. One tire was out on road force so I sent back for exchange with no issue. Installer didn't charge any extra when new one came in.
 
I'll have to start shopping for installers. I have a set of DTD Coopers arriving on Monday. I'd prefer to avoid WalMart at all costs. I've had a bad experience at mine. I wish we had DT stores here. DTD has NTB (Tire Kingdom) listed as a perferred installer. I've had OK luck with them (as long as it's not a flat repair).
 
Originally Posted By: FL_Rob
They weren't going to make much money on you anyway ,so they gave you a price they knew you'd pass on.


Keeps the bays open for higher paying customers that they can rip-off.


I hear you, but I don't get that concept. With the costs of everything these days, I doubt they make $160 profit on the sale and install of a set of 4 standard automotive tires.

The way I see it is, the mount and balance of carry-ins should be all profit for them. They didn't have to pay to have tires sitting in the store room.
 
Originally Posted By: JTK
Originally Posted By: FL_Rob
They weren't going to make much money on you anyway ,so they gave you a price they knew you'd pass on.


Keeps the bays open for higher paying customers that they can rip-off.


I hear you, but I don't get that concept. With the costs of everything these days, I doubt they make $160 profit on the sale and install of a set of 4 standard automotive tires.

The way I see it is, the mount and balance of carry-ins should be all profit for them. They didn't have to pay to have tires sitting in the store room.

Tire Rack's preferred installers all agree that they'll sign for deliveries directly to the installer.
 
If someone told me $160 to mount and balance 4 tires I'd laugh in his face....$60 is the going price where I do business...
 
Originally Posted By: The Critic
Originally Posted By: JimPghPA
Go to any big Wal-Mart that has a car service center and they will gladly mount, balance, and even put them on the vehicle, for much less than any tire store will charge.


Yeah, and they'll scratch the heck out of your alloy wheels. The two TLEs that I went to did not have the proper equipment to mount tires onto alloy wheels...yet they still did it!


Interesting, we have two vehicles 2001 Impala and 1985 Olds Delta 88, both with two sets of rims and 4 winter and 4 summer tires that stay mounted to those rims until they are worn out. But all those rims are plain jane steel rims with black paint. I do get tired of touching those rims up with Rustoleum cans of semi-gloss black, every time after blasting them at a car wash and giving them a day to dry, each time a set is taken off of a car.

I guess we just kinda lucked into having the plain jane rims that Wal-Mart can mount tires on with out problems.
 
I just got two tires mounted and balanced last night for $10 each. Was a local place in a so-so section of Baltimore City. Paid in cash, no taxes, disposal fees, or anything. They were used tires but looked almost like new and I both them off Craigslist for $35 (for both tires) from some guy who had a car like mine but totaled it and was getting rid of his excess stuff.

It was the first place I stopped to ask as well. I don't think I could have gotten it done cheaper.
 
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