Factory Mounting vs. Anywhere Else

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JHZR2

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Is there a difference?

It seems like no matter where I go, no matter how careful, shops do at least some damage on the rear of the wheel...

Yet new from the factory is pristine.

What gives? Is there some difference in equipment?
 
A new car has to be pristine. If the factory messed up a wheel, they'd have to replace/fix it before it ever left. At your local tire shops they'll just shrug their shoulders.
 
There's this shop in town that I go to only for emissions testing and nothing else. They have a sign in the waiting room that says "We are not responsible for damage to mag/alloy wheels when mounting" or something to that effect. And I just think to myself, "If they're not responsible, then who is responsible?" I think that's a B S disclaimer and they should take responsibility for any damage.
 
Originally Posted By: exranger06
There's this shop in town that I go to only for emissions testing and nothing else. They have a sign in the waiting room that says "We are not responsible for damage to mag/alloy wheels when mounting" or something to that effect. And I just think to myself, "If they're not responsible, then who is responsible?" I think that's a B S disclaimer and they should take responsibility for any damage.


I do not believe you can discharge responsibility by just stating so.

A similar situation are flatbeds carrying dirty construction equipment "Stay back 500 feet" (good advice) "Not responsible for damage" (Really?)
 
Factory: One machine set up to mount one specific tire, and one specific wheel, probably automated.

Local Shop: One machine set up to do multiple factory and aftermarket wheels with multiple tires that may or may not be matched to the wheel size, run by someone who is probably untrained.

Really that hard to figure out?
 
Originally Posted By: simple_gifts


I do not believe you can discharge responsibility by just stating so.

A similar situation are flatbeds carrying dirty construction equipment "Stay back 500 feet" (good advice) "Not responsible for damage" (Really?)


If it works one time out of ten it's worth the ink they printed it with.
 
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Is there a difference?

It seems like no matter where I go, no matter how careful, shops do at least some damage on the rear of the wheel...

Yet new from the factory is pristine.

What gives? Is there some difference in equipment?


Yup! The machines are completely different.

I tried to find a video of a set up but was unable to do so - so allow me to describe the procedure.

The tires are sequenced by vehicle - 4 tires plus the spare. The wheels are also sequenced 4 wheels plus the spare wheel. The wheels are placed on a conveyor. The wheels are spray lubed and the tires drop down from above so the tire is canted in front of the wheel. The conveyor moves forward into a set of shoes that engage the rim and push the beads over the rim edge and onto the rim. Sometimes the next station aligns the marks on the wheel with the marks on the tire - and sometimes those marks are aligned by how the wheels and tires are placed on the conveyor. Next station has a cylinder that comes down and pushes the bottom bead into the bottom rim flange, adds air pressure then lifts up. As it lifts up, the top bead is seated. Followed by the balancer - followed by a guy who applies the balance weights. Up until this point nobody has touched either the tire or the wheel or the assembly since the tires and wheels were loaded onto the conveyor - It's completely automated. The conveyor moves at about one assembly every 5 seconds - so a whole vehicle pops out every 30 seconds or so. From end to end, the process takes about 5 minutes or so.

Needless to say this process and the machinery have been refined so it doesn't mess up the tire or the wheel. It also has been set up to accommodate a wide variety of tires and wheels - even different diameters and widths. The real trick is sequencing the wheels and tires to the vehicle - which is obviously done by computer. Remember the Phrase *Quality is Job 1*? At Ford, each vehicle is given a job number starting with the first vehicle of the model year (Job 1!). All the parts for this vehicle are sequenced using that job number. Other car manufacturers use a slightly different phrase, but they use a similar system. The vehicles don't have to be built in order, but usually it's pretty close.

Also needless to say, the equipment is fairly expensive - way, way, way beyond what a tire shop could afford. On the other hand, what tire shop do you know that does 20 to 30 vehicles an hour?
 
OK, I found a video of a different process. I've never seen this style before, but there are some elements that are similar:

Tire Mounting

Here's another:

Tire Mounting

And apparently there is a whole series of videos that show bits and pieces of the process with some variation on how it is done.
 
It depends on the equipment and techs. The shop I use has pretty high-end equipment operated by experienced techs. They don't damage wheels. They do charge a fair bit more than Wal-Mart, but then again the odds of a damaged wheel are far lower.
 
This thread reminds me of the shade tree method to mount tires.
smile.gif
 
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