You mean 3-4 people and maybe 1 of those cares about their work. Place makes my crazy, they seem to have a very high employee turnover rate.
Tire Dismount / Re-Mount Prices - Ugh!
- Thread starter Auae1985
- Start date
I would say turnover is similiar to anything in the retail/ Customer service roles.
I agree that i hate 3-4 people working on the car at the same time because now its finger pointing to who did what.
But those guys are general laborers. You do the role in your teens-20s and/or until your body gives up and move on.
Thank you for the success story. Too many people shop chains, that market themselves on cheapness, then get disappointed at the results.
I had one done at DT today. A dismount of original spare, and mount/balance a different tire. Price was $31+tax. I was OK with that.
I’ve pondered ordering a “cheap” Chinese tire changer/balancer unit. 
I hate dropping stuff off, waiting, hoping they do it right, etc, etc.
Had a bad experience recently with a Firestone that WAS good. Watched a tire guy “bounce” my tire off the stack of 4. The clamp-on wheel weight fell off, then he quickly kicked the weight away, thinking I wouldn’t see it. I saw it. Made them redo all 4 wheels again.
Seems like a fun toy to have, no?
I hate dropping stuff off, waiting, hoping they do it right, etc, etc. Had a bad experience recently with a Firestone that WAS good. Watched a tire guy “bounce” my tire off the stack of 4. The clamp-on wheel weight fell off, then he quickly kicked the weight away, thinking I wouldn’t see it. I saw it. Made them redo all 4 wheels again.
Seems like a fun toy to have, no?
My son just paid $118 to mount and balance plus the disposal fee for tires he bought from the place and got an alignment too. He had good tread tires on the front, 15k miles or so. But the back had a bad one from alignment and two different sizes too. They would not just put on two new for the back. Insisted they change all for a AWD vehicle.
Can this be correct? I know the big chains hate you bringing in your own tires but I can't buy this, near me we have several big warehouse stores that still do the M&B if you walk your own in for less than $20 if you are a member there. They will not give you the free repair and rotation for them thats only if you buy there. Even the independant shops around are at like $25 at worst thats if you can't pay cash and they will stick you for more if you have old tires to trash which you can still actually just place in the regular household garbage here.
That's what they quoted me when I walked in with carry in tires. I will not ever go back to them for that reason. Maybe the guy was just having a bad day but thats no reason to overcharge. Especially when the customer had to scrimp and save for weeks just to buy used tires.
What is the current cost on the tire rack's mobil service where they ship you the tires and they send a guy in van to your location to do the RR?
About 5 years ago I stopped by a place in Chantilly Va called Main Street Tire and Auto to see what it would cost to have 4 tires mounted and balanced on my wife’s Tundra. I had 4 new LTX’s in the bed of the truck.
They quoted something crazy like 280 dollars and that included an 100$ or so change for “ customer supplied tires” I said no thanks and walked out.
They quoted something crazy like 280 dollars and that included an 100$ or so change for “ customer supplied tires” I said no thanks and walked out.
After getting charged $150 for a TPMS sensor on my wife's car, getting told they won't mount my "oversized" tires, and getting tired of paying the increasing cost mounting, I called my brother and asked him if he wanted to split a tire changer. He found a Walmart buyout company about 4 hours from here with two Coats 70x machines for $1100. One was missing the rim clamp actuator, but we found it inside the case. We found a John Bean balancer for $250 locally. It balances perfectly, but it's kinda quirky. Between the two of us, the machines paid for themselves within a year, and we can recoup most or all of our money by selling the second machine. Even without that, these are probably one of our best tool purchases. Between household recycling, a tire shop that only charges us about half the time, and a buddy who works at a town garage, we really haven't had to spend much on tire disposal either, but it's only $3/tire when we do.
I think that there is so much competition for sales that there's not a lot of margin in tires, so the tire shops maximize profit on the service/labor. There are some good deals still out there on this equipment, but they might need a little work. The machines we found were still a model being sold by Coats at the time we bought them. They have the extra hand air cylinder which is a lifesaver on low profile tires and hold the tire off the bead for TPMS changes. I feel like every time we use the equipment we are putting money in our pockets. Even free friends and family jobs have got me whiskey, beer, or pizza.
I think that there is so much competition for sales that there's not a lot of margin in tires, so the tire shops maximize profit on the service/labor. There are some good deals still out there on this equipment, but they might need a little work. The machines we found were still a model being sold by Coats at the time we bought them. They have the extra hand air cylinder which is a lifesaver on low profile tires and hold the tire off the bead for TPMS changes. I feel like every time we use the equipment we are putting money in our pockets. Even free friends and family jobs have got me whiskey, beer, or pizza.
I have the same thing, works great.
In the shop at work, my boss has an electric changer, and balancer, so I usually do it there now.
Its not some places are more strict about towing. Ie mandatory lower speed limits etc.
My utility trailer has nice radial tires on it. probably 2000-3000 miles on them (almost all local trips some 100 mile round trips to my cabin)
they are coming up on 5 years.. I'll probably run them to 10 years then look for a deal unless they start looking bad.
The trailer is stored outdoors but the tires get minimal sun. I'm more worried about dry rot than anything.
I remember once coming back from fishing in Ontario.. the fishing boat trailer got a flat..
Got home and the other tire had a bulge in the tread.. they were old bias trailer tires and the boat did have 1000+lb of luggage and gear in it.
Which was quite a load on those size tires. Olds delta 88 tow vehicle.
One year it was pulled by a dodge omni with 5 passengers.. I was quite young though so it wasnt clown car level of packing.
$175+ here in the desert. Up north where Critic lives is more like $250. Euro shop I'm at is $185
$40 would be less expensive while $60 is expected.
