ARRGGGGGHHHHHH! Tire frustration!

[hobie237]

Picked up a good set of 315/75R16 (35ish x 12.5ish) tires today, nearly new Pro Comp all terrains. Went to get them mounted.

Shop 1: We can only mount tires we sell.
Shop 2: We can only mount tires that are brand new.
Shop 3: We can only mount tires we sell.
Shop 4: We can mount them, but it's going to have to wait until after Thanksgiving and it's $40 per tire.
Shop 5: $30 per tire.

Went with shop 5, obviously. Took the truck into the shop. Somebody came out and got me.

Them: These tires won't fit.
Me: I have to cut the fenders a bit. I know.
Them: They're also too wide for the rim.
Me: I don't really care, I just want them mounted.
Them: Our book says a 315 wide tire requires a minimum 8" wide rim, and yours are 7", so it would be unsafe and we can't do it.
Me: Uh huh.

So it looks like I'll just have to mount them myself, by hand. And I thought our wheels were bigger than 7". Oh well.


Sigh.

 

[papercu]

You can thank a lawyer and your goverment for protecting you. Wayne

 

[devilman96]

Wheels are 8 inch... not 7... and this is exactly why I own a tire changer!

 

[papercu]

From the -20
e. Wheels and Tires.
(1) All Except M1009. One-piece design, 16 in. x 6.50 in. wheels and
LT235/85R-16E steel-belted radial blackwall tires.
(2) M1009. One-piece design, 15 in. x 8 in. wheels and 10.00R-15C steel-belted
radial blackwall tires.
Wayne

 

[hobie237]

Ok, so the 7" measurement was actually accurate. My faith in humanity is moderately improved.

Advance Auto Parts sells a changer for $50. Yeah, it's by hand and a pain, but at $30 per tire, it will have more than paid for itself after the first two tires.

 

[devilman96]

opps! sorry...

From the -20
e. Wheels and Tires.
(1) All Except M1009. One-piece design, 16 in. x 6.50 in. wheels and
LT235/85R-16E steel-belted radial blackwall tires.
(2) M1009. One-piece design, 15 in. x 8 in. wheels and 10.00R-15C steel-belted
radial blackwall tires.
Wayne

 

[doghead]

1008,1009, whatever it takes!

 

[Michael]

You can thank a lawyer and your goverment for protecting you. Wayne

And if you buy less than 4 new tires, the new ones have to be mounted on the back, even if you want to replace one bad tire on the front.

 

[Elwenil]

Honestly, from years of working in a dealership and hearing people complain of the strangest things I don;t really blame a shop for not wanting to mount them or charging an arm and a leg for them. I've actually been accused of swapping used tires on a vehicle when all I did was an oil change, I didn't even rotate the tires. You can thank those kinds of people for shops being very cautious. As for finding a shop, find a small tire shop or general repair garage. Taking them to a specialized tire store or any shop that is part of a chain you are less likely to get anything out of the ordinary done. If all else fails you can buy a few spoons and put them on yourself but remember not to exceed 40 psi when seating the bead.

Another thing I would keep in mind is that ProComp tires have a very bad reputation and I know that I will not mount them for any price because I get the blame when they wobble or vibrate because they are a crappy tire made with a another product's brand name. I have only seen a few people who were happy with those tires and it's not uncommon to find them for sale used with low mileage because most people take them off soon after buying them. Your experience may vary, but this is what I have found in my experience.

 

[randyscycle]

As a shop owner (motorcycle) and a tech for 20+ years (automotive) I have to say I agree with most of these shops.

First, I won't mount a tire I didn't sell because I don't know the source and how old it is, or what damage may have occurred, visible or not. Not a risk I am willing to assume, as it always winds up "not being my fault" with the customer.

Second, $30 a tire is too cheap for me to screw with tires that may be rusted to the rim, or a pain to remove, then dispose of. (which by the way in VA we have to charge for disposal by law even if you take the old tires with you)

Third, I wouln't risk my skin standing over a used tire while it seats on a bead of a questionable fitment.

Fourth, I certainly wouldn't go to all that trouble to then mount them back on a vehicle that they wouldn't clear the fenders on. That just sounds like a bad idea all around.

Fifth, by mounting your used tires, I just lost out on the sale of a set of tires and my bottom line took a hit, all for $120, and the loss of several profitable jobs I had to lay aside to attend to some used tires.

It just ain't worth it at all from a business standpoint.........

 

[Bobert]

Walmart should do it for about $50. If you just bring in the rims, They can't tell you they wont fit. At least the one around here will mount most anything. I worked at sams club tires and they will only mouent the oem size.

 

[hobie237]

Every shop I stopped at had both empty bays and idle techs, so it's not like they'd be bumping other business for me. I've already got the tires, so it's not like they're really missing too much of an opportunity for a sale. Every one of them had decent mounting machines, it's not like they'd be prying the things on by hand, and even if they were prying them on by hand, and even if they were, it's not like it's impossible to do so. In Delaware there is no requirement for them to charge for disposal unless they dispose of the tires, so that wasn't a factor in the pricing. It's not like the tires "won't fit" in that they'll rub when I'm just driving normally, it's just that I need to do some minor trimming to allow for full suspension movement and steering angle. In the short term, they'd be fine.

I understand that people end up going back to them and complaining about all sorts of things. I take issue with the fact that I can't just sign off on something and say "yes, I understand that this isn't perfect and I'm OK with that and I'm not going to sue you" and be done with it.

It's not like these tires were worn or anything, they looked NEWER than some of the tires they had sitting around waiting to be sold.

Anyway, I'm really glad that the idiots of the world have managed to make my life more difficult, and I'm glad that common sense cannot prevail, and we instead rely on blanket rules, no matter how ridiculous.

Anyway, like I said, I'll just spend the $50 on a tire changer and it'll pretty much keep me out of shops forever. Tire mounting was the only thing I ever paid shops to do.

As for the tires themselves, I've heard some people say that they're good and others say that they're crap. Then again, I've heard that about pretty much every other tire out there. They can't possibly be lumpier than the HMMWV bias plies that I was thinking about, and it's not like ride comfort is a primary consideration in this truck.

 

[AJMBLAZER]

Damn, makes me glad to have the little shop I use. I end up taking them so much interesting stuff half the time they don't charge me. The whole crew came over to help me when I had them mount up the 11.00R16's.

 

[randyscycle]

I understand that people end up going back to them and complaining about all sorts of things. I take issue with the fact that I can't just sign off on something and say "yes, I understand that this isn't perfect and I'm OK with that and I'm not going to sue you" and be done with it.

Let me give you a little example of one customer I had sometime back:

He showed up here a poverty-stricken college student riding a 70's model Honda 750. It had onion-skin tires when he came here and he was risking his life just to arrive at my location. After about an hour of perusing my tire catalogs, asking me for prices, and then deciding my prices were too high, he chose to find his own tires off the net for a bargain basement price.

Reluctantly, and against my better judgement I agreed to mount them for him if he provided them. Maybe it was a lapse in my better judgement, or maybe I felt sorry for the kid trying to get educated on his own dime and a pile of student loans, but that is beside the point.......

Anyway, nearly two weeks later (some stock issue) the owner, bike and tires show up and are handed off to me. Keep in mind he was still riding on these bald tires all the while. The "new" tires in question were a set of tires with the front having a date code three years previous to the date we were installing them and the rear, four years prior. Not kidding. I had my reservations, but continued with the kid's signature at the bottom of the service ticket absolving me from all blame.

The tires were a challenge to mount for two reasons: One they were as hard as a rock, and two they wouldn't seat well because they had laid on their side for nearly 3 and four years respectively. After wrestling them onto the rims then trying to balance the blasted things, I was done, he signed off a second time, then left.

A week later here he is standing in front of my counter with an angry look and unpleasant demeanor. When we walk out to his bike, he shows me a rather obvious and large lump on the front tire that he feels is somehow my fault. I fail to see it and send junior on his way. Next, I receive several threatening e-mails and phone calls from his angry Mom and Dad, questioning my abilities along with several threats of litigation, and that I should be lucky their little offspring wasn't hurt. They seem to ignore the fact he rode around for weeks on bald tires, all the while probably doing regular keggers at the campus frat house......

Needless to say, after all this, it wasn't worth a second of it for the money I didn't make on this deal. Between the time I spent dickering, listening to irate parents, and going against my better judgement, along with not getting to sell a set of quality tires and make a little profit off this, I lost my shirt.

In short I won't work for free anymore. This is how I make a living, and the chance of getting sued ain't worth it. Period.

 

[hobie237]

While I appreciate where you're coming from, understand that these tires aren't rock hard or out of date- they look and feel BRAND NEW. Unlike most of the morons out there, I actually know what's involved with different jobs, like mounting a tire, and I know what things would be the shop's fault (like bending a rim) and things that wouldn't be the shops fault (defects with the tire).

So all you've provided is an example that proves my point- that I'm getting dicked over by idiots in the world, and lumped into the same category as them. Great.

I've NEVER seen a car or truck come out of any of our local shops that was actually in better condition than it was when went in. There is one shop down the way that charges $15 per tire for mounting/balancing, but the last time they did a set for me, the lugs were on so tight that I broke a lug wrench trying to get them off. My 625 ft-lb impact wrench wouldn't even take them off. It took a whole lot of beating with a borrowed Mac gun (1000+ ft-lbs) to get them off, so there's no way I'm ever going back there.

There are two shops that I'd trust, but they're too busy building race cars to putz around with normal car stuff. With so many people buying tires online now, shops are just going to have to get with the program and mount them. Sure, they make more money selling the tires, but if they can't get people to buy tires because their prices aren't competitve, what's the point? Again, not comparing a set of brand new quality tires to a set of out of date, dry rotted junk tires, comparing their decent set on the shelf to my decent set in the back of my truck.

I can understand them not wanting to mount something that's obviously bad (dry rotted, way out of date, etc.), and I can mostly understand them not wanting to do something that the book says isn't "manufacturer recommended," because they're staffed with high school dropouts who don't actually know the first thing about cars, they just know what the book tells them. It's like trying to get a performance alignment- royal PITA since it's not "manufacturer recommended," regardless of actual performance.

 

[IRWFO]

I think $30 a tire is fair. Labor rate is probably around $80+ an hour and from the time the truck is lifted to remove the wheels till it was lowered when the job was done I'm sure it would be over an hour.

 

[Angus1]

bring em up here. I'll mount them for you. And teach you how then you wont have this prob again.

 

[randyscycle]

Hobie, since I don't know you I don't assume you know nothing, but there are two sides of the fence, and the side I am on could result in my losing everything I own if I make a choice to listen to a customer over my years of experience.

People can and do sue one another over some pretty petty stuff these days, and it isn't something I or most other shop owners are willing to take on. They don't have a legal defense fund, and I doubt most of them are incompetent. They sound to me like they are in the CYOA mode at that point.

As far as the idea of shops "getting with it" in regards to installing internet tires, I don't see it happening. Again, there is the loss of a sale, which hits the bottom line, labor to deal with something that isn't their product, and liability for a product that wasn't supplied by the shop in question. All the disclaimers and signed confessions in the world can still be run through by a sharp lawyer faster than you can say lawsuit.

Your best bet in any situation like this is to do it yourself, then you won't be at the shop's mercy. You can then purchase a tire changer, air compressor, jack, jack stands, tire irons, and any other necessary equipment, at your own expense and spend your time and labor to do them.

 

[DaveP]

I must be very lucky.
There is a couple of shops around here that fix, dismount, mount or balance any thing i take them. everything from the itty bitty tires off my lawn mower to the huge tires on my old allis end loader!

 

[jj]

Hearing this makes me treasure my inspection mechanic all the more. $30 american to mount "A tire" is obscene. My man does it for $12 and that includes a new stem AND balancing. Of course four vehicle inspections per year plus some work on the newer one that i won't touch does put some black on his balance sheet. Oh, and i bring him the tires. Now that is another story... a few years back i needed two 16.5" tires for the front of the dually. The big discuont mail order place salesman said, "We highly recommend replacing tires in sets of four, sir." I said, "i just bet you do. But in point of fact a full set on this truck would require six. I only need two. Do you want to sell me two tires or zero tires? Your choice." Stunning how quickly he saw things my way. But, if you buy a changer to do it yourself, how do you balance them?