Doing it at home. Yes it is worth it.
What are you paying these days to get a set of tires mounted and balanced? Or are you doing it at home? For those doing it at home, is it worth it?
Doing it at home. Yes it is worth it.
I pay $Free.99, but I have an unfair advantage, because I'm a mechanic and can use my shop's tire machine.
It depends on where I buy my tires. If I get them through the local Discount Tire then they're mounted for free. If I buy used or from tire rack then I pay $20.00/tire.
I've thought about getting my own equipment but so far I haven't thought it was worth it. I don't have a lot of shop space, even at $20/tire you can mount and ballance a lot of tires before you cover the cost of the equipment and I really don't enjoy mounting and balancing tires.
DIY, using work's equipment. The downside is the stuff is at a second location that I almost never work at and is out in the middle of nowhere. So my cost is ~$10 of fuel and 1.5hrs of my time to drive there and back. Still generally worth it but it's annoying; I will occasionally pay to get a set mounted locally if I'm in a hurry and don't have a day to burn on it. If I had space at home and a better compressor I'd be at least seriously considering buying my own equipment.
Doing it at home. Definitely worth it.
$60 for 4 and I give the guy a $20 tip, so $80 total.
My most recent order from Tire Rack cost me $120 for mounting. That didn't include disposal, I kept the old tires.
I can't say what is reasonable, small businesses have to charge enough to stay in business and provide a reasonable income for the employees and the owner.
Still, that's a lot to add to a set of tires. Two years ago I paid $80 at the same place.
A shop I use on occasion for oil changes on the Suburban and repairs that I can't do charges $25 a tire. A small tire shop in the county charges $15 per.
A shop I use charges $20 per tire, not including disposal. That adds an extra $7 so i just collect them until i make a dump run.
I was paying between $20-25 per tire, a used tire machine quickly paid for itself.
Got them mounted for free, all I had to do was also buy rims from TR...
On a more serious note, it does look the going rate is fairly close to $20/tire, at least at places that don't turn the rim into a scratch&dent version of its former self.
I'm paying between $60-$80 for a set. I only but one or two sets a year. At that rate it would take 10-12 years to pay for the equipment. Mounting and balancing tires is a job I'd rather someone else did anyway.
My friend owns a shop so I can mount and balance tires when ever I want. I help him on weekends and weld things for him as he does not weld.
Tires with stiff or low sidewalls or rims that don't have the depression in them to facilitate easier mounting of the low profile tires I usually have done at my local shop that services my Merc. They usually only charge my $10/ tire but I bring than all my DD car repairs. I very rarely work on my DD cars. Toys and race cars are the only things I turn wrenches on.
$20.00 each for car tires.
$0.00 for kart tires. I mount them with the track's Turbo Tire Changer. If I'm not at my home track, the going rate is $20 for a set.
I have a friend that will do it for $10 cash, real shops I am at $20 a tire. I bought 4 tires from Tire rack yesterday, I was trying to do a tire and wheel package, that included FREE mounting and balancing. The wheels I wanted weren't in stock for a few more weeks and I needed them sooner so I had to forgo the free mounting and buy the wheels elsewhere, same wheel price but it will cost me $80 to get them mounted.
I bother a buddy who is a manager at a local shop. Depending on if corporate is watching the stores closely for whatever reason, I drop them off with him either at his place or at the shop itself. Leave it with him till I get a call, go pick 'em up.
The shop I use charges $25 a wheel and $3 per tire for disposal. I've looked around and haven't found anything cheaper in metro Atlanta.
ShinnyGroove (Forum Supporter) said:and $3 per tire for disposal.
My bad dad joke that causes them to freak is;
$3 each? Put them in my trunk. There's a creek by my house I'll toss them into.
It's even funnier when buying car battery's.
$50. Local shop has special pricing for racers to "give back to the racing community". They do all of my alignments and some other work on occasion as a result.
I asked at Costco for a friend who was ordering tires from Tire Rack. They said $15 each. I don't remember if that included disposal but I don't think so.
Local shop is $15 each, or $10 cash.
My son was just quoted $12/tire for mounting and balancing at one of the local tire rack installers.
I don't know if their pricing is different since he's bringing in bare wheels that he had removed tires from before painting.
10 to 15 each, cash. depends who is working that day
The dealer I work at charges $20 per wheel to mount and balance.
Tire stores want to sell tires, not mounting of tires, so they charge a lot for mounting tires from others.
True story: My grandpa was a traveling tire salesman for AJAX tires in the 1920's. Sears Roebucks was selling tires mail order.
One of his tire store dealers had a sign in the window - "If you get your tires from Sear-Roebucks get your air from the post office".
Datsun310Guy said:ShinnyGroove (Forum Supporter) said:and $3 per tire for disposal.
My bad dad joke that causes them to freak is;
$3 each? Put them in my trunk. There's a creek by my house I'll toss them into.
It's even funnier when buying car battery's.
Thread jack! The guy that lived across the street years a go used to change his oil into the storm drain. While you are joking about this sort of thing, I do hope that you tell the people at the shop it is a joke...
We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.
noddaz said:Datsun310Guy said:ShinnyGroove (Forum Supporter) said:and $3 per tire for disposal.
My bad dad joke that causes them to freak is;
$3 each? Put them in my trunk. There's a creek by my house I'll toss them into.
It's even funnier when buying car battery's.
Thread jack! The guy that lived across the street years a go used to change his oil into the storm drain. While you are joking about this sort of thing, I do hope that you tell the people at the shop it is a joke...
We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.
We fish quite a few out of the river every year. Hitting a floater with a boat is pretty exciting and since they are black you never see them first.
$64.20 with me keeping the old tires. It was $80 the last time when they took my old set. But they're just around the corner from home & I don't have to find room for tire machines or wrestle around with mounting/dismounting, so I'll do my best to keep supporting them.
Toyman01 + Sized and said:Doing it at home. Definitely worth it.
You around tomorrow? I'll pay you to put on /help me put on 245 15 on 10 inch wide wheels.
Seven too fore 858 o67 fiver.
Are you gonna be at cmp for champcar this weekend?
Usually 80-100 set at the local shop that does my annual inspections. It can vary depending on how much other work I'm having them do. They're usually very busy, so they generally don't like doing just tire mounting, so I usually have to schedule it.
I definitely want mounting and balancing equipment after I build a shop. Not so much to save money, but mainly to save the time and scheduling headaches.
Unmount, mount &spin balance if I drop them off and they fit it in, costs me pizza and wings on Friday.
100 a set, including disposal but I always tip for good service.
I use a mobile service that does it in my driveway without me needing to pause my life for it so I save far more in valuable time. Tirerack delivers to them so I never touch the tires, they jack up the car, remove the wheels, dismount the old rubber, install the new (even inquire about desired pressures and torque), balance in their van, drop the car and remove the old rubber and are gone after a quick text message. They will be doing a set soon while I am currently on vacation at the beach.
Having done everything from picking up at the local warehouse to installing race rubber by hand I don't think I will ever stop hitting the easy button when it comes to thankless jobs.
In reply to noddaz :
Yes, I tell them it's a joke. I would never........I do recycle my oil at Wally World
tb said:100 a set, including disposal but I always tip for good service.
I use a mobile service that does it in my driveway without me needing to pause my life for it so I save far more in valuable time. Tirerack delivers to them so I never touch the tires, they jack up the car, remove the wheels, dismount the old rubber, install the new (even inquire about desired pressures and torque), balance in their van, drop the car and remove the old rubber and are gone after a quick text message. They will be doing a set soon while I am currently on vacation at the beach.
How often do the cops stop and ask them why they are stealing rims? ;-)
In reply to DWNSHFT :
Good question? I should ask next time I see them!
I have had problems in the past when I lived in a bad neighborhood and someone tried to steal my rims, not really an issue in my current situation... will make for some good jokes with them in the future, though...
tb said:100 a set, including disposal but I always tip for good service.
I use a mobile service that does it in my driveway without me needing to pause my life for it so I save far more in valuable time. Tirerack delivers to them so I never touch the tires, they jack up the car, remove the wheels, dismount the old rubber, install the new (even inquire about desired pressures and torque), balance in their van, drop the car and remove the old rubber and are gone after a quick text message. They will be doing a set soon while I am currently on vacation at the beach.
Having done everything from picking up at the local warehouse to installing race rubber by hand I don't think I will ever stop hitting the easy button when it comes to thankless jobs.
I'd definitely tip for that! My $120 payment was with me dropping off the wheels and picking them up.
I'm thinking of trying somewhere else, but that depends on which wheels. I am confident that my current shop won't damage my unobtanium SSR wheels. Not a place to cheap out.
wvumtnbkr said:Toyman01 + Sized and said:Doing it at home. Definitely worth it.
You around tomorrow? I'll pay you to put on /help me put on 245 15 on 10 inch wide wheels.
Seven too fore 858 o67 fiver.
Are you gonna be at cmp for champcar this weekend?
Tied up tomorrow afternoon but Thursday would work. I'll shoot you a text tomorrow afternoon, or if I forget, hit me up at Ate 4 Tree, Fo Fo 2 Fo 7 3 six.
$25/each from what I can recall.
There was a time in my life when getting the equipment would make sense, but I can't see that ever happening again. Even if I changed enough to justify it, I have to imagine the equipment consumes quite a bit of floor space.
depends on
1. If Moxnix mounts them (I usually pay in booze)
2. If a certain guy at the local chain shop is there when I go (I pay cash under the table about half the retail price)
3. If he's not (I pay retail)
In reply to Floating Doc (Forum Supporter) :
Luckily I haven't had any issues with this company scratching any up or anything. That being said, I don't have fancy wheels and everything is insured for more than it is worth!
I would definitely be a lot more discerning with who I trust if I actually ever owned anything nice...
I got tired of paying real money for people to do it badly, so now I do it myself badly.
Interesting that people have to pay for disposal. Here in Manitoba, we pay $4.00 per tire on purchase of a new tire. Recyclers take used ones for free.
Followup questions for folks doing their own mounting: What equipment are you using and would you recommend it? We do a lot of mounting on project cars at our local Discount Tire, as it's about the only place that can handle wide/specialty stuff with care. But at $100/set we're wondering if it's better to just get our own rig at some point.
$50/set of four including balancing, and same as Run_Away, no disposal fees
And the nice thing about the shop I use is they have 2-3 guys on your car and you're in and out in minutes
In reply to JG Pasterjak :
I have the Mayflower 960 machine and 680 balancer. This is the generic import stuff. The machine has the extra helper arm which I use quite a bit. It isn't necessary for most tires, but it makes some things easier and others possible. I've been very happy with it. I wouldn't go this route for hundreds of tires a year, but for the dozen sets or so I do, it works great.
One significant benefit to having the ability to do it myself is that it enables things you just wouldn't pay for. For example, I had a tire on the trailer blow out last weekend, and I don't know how long I ran on the freeway with only one tire on that side. I dismounted that tire to inspect it, and that brought peace of mind that it hadn't been damaged. I also flip the race tires on the wheels more often then I would if I were paying for it which makes the tires last longer.
In reply to JG Pasterjak :
I'm using a set of these:
There is a thread Here about them. I would recommend them. At $100 a set, my machines were paid for after 19 sets of tires. I can't imagine not having them at this point. The convenience alone is worth the space in the shop.
Edit: It looks like they are about $2200 for a set now so the payoff is 22 sets of tires.
Free fidy. Father in law has a machine as does my neighbor.
Free fidy. Father in law has a machine as does my neighbor.
Funny you should ask. I was just looking into this yesterday.
I spent most of my adult life expecting to pay $10-$15 a tire. A couple years ago I was awoken to the fact that it's now $25 a tire for regular stuff, plus another $5 a tire for disposal and DNREC tax. I got used to that adjustment.
Yesterday I was looking into M+B for 19" tires (first car larger than 17") and I'm finding $50-$55 per tire, or around $60 each with disposal fee / DNREC tax if you brought the your own tires in.
The place next door that quoted me $60 ended up being a simpletire.com installer and it was about $35 a tire through them when I ordered the tires.
25$ per tire.
Toyman01 + Sized and said:wvumtnbkr said:Toyman01 + Sized and said:Doing it at home. Definitely worth it.
You around tomorrow? I'll pay you to put on /help me put on 245 15 on 10 inch wide wheels.
Seven too fore 858 o67 fiver.
Are you gonna be at cmp for champcar this weekend?
Tied up tomorrow afternoon but Thursday would work. I'll shoot you a text tomorrow afternoon, or if I forget, hit me up at Ate 4 Tree, Fo Fo 2 Fo 7 3 six.
Thanks bud! Needed to get them done today.
36$ for the pair with new valve stems from discount tire
In reply to wvumtnbkr :
Sorry about that. Save my number and hit me up next time.
I just went through this and ended up buying a used in great condition Hunter tire machine and a Greg smith WB11 wheel balancer. I have 9 cars one of which is a V8 miata that goes through rear tires and another that is a spec miata that goes through all four. But the biggest reason was not having to deal with my local tire store d-bags any more. It seemed like lately there was always a fee, prices kept going up or they couldn't mount a tire because the rim was .5" smaller in width then recommended in the their system. The final straw was when the guy told me that the small nail in the CENTER of my tire might have went through the side wall and if he removed the tire to check it, he would not be able to reinstall it - but could sell me a new tire.
It was the only car thing that I had to rely on someone else to do for me because I didn't have the tools.
Bought my own equipment. Its worth it but not because of the money you save (mine equals about 120 tires to break even...) rather it is the time saved , especially when dealing with old, classic and race cars. Switching tires, installing old ones for body work reference, ETC. That savings I think brought the break even down to about 40 tires.
My machine is an older Hofmann unit, bought used. There's no second or third arm, so any tire less than 40 or 45 sidewall is questionable as to whether or not I can actually do it. That's fine though, because I mostly play with old cars.
What's really nice is I no longer mess with rope plugs, I use plug-patches instead. Not a lot more money, and they hold up remarkably well.
The guy on US1 in New Smyrna Beach south of Canal St. Does it for around $15 but the tire prices are great. I got a set of Conti for my Volvo XC-70 dirt cheep. Nice people. They replaced a valve stem on a tire they didn't sell for FREE. Where do you gt that!
I had a set replaced last fall on the BMW in Nags Head NC and I balked at the price. I think it was $130 for all four. I asked if they could mount my tires and he gave me one price and then asked if I wanted them balanced too and quoted $130. Sheesh. I've got a local guy who'll do much cheaper but he said his machine might scratch up my aluminum wheels and he didn't want to take the risk.
Floor space can be an issue. I like cars in my floor space so the rimclamp and balancer go up in the loft. I have enough vehicles that it makes sense to do it myself. With the big tire machines upstairs i still have room for all the cars, trans jack, and engine hoist on the floor.
In reply to Toyman01 + Sized and :
No problem! Thanks for responding!
I saw your resp9nse on this thread and remembered you were close so I figured I'd give it a shot!
On topic... discount tire was awesome. Cheap ($18 per tire with valve stem). They also have a cool email system that let's you know when it is done.
$50 per wheel at a local private shop - not a chain. Expertly done. No scratches. Great high speed balance. Replace the TPMS sensor only when needed.
I sourced used Chinesium units on Craigslist & FB Marketplace within the last year: an old Eagle TC-950 tire changer for $250, and 5-yr old Atlas WB11 balancer for $450 that included motorcycle wheel adapters. The tire changer had a massive air leak, and his wife "demanded" he sell it to regain garage space for her new SUV -- so I was able to talk him down from $700! I've become VERY popular with my Lemons teammates... but my buddies bring treats, replenish supplies (wheel weights, tire valves, etc.), and occasionally buy me stuff to feed my toolwhore addiction.
I paid $35 per tire last month at a chain store. I had a guy near my old house that would do them for $20 and I would give $100. He was great, I'd drop them off and a day or two later he would have them done. no surprises, no extra fees, just a good job. I have a friend that has a tire machine but I don't use it often enough to be efficient so it's cheaper to pay.
I don't know why I forgot to mention this but my local Llantara will do all four for $60.
I certainly want my own equipment - I had found a nice tire shop out in Seattle area that did all my race tires, car tires, trailer tires, etc - mount and balance $20 or less each tire.
Moved back to MI and didnt have a source - our air compressor guy at work says he's part time at a tire shop, just mention my name & they'll take care of you. took 4 brand new 15" race tires and 15" rims over there - took forever (like 2 hours in an empty shop) and charged me $200(!) bucks. "since you know so&so, you got a deal, its usually way more..."
uh no thanks, I got 7 sets of other tires I'll take elsewhere.
Can the chinese tire machines do 20" 35 series tires?
In reply to Kendall_Jones :
They should but it will be a tight squeeze between the arm and the wheel. I do 35s on 18 x 9.5 wheels fairly often for the G35 and usually just push the first bead on because it's easier than fighting the tire between the arm and wheel.
In reply to JG Pasterjak :
I have a Ranger (looks like an older R980XR) that I picked up a couple years ago from a shop that was upgrading. I use that, along with a pair of "Bead Clamp Drop Center Tool" from amazon and a harbor freight bubble balancer. Between the DD, project cars, and race cars, it paid for itself very quickly.
A buddy with a shop is nice enough to let me use his machine and balancer so when I mount tires I usually throw him and $20 and bring him and the guys a case of beer. When I do that I end up disposing of the takeoffs at discount for $2.50/tire so I end up at $50 all in for a set. If I don't have time to make it out to the shop I'll go to the nearby independent tireshop where they charge $20/wheel for mount/balance/disposal. At drift events, a few guys bring tire machines out and charge $10/wheel to mount but no balance as its not necessary for drifting.
Between drifting and HPDE track weekends I go through enough tires that I could probably justify getting at least my own mounting machine just based on cost and convenience alone and probably will eventually.
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