I am sooooooooooooo freaking annoyed right now. I loaded up one of our cars today and headed out to the STS that did my 215/35-18 tires for the Celica wheels. Get there, talking to the guy and the manager askes what size tires they're installing. I tell them 275/35 and 295/35, both 18's, on 9.5 and 10.5 wide Corvette Wheels.

"Oh, we can't do those. Once you start getting below a 40 series tire it just stops our machine cold."

I point to the Celica sitting outside (above mentioned wheels/tires) and say "Do you realize that I had those mounted here and they've got a MUCH shorter sidewall??"

"Well we shouldn't have."

So I ask, "So can you install a 225/40-18??"

"Yes"

The punchline: I say "You do realize that a 225/40-18 has a shorter sidewall than a 275/35-18 or a 295/35-18, RIGHT??"

"Oh, well in that case we can do them, drop them off next week."

Not on my car bub. So I proceed to call or stop by three other places, all different chains. I get one that says "yeah, we can do those, but let me look at the wheels." Guy sees the wheels and says "We can do them, but honestly, we're only making labor money on the install (at $25 per mount for each tire plus another $16 each for balance, TIME FOUR) and if I damage a wheel I have to replace it, so I'd rather not." *****.

One place that I called said they can do it, so I ask, You don't have a problem doing Corvette Wheels, right?? "Oh, we can't do those." I ask why, and get the brush off "we always have problems with those" to which I retort that they're just normal wheels. So dude says bring them by tomorrow.

I head up to base (McGuire, an hour away) because I know the hobby shop is open, figure I'll just do it myself and own up if I damage a wheel. Get there, and A: I don't have long pants so I'm screwed there, and B: The dude I HATE that works there is the only guy there. I ask anyway, can you mount these up for me. He asks what kind of tire, and I give him the size, and he said "we're not allowed to do that low of a profile here, our boss said so." IT'S A FREAKING SNAP-ON TIRE INSTALLATION MACHINE WITH ALL THE ACCESSORIES, meaning it CAN and HAS been done. I didn't say that, just told him that his boss is full of poopie (she is, doesn't have a damn clue and the base services squadron will be getting a nice letter explaining this from me) to which he agreed, but I can understand him not putting his job on the line because I wanted tires mounted.

So, here I sit. I may get lucky tomorrow, but I doubt it. Especially if they try to have me sign a "we're not responsible waiver." Screw that.

If you actually read this and understood it, thanks for letting me rant.

 

From where did you purchase the tires? I know that places like Tire Rack and Discount Tire Online have shops that they recommend for mounting, maybe you could hook up with one of them to do this.

I can tell you this much - mounting a very low profile tire on a very wide wheel is not the easiest task and is best left to someone who knows what they are doing. Factor in your tire pressure monitors (I assume you are going to move those over to the new wheels, right?), brand new wheels and then an underpaid tire monkey....that's a recipe for disaster! At least they were upfront about it before they garfed up one of your brand new wheels.

Do a little checking and see who does the wheels and tires for any of the more exotic cars in your area...they'll be well versed on how to handle the task. Don't forget to ask for a Road Force Balance. This web site will tell you who in your area has this kind of equipment. One of the shops that has this state of the art balancing machine might very easily have the right equipment and expertise to mount your tires on the wheels, too.

http://www.gsp9700.com/pub/search/findgsp9700.cfm

 

But it's not that low of a profile. My biggest gripe is that people hear "35" and it's "OMG that's too low!!" or some crap. There's a ton of places around me with that road force balancer, so I should be able to find one place. Thanks for the linky.

 

Sean - it's not important if you or I don't think that's a low profile tire, the important thing is that they do and they are the one's doing the work. I'd much rather have a shop tell me up front that they cannot perform what I am requesting, instead of accepting the job and then making a mess out of it, then denying responsibility that they don't normally do this kind of work.

I am VERY familiar with a 275-35x18, I have them on the front of my car and I have 305-30x19's out back.

I'll bet if you go to one of the shops that have invested in the Hunter GPS9700, chances are very good that they will also have Hunter Tire changing machines as well that are designed to work with wide aftermarket rims and low profile tires. I know where I went to have my tires mounted and balanced, this is the machine that they have...

 

I'll be making phone calls on Monday based off of that link you posted. I appreciate the help, I really do.