Grandpsort rear tire adventure
05-19-2016, 12:44 PM
#1
Instructor
Thread Starter
Grandpsort rear tire adventure
Just thought I would share my recent tire adventure on my car.
So I ordered a set of rear tires for my car and after many attempts to find a dealer to mount them I finally found one so I thought. Called the tire shop and told them what I needed. They said they could do it to bring the car down. $20 bucks a tire. So I headed down to the shop ( 30 minutes away ). Get there and talk to the salesman and he ask what size they are. so I tell him 325/30/19. He ask for my keys and I proceed to ask if I can drive it in the shop. He agrees and even tells me I can stay in the shop and watch the guy mount the tires. I thought great, then he comes back out and tells me there is a problem. He proceeds to tell me that they can mount the new tires but they cant get them to seal to the rim cause of the width. He said that the local car dealership can blow the tires up but it will cost me. So he calls them and they tell him it will be $93 a hour and could take 2 hours to do them. ( $200 bucks for air ).
So I would have to leave my car on the lift at the tire store, take the tires to the dealership ( 5 minutes away ) pay them $200 bucks and then bring the tires back and pay the tire shop $40 bucks to mount and balance them. $240.00 for 2 tires to be put on WOW.
In the end I get on the phone and find the nearest tirerack.com dealer. Its a hour away in another state so I call them and they say they can do it for $50. I make the drive over and they do the whole ordeal in less than a hour with no problems. Let me stand and watch the whole thing and charge me $50 bucks for the tires and $50 for labor so it came to $114.
Just thought Id share my experience.
So I ordered a set of rear tires for my car and after many attempts to find a dealer to mount them I finally found one so I thought. Called the tire shop and told them what I needed. They said they could do it to bring the car down. $20 bucks a tire. So I headed down to the shop ( 30 minutes away ). Get there and talk to the salesman and he ask what size they are. so I tell him 325/30/19. He ask for my keys and I proceed to ask if I can drive it in the shop. He agrees and even tells me I can stay in the shop and watch the guy mount the tires. I thought great, then he comes back out and tells me there is a problem. He proceeds to tell me that they can mount the new tires but they cant get them to seal to the rim cause of the width. He said that the local car dealership can blow the tires up but it will cost me. So he calls them and they tell him it will be $93 a hour and could take 2 hours to do them. ( $200 bucks for air ).
So I would have to leave my car on the lift at the tire store, take the tires to the dealership ( 5 minutes away ) pay them $200 bucks and then bring the tires back and pay the tire shop $40 bucks to mount and balance them. $240.00 for 2 tires to be put on WOW.
In the end I get on the phone and find the nearest tirerack.com dealer. Its a hour away in another state so I call them and they say they can do it for $50. I make the drive over and they do the whole ordeal in less than a hour with no problems. Let me stand and watch the whole thing and charge me $50 bucks for the tires and $50 for labor so it came to $114.
Just thought Id share my experience.
05-19-2016, 02:03 PM
#9
Burning Brakes
Had a similar experience with what I thought was one of the high-end, i.e., professional tire shops in the local area. Had several discussions with them about what tires I wanted, about the OEM GY runflats that were on the car, and that I wanted the tires balanced using a RoadForce machine. All during the discussions I was assured they had performed many of these mounts and all was wonderful.
Day of the appointment, I took the car in and headed home. Soon, they called me to tell me that their "old worn out changer" wouldn't generate sufficient torque to get the RFs off the rim and could they drive it over to one of their other locations that had a newer, more powerful changer. No problem. But when I picked the car at the other location, I was informed that they hadn't been told by the original shop to do the RoadForce balance. Of course, I ended up having to take the car back to them, demount the wheels and rebalance the new tires because of a shimmy. Honestly, I think that the level of quality in the service industry--especially where having a modicum of skilled labor and experience comes into play--is almost non-existent these days.
Day of the appointment, I took the car in and headed home. Soon, they called me to tell me that their "old worn out changer" wouldn't generate sufficient torque to get the RFs off the rim and could they drive it over to one of their other locations that had a newer, more powerful changer. No problem. But when I picked the car at the other location, I was informed that they hadn't been told by the original shop to do the RoadForce balance. Of course, I ended up having to take the car back to them, demount the wheels and rebalance the new tires because of a shimmy. Honestly, I think that the level of quality in the service industry--especially where having a modicum of skilled labor and experience comes into play--is almost non-existent these days.
The following 2 users liked this post by icntdrv55:
art staggs (05-19-2016),
Landru (05-19-2016)
05-19-2016, 02:35 PM
#10
05-19-2016, 02:39 PM
#11
Race Director
Went thru' hell & high water locating 4 new skins for the Z last Spring.
No one was having any luck getting Bridgestone PPs I wanted, one place who could wanted $350+ vs last, this would've been my 3rd set.
Decided to check a place I was driving by: NTB.
Easy to deal with, great price (best, ever) & they said they'd overnight 'em from their Chicago warehouse next day. Great. Sold!
Had to scramble schedule to get there in a busy week.
Got there, they took the car & few minutes later tell me their old machine just won't open wide enough to do RFs. A tire store.
I walked, they sent tires back to Chitown.
Ended up going to a Chevy store, paid dearly for the Michelins they COULD get...and install. 2016? Bah.
05-19-2016, 02:43 PM
#12
Race Director
Still, *I* would think a business servicing customer tire/wheel needs had better cough-up the loot or be left behind.
05-19-2016, 05:00 PM
#13
Advanced
Cheaper isnt always better
Just thought I would share my recent tire adventure on my car.
So I ordered a set of rear tires for my car and after many attempts to find a dealer to mount them I finally found one so I thought. Called the tire shop and told them what I needed. They said they could do it to bring the car down. $20 bucks a tire. So I headed down to the shop ( 30 minutes away ). Get there and talk to the salesman and he ask what size they are. so I tell him 325/30/19. He ask for my keys and I proceed to ask if I can drive it in the shop. He agrees and even tells me I can stay in the shop and watch the guy mount the tires. I thought great, then he comes back out and tells me there is a problem. He proceeds to tell me that they can mount the new tires but they cant get them to seal to the rim cause of the width. He said that the local car dealership can blow the tires up but it will cost me. So he calls them and they tell him it will be $93 a hour and could take 2 hours to do them. ( $200 bucks for air ).
So I would have to leave my car on the lift at the tire store, take the tires to the dealership ( 5 minutes away ) pay them $200 bucks and then bring the tires back and pay the tire shop $40 bucks to mount and balance them. $240.00 for 2 tires to be put on WOW.
In the end I get on the phone and find the nearest tirerack.com dealer. Its a hour away in another state so I call them and they say they can do it for $50. I make the drive over and they do the whole ordeal in less than a hour with no problems. Let me stand and watch the whole thing and charge me $50 bucks for the tires and $50 for labor so it came to $114.
Just thought Id share my experience.
So I ordered a set of rear tires for my car and after many attempts to find a dealer to mount them I finally found one so I thought. Called the tire shop and told them what I needed. They said they could do it to bring the car down. $20 bucks a tire. So I headed down to the shop ( 30 minutes away ). Get there and talk to the salesman and he ask what size they are. so I tell him 325/30/19. He ask for my keys and I proceed to ask if I can drive it in the shop. He agrees and even tells me I can stay in the shop and watch the guy mount the tires. I thought great, then he comes back out and tells me there is a problem. He proceeds to tell me that they can mount the new tires but they cant get them to seal to the rim cause of the width. He said that the local car dealership can blow the tires up but it will cost me. So he calls them and they tell him it will be $93 a hour and could take 2 hours to do them. ( $200 bucks for air ).
So I would have to leave my car on the lift at the tire store, take the tires to the dealership ( 5 minutes away ) pay them $200 bucks and then bring the tires back and pay the tire shop $40 bucks to mount and balance them. $240.00 for 2 tires to be put on WOW.
In the end I get on the phone and find the nearest tirerack.com dealer. Its a hour away in another state so I call them and they say they can do it for $50. I make the drive over and they do the whole ordeal in less than a hour with no problems. Let me stand and watch the whole thing and charge me $50 bucks for the tires and $50 for labor so it came to $114.
Just thought Id share my experience.
1)nobody works for free
2) some vendors are better than other;s and knowing which is which is sometimes hard to figure out till its too late
3) by saving money up front you dont always come out ahead
4) Cheaper isnt always better. Sometimes its better to pay a bit more to the guy up front by giving him the sale, then letting him just do the work.That way he stands behind the product and the work and treats you right when you come back with if you have an issue. He is responsible for the whole job. Product and service.
Once you start factoring your research time, online ordering , shipping, aggravation factor and all incurred expenses, you often end up near the same price w/o all the headaches. Just sayin'
05-19-2016, 05:36 PM
#14
Racer
Member Since: Apr 2008
Location: Seattle Washignton
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FWIW I am guilty to a fault, trying to save money by cutting out the middlemans profit by using internet products and another vendor to install. But i have learned in my 51 years a couple things:
1)nobody works for free
2) some vendors are better than other;s and knowing which is which is sometimes hard to figure out till its too late
3) by saving money up front you dont always come out ahead
4) Cheaper isnt always better. Sometimes its better to pay a bit more to the guy up front by giving him the sale, then letting him just do the work.That way he stands behind the product and the work and treats you right when you come back with if you have an issue. He is responsible for the whole job. Product and service.
Once you start factoring your research time, online ordering , shipping, aggravation factor and all incurred expenses, you often end up near the same price w/o all the headaches.
:
1)nobody works for free
2) some vendors are better than other;s and knowing which is which is sometimes hard to figure out till its too late
3) by saving money up front you dont always come out ahead
4) Cheaper isnt always better. Sometimes its better to pay a bit more to the guy up front by giving him the sale, then letting him just do the work.That way he stands behind the product and the work and treats you right when you come back with if you have an issue. He is responsible for the whole job. Product and service.
Once you start factoring your research time, online ordering , shipping, aggravation factor and all incurred expenses, you often end up near the same price w/o all the headaches.
:
05-19-2016, 07:42 PM
#16
Le Mans Master
05-19-2016, 07:46 PM
#17
Race Director
Member Since: Jan 2014
Location: Huskerland
Posts: 10,517
Received 2,796 Likes
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1,956 Posts
2021 C6 of the Year Finalist - Modified
I take my Grand Sport to the local tire guy and he gets me the B-stone's and mounts them and it cost me about 60 bucks more than the tires alone do on Tire Rack......no complaints here.......but 200 bucks to put air in the tires? What's that about?
05-19-2016, 10:31 PM
#19
Racer
I use Discount Tire to mount my 345/30/19's and even get to stand over their shoulder and watch. The only issue I've had is where they were about to try and put my car on one of the floor lifts that you drive over. I told them no and we just use a jack under the cradle.
05-20-2016, 07:50 AM
#20
Melting Slicks
This is one reason (I keep telling my wife) why I have a pickup truck and lift. For years I have removed my tires and taken them to the shop for mounting an balancing. I will admit though that I looked for a year for a shop I felt was qualified to change the tires on my GS. In the end the shop I found did not have a machine specifically made for run flat tires but they did have a highly qualified and expert tire technician.