yonks8365

What or who is the cheapest way to ship a wheel and tire setup?
Thanks

acroy

Set up personal Fedex Account
ship ground. Securely Tape heavy cardboard to cover the wheels. Slap labels on the tread. Enter dims as they are (about 27x27x12 or so)
About $40-50 per wheel/tire

There may be cheaper options (LTL, Greyhound) I have not used.

papillion

Get a quote from uShip. It is the backdrop for the TV show Shipping Wars. Solves your packaging issues. Since you'll need none.

hemistar1

I have done it 3 times and it gets easier but it can be a pain..

see link below

https://howtoshipwheels.com/HowToShipWheelsWithTires/


you can use fedex or ups.. but count on more like $60 to $80 per wheel minimum to a residential area..more if shipping farther

make sure you deflare as much air as you can out of each tire

spend money on the right supplies shrink wrap ..card board ..plenty of tape. Don’t go cheap because they will sling your setup around and stack other stuff on top of it

About $60.00 of supplies to do it right if shipping all 4 a little less if just .

good luck

pbergmann

Greyhound bus will do the task as well. Super cheap too.

yonks8365

Thanks guys I will check those suggestions out. I appreciate it.

eric

davepl

Bus is cheap if you have it!

UPS ground otherwise. If they're smaller I strap two together facing one another for protection and it's a little cheaper I've found.

JerryU

As a small business it always tics me off that I get 10 to 15% discount from FedEx and UPS and when I was VP at a large company we were getting 60 and 70+%!

Just had an experience with a product being shipped to me in 2 pallet large pallet boxes strapped to a pallet via LTL (Less Than Trailer load.) It got shipped to the wrong small LTL carrier who had no way to get it down from their platform! I paid a fellow to help me take the product out of the pallet boxes so I could make my usual 2 trips in our SUV! Turned out on this one street there were 5 of these new start-ups down the road from Yellow Freight. The shipping cost to me was 30% less than the one I usually use and that was a 65% discount as I used the Shippers account discount and paid them their cost.

I'd sure let my fingers to the walking and check as you'll find UPS/FedEx expensive. You may have to get a pallet and use rope to tie them on it,as most use fork lifts and truckers must tie down inside their 18 wheeler. Although Tire Rack just uses strapping and plastic wrap to ship theirs. have to ask.

Curious what you find.

Marcho Polo

I have used this service:

https://www.shipnex.com/express-shipping-rates.aspx

They end up using FedEx or UPS. I think I had wheels and tires in Z51 sizes shipped from NJ to Texas for $218

Just taped cardboard to the face of the wheel to protect the rims, and then a label. Arrived just fine.

50th year

Strange
I checked with my local UPS store and they wanted hundreds to ship just my 4 new c5 anniversary wheels. Needless to say it made the cost to expensive to sell the wheels.. They were going to be shipped to NY from AZ so maybe that was the reason.

JerryU

^^
Yep that was a factor but the real issues is the discounts you were quoted (probably 0.) Discounts are only offered and can be given by a salesman.

Of interest FedEx has a product called "Great Rates" that only applies to air freight shipments out of the country. If you ship on the day of the week they give you, the discounts are ~70% from the list price. For Mexico it was 75% any day of the week. The product has to weigh a minimum of 10 lbs as I recall. It's a standard FedEx program but the stores don't know about it! It's worse than airline pricing!

Jus Cruisin

Don't forget USPS. I used them and they were cheaper than FedEx and UPS.

Avanti

If you go with Greyhound, please check on my luggage they lost while you're there.

And, that's the best story I have to tell about them and freight. Okay, the one with them leaving the depot with all the storage doors open on one side of the bus, is another I like. A car passed us and motioned to the driver... okay, I'll stop here. You get the idea, I'm sure.

Skid Row Joe

FedEx Ground. No better shipper in the Country.

formula32paul

Shipnex

pkincy

I will not attribute this advice as I don't have his permission, but it came from an ex forum member that had a side business of selling tires he was able to buy at a huge discount that were new old stock.

Now he generally was shipping tires only, but here is what he told me:

Tires are good to ship as-is. If the tires are 295 or narrower and less than 27" tall, you can tape them together as one. I usually tape them securely in 3 spots, at 120* intervals, with heavy duty shipping tape. Try to refrain from using duct tape, the adhesive is too strong and makes a mess on the sidewalls. With larger tires, anything wider than a 295, they need to be shipped individually. So one label per tire. I ship through FedEx, and like most carriers, they have a small surcharge per item that is non-boxed or "non standard packaging". For FedEx that is $10.50 per label. You can get around that by putting them in a box, but finding one to fit will be a challenge in itself.

When I bought takeoffs from Katech that were tires mounted on wheels, they shipped them on a pallet by truck freight. I live near HRE's mfg facility here in SoCal so they were shipped there and HRE was kind enough to hold them for me to come by in the pickup and get them.

My experience with shipping boxed wheels (either in Forgeline boxes or HRE boxes although the latter are huge as they completely encase the wheel in a form fitted styrofoam container) I found FedEx significantly cheaper than UPS or Greyhound for some reason. And this was when I was looking after I had left my employer which had a national account with UPS and FedEx. And yes those are 60-70% discounts from rack rates. So find a buddy working for a large company that is kind enough to allow their employees to use their shipping account. I have worked for two such companies.

I think good advice if you are selling wheels/tires is to sell the tires locally and ship the wheels. Much easier unless you can access truck freight.

chefcg1

Do not use Uship, rates are good,but they will screw you if you make a claim. Been fighting them for 5 years on a carbon fiber hood they destroyed in shipping. I paid for insurance and they would not honor it after the claim was made.

smajicek

Just curious what is the reason for make sure you deflare as much air as you can out of each tire

hemistar1

2 reasons ... the air makes the tire/rim combo less heavier

Also if you are shrink wrapping them it it easier to get a tighter fit around tires with less air imo.

Marcho Polo

NO air makes it lighter? LOL

I have shipped and received around 4 sets of rims/tires and never let air out. They were fine, and easy to move around. With runflats it may not matter, but a regular tire with no air can get difficult to move around in my opinion.