I went into my local america's tire co today to get a tire fixed. I asked for a quote on some 235/40/17 Z212's and was quoted at 637.80. 637.80! granted, it's a big size for a big bling wheel, but it was a little insulting to me--especially when i'm in there every 3 months buying yet another set of tires. Or sending people their way constantly because in the past they've been a solid source for street rubber...

anyway, back to my being insulted: it's one thing if i'm johnny aquatred 600 treadwear, but i know from past experience that the price is negotiable. Especially when they're marking up the tire by, oh $25 per for mounting and balancing, and i've had that cut to approx $12 per in the past. Yet, my "contact" at that particular location has since moved to a new America's Tire, and i'm stuck paying regular price.

So i thought, buying tires is a pain in the ***, only because you order them for a great price from the 'rack, Phil's Tire, or whereever, and you're stuck paying an assload of money just to get em mounted. If you're lucky you got the puppies shaved and they'll last you a couple of race weekends before you repeat the process. And since there's more than a few of us compulsive tire buyers out there (club racers, A/X'ers, nail magnet daily drivers) it would really make life easier if i could just mount the bastards myself.

And so, I was thinking if you got enough people together (enough defined as as many people as it takes to make the monetary investment reasonable given the task) and shared a tire mounting and balancing machine, wouldn't it make sense? And not one of those cute HF tire mounters, i was thinking something nice. something hydraulic. something that makes mounting 40 series tires possible...You could put it in a central location, you could charge your peers who didn't get in on the original purchase oh, $20 to mount a set, and collectively make back the money you put in in a year's time or less. It reeks of genius. I don't know how portable these things are, and i'm guessing not very, but what if you could take em to the local 'cross, local NASA race weekend, and enjoy community tire mounting? Or for the local A/X chapter with so much extra money from events that they have no idea what to do with it () it'd be great if they could throw it into a tire mounting machine.

Lots of potholes in this plan that i don't foresee, i'm sure, but what do you guys think? given the opportunity, would you make use of something like that? would you pitch in for something like that? O & M on community property as well as ownership rights are always a pain, but it seems like a small price to pay for what seems to be a much desired benefit.

 

A quick search shows that a decent tire mounting machine is, oh 4,000 bucks or so. 80 people pitching in $50, and i think we'd could be in business. I think there's probably 80 people in LA that would want in on this...

 

Set this up in the NYC area, I'd give you $50 to let me use it!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Bbasso &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Set this up in the NYC area, I'd give you $50 to let me use it!</TD></TR></TABLE>

i know just the corner too: rent out a 10x10 piece of that parking lot on houston and ludlow, and i'd drive out to nyc every other month to get tires mounted, visit friends, and get drunk on the LES. &lt;3

talk about 3 birds with one stone.

 

I almost convinced myself that I could break even within a few years.

FWIW, both America's Tires in Torrance price matched for me w/o drama.
The one I bought tires from offered to "flip" them at no cost -- but would
charge me $5 or $10 rebalancing?

So do you have 78 more people who want to chip in?

 

Meh! I've done away with dealing with big tire chain stores like Discount Tire. Here in College Station/Bryan, TX, I can name 3-4 shops that charge $12-20 to mount a set of tires. I even purchased a set of 205/50-15 azenis st-215s mounted for around $310 at a local shop!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by WWDTrackRacer &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I almost convinced myself that I could break even within a few years.

FWIW, both America's Tires in Torrance price matched for me w/o drama.
The one I bought tires from offered to "flip" them at no cost -- but would
charge me $5 or $10 rebalancing?

So do you have 78 more people who want to chip in? </TD></TR></TABLE>

yeah, apparently my inside source that used to be at puente hills is in carson now, but **** if i know where carson is

haha i think i'm still 70 something people short. let's see what the people over at solo2.com have to say.

[dreaming]hell, if and when i'm rich, i'll have a nice fat garage with all the cool **** you would ever need to work on a car, and yes, i will let all of you guys use it.[/dreaming]

 

Here is what i would find some one who is a sales person rather high up, ONLY deal with him. bring in your rims off of the car, and again DEAL ONLY with him.

I know at my local tire shop there is one guy who deals with autoX/race tires and stuff, he always cuts them deals. Price match up too, they will go lower

 

I think you have no concept what it takes to run a tire business or what it costs to own a decent tire changing machine and road force balancer.

 

40 series and lower suck to mount. You either need a sweet machine or a ton of fat friends that don't mind hanging around till the next person to show to mount them. Both a sweet machine and maintaining a constant supply of fatties to hang around = $$

This is one of those ideas where you can get 100 people to be like, "Hellz yeah sounds tite doo! git to mount mah 18z!" But when it comes time to actually pay for the damn thing....

Nice idea. Kinda hard to execute.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DB2-R81 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I think you have no concept what it takes to run a tire business or what it costs to own a decent tire changing machine and road force balancer.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Can you elaborate on this? I have seen used machines sold for much less than 4k and with 4 cars in our stable I have thought about this as well. The cost of the machines can be covered in two or three seasons. What does it cost to keep these machines running? do they have issues if there not used all the time?

 

$2990.00, free freight, tire mounting machine and balancer:

http://www.eagleequip.com

Considering, say, the cost of a good scale setup and platform, this is a bargain for the bucks-up racer. Not practical for many, but if you've got two or three buddies that are committed, and a number of friends/aquaintances, it could be practical to do exactly what you say.

Two things that would be pivotal, space that's available, and a local club that would be a constant source of $20.00 mount/balance jobs.

Jon

 

do all your business with a local independent shop. i get all my tires mounted at a fellow autocrossers garage (Chang at FunHonda's in Maynard, MA) and he treats me right. he even uses a real torque wrench when he puts the wheels back on your car.

if you do enough business with a little guy he starts to appreciate the regular source of income. the big chains could care less.

 

Not only is it the expense.......which with all the incidentals can be very expensive......it does take knowledge and experience which comes with practice.....
the kind of practice that you would do everyday if you own a shop......not just a once in a while thing ........think of the repercussions .......rip a bead on one of those $150 race tires......it's junk.....

I applaud the entreperneurial skills..........how about hiring a pro when you need him or her. After you buy the equipment maybe they will do it for some beers or something. When you know what you are doing it only takes a short while to mount and balance a set of tires correctly.


Its good to see the mind working though.....thats' what makes America great !!!!



Modified by Maxx44 at 9:19 AM 4/13/2005

 

You guys will regret your decision as soon as you have to mount anything smaller than a 50 series tire, and that's just street tires. R-comps are 10x worse, and it is still easy as hell to scratch your wheel to sh*t. Plus, as noted, there's a lot of suppies involved that you wouldn't think of and they aren't cheap.

My 3 cents.

 

There have to be road racers in your area. One of them, I am almost certain, owns or has access to a tire mounting machine in some shop somewhere.

 

BTW, I've heard the Tire Rack is for sale. They have been doing $50e6 EBITDA. The article didn't say why it was for sale. Anyone know more?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Maxx44 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Not only is it the expense.......which with all the incidentals can be very expensive......it does take knowledge and experience which comes with practice.....
the kind of practice that you would do everyday if you own a shop......not just a once in a while thing ........think of the repercussions .......rip a bead on one of those $150 race tires......it's junk.....

I applaud the entreperneurial skills..........how about hiring a pro when you need him or her. After you buy the equipment maybe they will do it for some beers or something. When you know what you are doing it only takes a short while to mount and balance a set of tires correctly.


Its good to see the mind working though.....thats' what makes America great !!!!

Modified by Maxx44 at 9:19 AM 4/13/2005</TD></TR></TABLE>

i'd love to build a solid working relationship with a smaller guy, where he knows me by name and psi preference and doesn't charge me for stupid little stuff. i'm just wondering how much is in it for him if i'm asking him to pricematch someone huge and then mount the tires (which i don't think there could be much profit margin on, unless he's super quick).

yeah, i know there's plenty of sunk costs that i have no idea about, and i'm sure it costs more than purchase price to operate a machine. however, it would be nice to be able to flip my directional tires every 5000 miles, or otherwise satisfy my capricious tire needs.

thanks for the input everyone!

 

Coop kinds of things like this can work great or can be the biggest headache in the world. The hardware isn't particularly expensive, once it's been amortized over 200 tires mounted, but it needs a place to live, some process for securing it, protocols for keeping it in working order, a way to schedule it, and a lot of other considerations. Who makes sure everyone using it knows how to do so safely? Who pays if it gets busted?

A less confusing option would be for a small number of people to invest in the tools and sell the service to other racers. That works until they decide that they don't want to take a loss on every transaction, and they start charging as much as the local tire shop.

I've cultivated a relationship with a locally owned independent tire joint of a reasonable size. They actually shave tires and I can get them mounted and balanced for $10 each. I gave them an autographed "thank you" picture at the end of last season, and they hung it behind the cash register - even though it has PhilsTireService.com stickers prominently displayed on it. Last time I was in, they added the picture of a shaved Toyo to display...

K

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by solo-x &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">do all your business with a local independent shop. i get all my tires mounted at a fellow autocrossers garage (Chang at FunHonda's in Maynard, MA)</TD></TR></TABLE>

I agree. I go to Express Tire in Watertown. (NOT to be confused with Direct Tire ripoff in Newton).

I'm in there about 1-2x per year and they always remember my name. They know my interest level in tires is way above and beyond 99.9 percent of their clientel. They are happy to let me take part in any alignments - sitting in the car while they perform them.

They're prices are good. They do good work. What more could you ask for.

 

I bought my tires from Tires.com and took them to America's Tire. They mounted them for $10/tire and the guy told me that next time I should bring in a price rom their website and he'll match it and order the tires w/o any shipping costs.

This is the America's tire in Lake Forest, CA BTW