cheap tire mount and balance

ajdereicup

Measly little 4.6 2v in a boat
Oct 30, 2012
5,234
261
Lombard
A&L in palatine. $10 a tire for dismount, mount and balance. shop is very nice, people are friendly and they have made me happy many times with mounting on everything from weld wheels to high end forged rims.

I may need to go to them from now on. I just had to pay fucking $144 out the door for some POS cheap tire for a pickup because I had a flat. Fuck that when I can get it a lot cheaper and mounted and all for $10. I think they charged me like fucking $16 for balancing alone the place I got stuck going to. :fu:
 

tmbutitta

TCG Elite Member
Feb 16, 2010
1,671
0
Rockford
I charge 20 a tire and we have a competitor that does it for $15. Well, we recently hired their manager as one of our techs and he told us that they do them for so cheap because they do not change valve stems, they balance but wont use stick on weights, they refuse to use any lubrication or bead sealer, they do not clean the rim before mounting any new tire, and they only pay their tire techs 8.25 an hour... plus they have no warranty on any work.

we have it figured out that to mount a tire correctly costs us about $10.. the profit really goes towards the 17k in equipment, and our 3 year warranty.

so you do get what you pay for, but if there is a local place doing it for $10 and is willing to stand behind their work, go for it. but if you have to go back because of a leaking valve stem in a few months or a bead that didnt seal correctly, it may not be worth saving the few bucks.

a lot of these budget places have really old outdated equipment too... so no plastic protectors on the tire changer, or a balancer thats out of calibration...

not to mention the lack of care that some of these places have for rims... I had to have Firestone buy me a $1500 set of rims after damaging a brand new set trying to mount them..

i also had someone at discount scar up my champions because they were mounting from the inside of rim instead of the outside..

but these stuff could happen anywhere.. even the places charging a premium
 

Bob Kazamakis

I’m the f-ing lizard king
TCG Premium
Oct 24, 2007
84,978
44,191
Denver
$10 blows my mind...

if they pay a tech $20 an hour, they are paying him $5 in labor per wheel.. valve stem stick on weights and shop supplies would be close to $2... at $3 profit they are really making no money..

2 tires = $6 profit for 20 minutes of work


They're a body shop first, tires are just something they offer. They certainly don't take an hour to do 4 wheels either.
 

tmbutitta

TCG Elite Member
Feb 16, 2010
1,671
0
Rockford
They're a body shop first, tires are just something they offer. They certainly don't take an hour to do 4 wheels either.

i wish there was a local place i could trust to do that for us.. I would of just sublet it out and saved my money on the machines..

we always used firestone, but they would charge us 17 a tire and we would mark it up to 25... but was just a pain to warranty their work.

we finally made the investment for the equipment.. but even at $20-$25 a tire it will take years to pay back the investment before we really turn a profit.

we went overkil on the changer and balancer tho
 

Boostie

TCG Elite Member
TCG Sponsor
Jul 15, 2010
2,819
4,014
I spoke with people a&l one time asking why their prices were so cheap for tires since they are primary a body shop and do euro cars. I was told it was more of a service for people for people to build customer base and to get people talking about them this potentially get further business. They are a family ran place and very quick. I've had tires mounted on steel wheels, et streets into welds to wide ass 19's with rubber band tires and never once had a mark left on a wheel or anything negative to say about them. I have recommended many people to try them out and they also have had positive experiences. The only downfall that I have ran into is they close early (5pm iirc) which doesn't allow much time for me to get there after work but I have always made an effort to take my stuff there.
 
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