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$66 to mount and balance 3 ?

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Mr69

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Had to get 3 15" passenger tires mounted today. Stopped in local tire shop.
They had it done in about 15 minutes.
I went to pay and jokingly asked if I needed to sit down?
Guy laughs and says, noooooooooo. he he he.......
Starts hitting numbers on his calculator.
Then says, $66.00
I said "what? you must be kidding. I don't think that took 15 minutes."

12.00 x 3 for mount/dismount = $36.00

10.00 x 3 for balancing = $30.00

And then he has the audacity to say, well it says here in the book I am supposed to charge $2.00 per wheel weight, but I'm giving you a break.

Then he says, do you want us to dispose of the 3 old tires.
How much is that?
$4.00 each.
No, put them in the back. That's way too much
he says, well, the garbage company just raised their rates.
?????? really ???????
In my mind I'm thinking.........(I call bull****)

Now granted I haven't had any tires mounted in about 4 years, but this just doesn't seem right.
Does $88.00 to have 4 passenger tires mounted and balanced sound right to you guys???

I had the 4th mounted and balanced about a week ago for an extra spare as I was going out of town. That cost me $12.00 and I about fell over. This guy claimed that he was giving me a great deal as well. He does take the old tire for $1.75 which I thought was very reasonable.
So I said to him, you're telling me that it's going to cost me $48.00 to have 4 tires mounted and balanced?
He says YUP ! and I'm giving you a break cuz I'm taking your old tires and putting in new valve stems too.

I sold my old coats 20/20 tire changer a few years back for $150 to a buddy. I think I made a mistake.

I did end up getting out of there today for $40.00 after some crafty haggling.
But I still felt like I had bent over and handed them the vaseline.

Has something changed in the last 5 years?

I know I had 4 mounted and balanced at a friends shop for $25 about 7 yrs ago.

I used to mount and balance four for $22.
Of course this was 20 years ago, but gee wiz. It's still the same simple job.
 
#2 ·
Yes! Tire mounting and balancing has become ridiculous. I had sticker shock the last time I priced it out. :mad:
 
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#4 ·
I just had 4 tires replaced on my wife's car. Mounting and balancing was $10 per tire and disposal was $2. This was at a local tire shop that has been giving great service for many decades! Discount Tire quoted $40 more for the same tires and $75 for mounting, balancing, and disposal.
 
#5 ·
As a shop owner with around $10k invested in my tire eqipment, it makes perfect sense. First and foremost, your shop is not making the 25% markup on the tires he did not sell you. Second, between liability insurance, workers comp, excise tax, tangible tax, intangible tax, licensing, disposal (yes, it costs between $3-10 to dispose of a tire legally), and all the other bull****e it cxosts to keep an auto repair shop open, you really have nothing to gripe about.

Or you could do it old school. Grab a bumper jack and find a bumper, on the car. Let the air out of the tire. Use the base of the bumper jack to pop the bead on the tire. It usually takes three or fout tries, but it will pop. Flip tire/rim and repeat. Now tank at least three tire irons and work the outer bead off the rim. Repeat with the inside lip of the tire on the outside of the rim. But be carefull, that tire has to be held up to get the second bead and gravity is not your friend. Install is pretty much reverse of removal, but be carefull on tearing the bead. But you will need to get the balance irregardless as Dubya would say if you want a decent ride.

Of the 3500 or so customers I have in my system, you can count on your fingers and toes the ones I would mount brought in tires.

Andy
 
#6 ·
Price is right.Everything is more expensive than we want to pay.Auto mech for 25 yrs.Had to call a plumber to repair a blown out water heater @ the house.160.00 labor.Called @ 9 am Repaired by 11:30.I think that is high but it would cost me more to take off work, ride all over town looking heater & parts ,plus installation.Sad to say but the ones of us old enough to remember what prices use to be are having a tuff time adjusting to the NEW economy,LESS for MORE.
 
#7 ·
My son had two tires changed and balanced yesterday at a local shop.
$10 each and he kept the old tires and brought them home and throwed them out in the yard :(

As with everything....shop around. Changing a tire is changing a tire.
 
#9 ·
Fool me once, shame on you..... :yes:
 
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#10 ·
dyno jonn said:
Fool me once, shame on you..... :yes:
Click to expand...
Why? what should they charge. Maybe if what ever buisness you are in charged less we in the auto field could inturn lower our prices, Im sure all buisnesses are in buisness to make a profit including yours. We charge about the same rates in our shop and like any buisness we did a profit/loss assesment on tire service. Guess what we LOOSE money every time we mount and ballence tires even an our " high prices" . I dont know about you but I dont work for free.

STOP KNOCKING THE AUTOMOTIVE FIELD IF YOU DONT WANT TO PAY THE PRICES DO IT YOUR SELF.

rant over.
 
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#11 ·
oh and all those whining about tire disposal fees. Most landfills wont take tires, so guess what, we have to PAY to have your tires taken by a company that will recycle them, I charge my customers 2.50 per tire for disposal, I get charged 2.50 to have them taken away PER TIRE
 
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#12 ·
The dump where I live charges $15.00 for each tire dumped. The local gas station with a mechanics bay charges $10.00 to plug a tire and their sign calls for $90.00 per hr for service work. The prices reflect the cost of doing business in Cali. Of that $90.00 per hr about $40.00 is just for the differant insurances Hell, workers comp is 25% of the workers gross wages per month.
 
#13 ·
Our owner wanted us to stop people from Stealing his tires(worn out).Said to charge for them.I told him they are doing you a favor by taking them, with the cost of disposal you should hope they take them all..Any used tire that is any good does not go in the scrap pile :D .
 
#14 ·
This is the reason my Dad and I bought a Coats 40-40 tire changer several years ago. It has paid for itself several times over because we do a lot of tire changes with many parts cars over the years and also the cars we drive. We started counting tire changes and stopped somewhere in the 500 range! This would not work for most people because most do not do enough tire changes to justify the cost but it has saved us money in tire changes and the gas and time it takes to go to a tire store.
 
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#15 ·
A tire cut into four pieces is no longer legally a tire and can be disposed of as regular trash. I know, you're gonna say "what about the labor to chop up the tire" but all I'm talking about is the disposal part. As for the for the "fool me once" deal, since the second guy only wanted $12.00 for the same thing the first guy wanted $22.00, I'd be taking my business to guy number 2.
 
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#16 ·
:( Sad to say but that is what they charge out here in NW Nebraska where we don't have any money to start with. It is $5.00 a tire at the dump whether the shop takes it or we do. By the time the shop paid their overhead, they probably netted $10-$15 if they were lucky.:D
 
#18 ·
The thing is if you went back and wanted to purchase a set of used tires they had out back and were going to dispose of. They would want 20 bucks a tire! Plus mount.

I know cause I looked into it when I was going to get a set for the Chevelle to sit on when not being used and I just about fell over when I heard they wanted 20 bucks a tire for an old non roadworthy tire that still held air.
 
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#19 ·
jsand6769 said:
oh and all those whining about tire disposal fees. Most landfills wont take tires, so guess what, we have to PAY to have your tires taken by a company that will recycle them, I charge my customers 2.50 per tire for disposal, I get charged 2.50 to have them taken away PER TIRE
Click to expand...
I read somewhere that it takes 80 years to decompose a tire at a landfill.

BTW I paid $20 to have 4 tires re-balanced, I thought it was a good deal.
 
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CHELKAMINO
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