Tire Shop Foibles

[Darter6]

I've been using the Harbor Freight manual tire changer/bead breaker for 20+ years now.
Not the best but doesn't take up much room, bolts to the floor. Add a few hand tire leavers and it handles steel/aluminum wheels. Even change 16'' dualies. Not just me but most of my friends bring their stuff over and use it.
100's of use over the years.

 

[33 IMP]

I've been using the Harbor Freight manual tire changer/bead breaker for 20+ years now.
Not the best but doesn't take up much room bolts to the floor. Add a few hand tire leavers and it handles steel/aluminum wheels. Even change 16'' dualies. Not just me but most of my friends bring their stuff over and use it.
100's of use over the years.

Thanks for this. I've been thinking of buying the hf changer and bead breaker, as well as their bubble balancer. I have a bubble balancer somewhere, but I don't think I've seen it in a decade. (In a box I might not recognize).

 

[Kern Dog]

I have been lucky to only have a scant few problems.
I've never had vehicle damage but I have had directional tires mounted backwards.
Each wheel on the red car fits only one place due to the design and width.

The RF only fits and looks right on the right front, etc. I took a new set of tires to a shop with MARKS LF, RF, LR and RR clearly on the wheels and tires and they still got them all exactly wrong. The tires were on the right wheels but backwards. Tests have shown that the direction has almost no effect on performance except on wet pavement but they looked wrong.
I remember seeing a nice car at Spring Fling one year. I told the owner that his tires were on backwards. They were the same brand as mine and the arrows on the sidewalls were clearly marked. He seemed pissed that I mentioned it.

 

[Darter6]

I have a bubble

Yeah, my Bubble Balancer is older than I am, I think. Still works !

 

[MCODECUDA]

on my 04 ram Cummins i told the guy I want a good road tire that get me through the snow as well. he kept going back the the Michelins, at the time I didn't want to spend the cash. So I ended up settling on a Cooper tire for much less. While waiting my turn I was talking to a guy about tires...I told him Michelins are about the best.... I get called to the counter , got my paperwork then left. That night I go to check the tire pressure and lug torque and WTF...he put the Michelins on!!! paperwork said cooper. I never got a call and the next tire change I was asked why I diched the coopers and didn't come back to them for the Michelins . I didn't have the heart to tell him.

Michelins are the only tire I’ll put on my Ram Cummins once the factory tires are shot. They might be more money but they last a lot longer.

 

[MoparJW]

I install my own tires now with a tool similar to the harbor freight one, IMO it's doable with 15'' tires.
It is a bit of a hassle, but I prefer it vs dealing with tire shops' hit and miss employees and crazy prices.
The rears have dynabeads for balancing, the 275's needed a lot of weights in the past, so dynabeads seem like a better choice to me anyway.
I did have the front wheels balanced at a tire shop, but I think I'll toss dynabeads in there the next time also.

 

[moparedtn]

Michelins are the only tire I’ll put on my Ram Cummins once the factory tires are shot. They might be more money but they last a lot longer.

Funny aside, at least to me....
I remember in young years we never bothered to ever torque lug nuts on the typical factory steel wheels,
other than the usual calibrated grunt gauge of course.
I also remember what broke me of that was hearing the tinkle tinkle of Unilug washers hitting the road behind
me as I tooled along in a '68 Chevelle with E-T mags on it one day.

By the time it hit me what was going on and I got it pulled over, half the lugs/washers had left and I spent
the next five minutes like a loon, darting around in traffic gathering up what I could find.
OH....you best BELIEVE some **** got torqued all to hell when I got that rag back to the shop!!

 

[Darter6]

My shop is around the corner from a tire shop. The street is littered with wheel weights that fall off 100 feet from the driveway. They charge $7.50 per tire to balance. Yes I pick up the weights. Have a box full for me to use.

 

[not so famous bob]

Exact same experience here, ... and is one of the reasons why I only do carry out.

we took my wife's mercury to Bill Knight Lincoln mercury in Tulsa , to change oil and rotate the tires , (I hate working on fords !)
they tried to sell her a new air filter , I had just installed one, when I got the car home I went to check the lug nuts , right rear wheel had 3 finger tite , one was torqued so tite that I thot it would break the stud to get it loose , and one was tightened about right . The car started running bad , she took it back to them , the guy that checked the air filter must have got mad when she told them not to put another new one in it , and just set the filter lift on it w/o clipping it down it made the computer screw up !!
I wouldn`t take a lawn mower to them now....

 

[#41]

Maybe tire shop's are only able to afford simian creatures to bust tires or something? There sure seems to be a commonality. But I guess all retail has its cast of inexperienced and unmotivated workers.

On the flip side, when I used to regularly buy race tires and the date code could get me rejected at tech and the balancing had to be perfect, Discount Tire used to treat me really well. They would send back tires that weren't freshly minted and put max effort into balancing.

 

[Darter6]

I started as a tire buster at age 15 for Montgomery Wards. Always liked the tire business.Worked for them for allot of years. Then dealerships. Still tho I was sort of a tire junky. Must be the smell of rubber.
Spent most of my career in automotive. When I retired and wanted something to do I answered a ad for a tire changer at my local shop. The guy wouldn't hire me saying I was overqualified. ???? I just wanted to work...