Inflation or Gouging to Mount & Balance 4 New Tires?

[MoparCarGuy]

I bought four new tires from Amazon for my steel Rallye wheels. 275/60-15 on 15x8's for the rear and 225/60-15 on 15x7's for the front. I also got new metal valve stems and have already installed them on the wheels. Amazon had a selection to choose a local tire center and have the tires mounted & balanced for $15.99 per tire/wheel. I chose not to do that process as it required you to make a generic appointment with the tire center vendor.

The tires were delivered yesterday so I called a couple of tire service centers today to see what they charge to mount & balance loose tires on loose wheels.
The first place said, "Are they new tires with the labels?" to which I answered "Yes". Then they told me it was $35 per tire/wheel. I said that was expensive for loose tires and wheels with no valve stems and courteously said goodbye.

The second place I called said $40 per tire/wheel. I told them the same story that I did not need valve stems and they were loose so they dropped to $30 per tire/wheel.
I don't know about you guys but I think that price is ridiculous.

Am I asking too much to get four tires mounted & balanced for a more reasonable price of say $15-20 each? If it takes them 5 minutes each, and we all know that it does not, they stand to make $60-80 or the equivalent of $180-240 per hour. I get the whole liability and capital investment for equipment angle but these are not super expensive custom aluminum wheels requiring a custom wheel machine, just plain old tires and steel wheels.

So what do you guys think? Inflation? Gouging? Punishment for not buying tires from them?

[Challenger in NC]

Last November I had a local place mount 4 new tires on some bare 15 x 7 rallye wheels. With new new stems and balancing. It was about $50. Those were tires I brought in so if I had bought the tires from that shop, it might have been cheaper. $30 per tire is excessive, even in this economy.

[Mr Cuda]

$5 off and$10 on.
Then $15-18 or balancing with weights that don't fit.  And when you have a shake, it's from the poor balance job.
But how will you know?
Many years ago,  I  bought a snap on balancer,(deal, on sale, route guy going out  of business) figuring a  250 balance payback @$10. I'm well over that.
Having a balancer,  I've never had a bad balance.
Friends who got new tires, and didn't want to bother me, came a day later to redo theirs. It's appalling how bad it can be.
Remember the average age and experience of the typical tire store.

[7E-Bodies]

Just got it done in Illinois for $100 and tax. 4 wheels/tires/balance

[anlauto]

I pay around $100 plus tax as well

[tparker]

I think the going price for mounting is about $15 and the same for balancing here per tire. Crazy. However, we have lots of small shops that are family ran hole in the wall shops that are great for this sort of stuff, and probably other stuff as well. I think I paid $20-30 for one older guy to do it and 3 or 4 younger family members to watch. LOL. It's usually the places that sell used tires.

To me, the cost should be commensurate with minimum wage or so, not the price of the tires LOL. Usually someone out of high school does the work and can crank out 3 cars an hour easily, and that includes picking up and parking the car and dealing with the work order or what have you.

[MoparCarGuy]

Thanks for the insight, guys. I asked a fellow Mopar buddy and he recommended a local used tire place as well. They are closed now but I will see what they say by phone. I may even just drop in with the tires & wheels and take cash. LOL

[Rich G.]

I still have my father's Coats 10-10 tire machine and bubble balancer. Still works and does a great job like it did 40 years ago! Oh and we charged $1 on $1 off back then! 😊

[Dmod1974]

I still have my father's Coats 10-10 tire machine and bubble balancer. Still works and does a great job like it did 40 years ago! Oh and we charged $1 on $1 off back then! 😊

Oh, wow!  That brings back memories....  The indy shop that I got hired at fresh out of high school had a Coats 20-20 machine that was nicknamed "The Rim Breaker" since it wasn't too forgiving with anything aluminum and bigger than 16" if you weren't careful.  I had to use that darn thing for several years before they got a modern tire machine.

For small jobs like that, you will be paying a lot in relation to their normal labor rate in order for them to make it worth their time, especially when you are providing the tires and parts.  I just paid $60 just to rebalance 4 loose tires....  I think that is ridiculous as well, but with inflation comes ever increasing labor rates and this shop was the cheapest in my area that would even do the work.  That's what happens when dealers and large shops in the area are at $215/hr!

That said, 15" steelies are about as easy as it gets so find somebody that'll do it cheaper.  A reasonably intelligent rhesus monkey could do that job with
some tire spoons if it came down to it. Any remotely modern machine would make it cake work.  Large diameter wheels/low profile tires I'd recommend paying for somebody reputable.

[70vert]

I think you are on the right track just dropping in and paying cash.

Most of the time, piecemealing is always going to be more costly than a package deal. Maybe the tires were cheaper via Amazon but then you've got to get them mounted/balanced. That local shop has to make up for a missed tire sale, but might gotten you the same or better price for the whole setup. Not always, but you can't expect a tire shop to give you a good deal when you took away their sale.

[Racer57]

I bought four new tires from Amazon for my steel Rallye wheels. 275/60-15 on 15x8's for the rear and 225/60-15 on 15x7's for the front. I also got new metal valve stems and have already installed them on the wheels. Amazon had a selection to choose a local tire center and have the tires mounted & balanced for $15.99 per tire/wheel. I chose not to do that process as it required you to make a generic appointment with the tire center vendor.

The tires were delivered yesterday so I called a couple of tire service centers today to see what they charge to mount & balance loose tires on loose wheels.
The first place said, "Are they new tires with the labels?" to which I answered "Yes". Then they told me it was $35 per tire/wheel. I said that was expensive for loose tires and wheels with no valve stems and courteously said goodbye.

The second place I called said $40 per tire/wheel. I told them the same story that I did not need valve stems and they were loose so they dropped to $30 per tire/wheel.
I don't know about you guys but I think that price is ridiculous.

Am I asking too much to get four tires mounted & balanced for a more reasonable price of say $15-20 each? If it take them 5 minutes each, and we all know that it does not, they stand to make $60-80 or the equivalent of $180-240 per hour. I get the whole liability and capital investment for equipment angle but these are not super expensive custom aluminum wheels requiring a custom wheel machine, just plain old tires and steel wheels.

So what do you guys think? Inflation? Gouging? Punishment for not buying tires from them?

Did you ask those shops what they charged for the same tires including mount/balance ?

[torredcuda]

Tire places probably make most of thier money on mark up from tire sales. Paying the employee $20/hr plus the equipment, materials and overhead I don`t think $30-35 per tire is that bad when you bring them from somewhere else. How much would a restaurant charge you to cook and serve food you brought in with you? My local Tire Wharehouse refused to mount used tires for me last time I brought some to them due to liabilty.

[chargerdon]

For about the last 5 years i have purchased my tires for both my 74 challenger and my daily drivers at Walmart.   The charged $15 per tire for both mounting and balancing.   

Walmart has the LEAST expensive tires prices period !!!    And yes that includes the name brands like Good Year, BFGoodrich, Cooper, Dunlop etc.   To get the BEST prices don't go to the store, but, instead shop on Walmart online.   Often you will find tire sizes they dont carry at the stores, and even tires they "dont sell" directly.   When you shop online they will ship the tires to your home FREE.   Then simply bring the tires to the store...yeah that can be a pain for a car like a Challenger and they will install them.  Their price is $17 per tire.  Doesnt include tire disposal.    Best price possible...   I bought a year ago a set of tires for my Sebring and got 50,000 mile warranted Dunlop tires that after all charges including the install was like $385 for the set.   Fantastic.

Only drawback with my Walmart is that they are slow...and no appointments...!!!!!!!! put your car in the lane to go into the garage and wait.   What i do, is go there, get in line, wait till they come to see what you need, show them...they look it up in their computer...then tell them to call me when it is done and go home with my wife.   

PS, they also ONLINE only can offer several off brand cheaper tires...   Like Vercelli ...   and im sure the price for tires has gone up in the past year with inflation...but  the current mount/balancing including TPMS is $17 

[JH27N0B]

I bought a pair of tires for my daily driver last spring off Amazon for a good price, and it raised my eyebrows when the tire shop up the street from me charged me 70 bucks and change to mount 2 and disposal.  I've had them mount some Polyglas tires for my Challengers in recent years and I would have to dig up the receipts, but whatever they charged didn't stick in my mind so must not have been very much.
I got some trailer tires last year, and it cost me close to $200 a tire mounted and disposal of the old tire!  Prices really getting high.  And to add insult to injury, after my first excursion with the fresh tires, a month later when I was putting tire covers on my trailer to prepare it for winter, I noticed a lump on one tires sidewall. Took it off and went back to the tire place.  They replaced it and apparently that $200 included a road hazard coverage, but it was prorated so they still hit me for $50 to replace the damaged tire that I'd bought less than 3 months earlier and had only 900 miles on it.    I'd spent extra to get Goodyear tires since they are the only trailer tires made in USA not China, but thinking now they weren't worth the money as I don't think I could have hit any bumps bad enough to damage a tire during my trip.

[moparroy]

My daily drivers I mount and balance for the last number of years on a manual mounting machine (good workout) and a static bubble balancer. I mounted my Cuda tires on the manual machine too - have not balanced them - was going to get the shop who will do the certification to do it - maybe I'll rethink that. The bubble balancer is pretty good but I have had minor vibration around 120 km/hr (75 mph) sometimes and it can be hard to chase down - but ok for my daily drivers.

Last year I bought new rubber for my 2010 Challenger SRT from BlackCircles.ca. Low profile 45s and 20" rims are too much for the manual tire installer so I went to one of Black Circles recommended shops in the area for M&B. I paid $40 Cdn a tire but thought ok I'll pay a premium on their reco shop. I told them adhesive weights only please! And the price was supposed to include that. Piss me off they used adhesive on the front and regular clip on weights on the back. I was looking to avoid the damage to the rim clear coat. Complained to the manager - no satisfaction - I won't be going back there again!

But yea I guess the going rate is up there.