Anyone know of a cheap place to install tires?

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Old 07-28-2008, 07:12 PM
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Anyone know of a cheap place to install tires?

Curious what places that are still in business and if any of them can beat $10 per tire/wheel at a used tire shop in San Jose. Anywhere near SF/Peninsula/SJ is good.
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Old 07-28-2008, 07:15 PM
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$10 per tire/wheel is REALLY Cheap. I am not sure that I would trust going with someone that is willing to install your wheels for that cheap if not cheaper (although I guess it does depend on the wheels - if they are steelies, then ehh, who cares? If they are any type of decent or better type of wheel that you actually care about I would be concerned that for that kind of price that they might not really be all that careful when doing the installation of the tires on to that wheel).
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Old 07-28-2008, 07:26 PM
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yeah 10/ tire is cheap. is that just mounting or mount and balance?
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Old 07-28-2008, 07:33 PM
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$10 is cheap, but it could be just the fact that they don't want to rip people off. Most tire stores charge a lot more if you don't buy the tires from them because they want to "encourage" people to purchase tires from them. However, I would ask them about their policies if the wheels are damaged during the mounting process, and to thoroughly go over them, or take pictures of them just prior to them installing the tires (maybe in their own parking lot as proof the pictures came right before installation).

In all honesty, tire mounting is a 10-15 minute job.
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Old 07-28-2008, 08:16 PM
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I've used them before as a few others here have as well. It's a ghetto shop but they do take pride in their work and as with any tire shop, letting them know that you don't want your wheels scratched ahead of time helps. I guess I won't be able to beat $10 a tire/wheel. And yes, it does include balancing and installation onto the car, even sticky weights (some places charge extra for this) and I think new valve stems too. With gas prices, etc, it seems that everything is going up in price so I wanted to check with you guys.
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Old 07-28-2008, 10:45 PM
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I'm also looking for a tire shop to mount my wheels. just got my tires dismounted at larkin bros in the city and they quoted me 7.50 a wheel over the phone, (Call them, since they told me 10 when I got there but were happy to charge 7.50 when I told them that was my quote.)
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Old 07-28-2008, 10:57 PM
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Originally Posted by pleue
I'm also looking for a tire shop to mount my wheels. just got my tires dismounted at larkin bros in the city and they quoted me 7.50 a wheel over the phone, (Call them, since they told me 10 when I got there but were happy to charge 7.50 when I told them that was my quote.)
Unfortunately I haven't had any luck finding any place in SF with reasonable prices aside from Rolling stock at $15 per wheel/tire but I've read bad things on Yelp about them scratching your wheels. With gas prices the way they are now, going down to SJ costs quite a bit more than it used to so now I try to consolidate my trips to save time and money. Anyhow, as for the place I go to in SJ (I will be going tomorrow), it's called Tire Merchant. It's basically a used tire store run out of a gas station. It's not a glamorous shop and they only accept cash. The owner speaks english but nobody else does.
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Old 07-29-2008, 02:05 AM
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Mach III (Faxon Garage) is the most inexpensive tire mounting place in SF that I would trust. They're not $10/wheel cheap......$15 each if I recall, but that is pretty good for SF. I checked around when I had mine done last year. They did a good job on my VOLKS.
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Old 07-29-2008, 09:51 AM
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Originally Posted by xqwizit
Curious what places that are still in business and if any of them can beat $10 per tire/wheel at a used tire shop in San Jose. Anywhere near SF/Peninsula/SJ is good.

Please tell use where you can get tires mounted for $10 that isn't shoddy work.
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Old 07-29-2008, 10:00 AM
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Originally Posted by chimchimm5
Please tell use where you can get tires mounted for $10 that isn't shoddy work.
Post #7 above. I'll be going again today so I'll report back later today.
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Old 07-29-2008, 10:33 AM
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dang...there right down the street for my house. I need somes tires asap...going there this weekend =) thx
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Old 07-29-2008, 10:39 AM
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Since people are mentioning SF....I get all my tire balancing at Metropolitan Motors off Bryant in SOMA.

independent little shop, $15/tire.....$35 computerized alignment, more if they have to adjust camber, but I adjust my own camber anyway.
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Old 07-29-2008, 05:49 PM
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Originally Posted by xqwizit
Post #7 above. I'll be going again today so I'll report back later today.
I went today to install tires and they were fast and efficient and were careful with my M3 rims. I brought my own tires and they found that 3 of the tires had bubbles after they mounted them to the wheel and inflated them so I asked them to dismount all of the tires with bubbles so I can take them back. The owner only charged me $30 instead of $40 since they didn't mount any of the new tires on my car. Not bad and they do good work. I will probably be going back again this week to see if the replacement tires I got also have bubbles. I'm hoping not.

Also, +1 for Metropolitan Motors in SF. I had work done there before and I'd recommend them.
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Old 07-29-2008, 06:22 PM
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Originally Posted by CLsmooth71
Mach III (Faxon Garage) is the most inexpensive tire mounting place in SF that I would trust. They're not $10/wheel cheap......$15 each if I recall, but that is pretty good for SF. I checked around when I had mine done last year. They did a good job on my VOLKS.
you like expensive shoes of all sorts don't you.
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Old 07-29-2008, 09:04 PM
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Originally Posted by xqwizit
I went today to install tires and they were fast and efficient and were careful with my M3 rims. I brought my own tires and they found that 3 of the tires had bubbles after they mounted them to the wheel and inflated them so I asked them to dismount all of the tires with bubbles so I can take them back. The owner only charged me $30 instead of $40 since they didn't mount any of the new tires on my car. Not bad and they do good work. I will probably be going back again this week to see if the replacement tires I got also have bubbles. I'm hoping not.

Also, +1 for Metropolitan Motors in SF. I had work done there before and I'd recommend them.
Wow, 3 bubbles. I'd rip whomever sold those to you a new one.
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