Postby Trance4c » Wed Jul 10, 2013 8:37 am
Well, I finally got over to Subaru to have my tires mounted.
Short story - I wouldn't suggest Kevin and his team to mount tires.
When dropping off the two rear wheels and tires, Kevin and I had a good conversation about how I was looking for my rims not to be marked up from the tire mounting process. Over the past 13 years with my Celica, I had encountered many times my rims were marked up, I didn't want this to happen to my Z. Kevin was also aware that these rims were in perfect shape, only 12,000 miles on them and tires never previously mounted. I wanted to keep them that way so I agreed to leave the rims and tires with them over the weekend so his best installer would be available.
Fast forward an extra day as I did not hear from them, I stopped to pick them up. The faces looked great, no sign of markings along the leading edge. I was happy at that moment to pay the premium cost of theirs to mount the tires. I was also happy to think that I have finally found a tire installer that knows what they are doing. What I didn't put together yet was that Kevin suggested I should also try Hot Wheels (the old TK Performance) on Atlantic. Red flag, but I didn't see it.
I got home and wheeling the rims and tires over to the car to mount them I notice long 1.5 inch marks on the inside of the dish. The three prong claws from the tire mounting machine left some nice lines, I was extremely pissed. Luckily that was mainly on one, the other only had one small nick; so happy I only took two of the wheels at that point. Then I realized, I understand now why Kevin suggested another place, he was already aware of this.
I stopped in this morning because I wanted a refund on one of the installations. I can deal with the marks as they are hard to see on the back of the wheels dish, I'm just happy the faces and leading edges are not all screwed up. So I'm not going to demand they buy me a new rim, just refund me the installation and I'll go on my way. To Kevin's credit, he did not argue about it which makes me believe this confirms my suspicion he was aware of the nice grooves put in the wheels.
Funny enough though, his coutner part Steve interjects to say 'I'm pretty sure I saw him mounting the tires face down' at which point I filled him in that Kevin was aware of the condition of the wheels and they have never been on a tire machine, it was certainly his people. Steve exited the conversation and Kevin got approval for the refund, I'll leave my experience at that and move on. Thank god these guys didn't try to clamp down around the face edge of the wheel, it would have been disaster. As much as I will never take my wheels back and look elsewhere for someone that is competent, I do appreciate Kevin's ability to be honest and quickly move on from the situation. I'm also thankful I'm not fighting for a new rim, just disappointed.
I'll have to mount front tires within the next year, any other suggestions? I need someone that knows EXACTLY what they are doing here, come on Jax!
Clayton
1990 Toyota Celica 3S-GTE swap BPU - Orange (RIP)
2007 Nissan 350z Nismo - Red