Tire Installers

[Trance4c]

I'd like to start a list of tire installers around town that actually know what they are doing. I'm not talking about suggesting a random Tire Kingdom with any teenage nut monkey, I'm talking about peoples names with a reputation for doing it right. I've had too many nightmare instances in the past of scratched up wheels, now that I actually have something worth caring for I want to insure it is in good hands and be able to share that with others. Know of someone? Lets start a list, a small review of the application they did for you and I'll be happy to create a map. Thank you -Clayton

[digitalseance]

Subaru of Jacksonville - They've mounted plenty of tires for me. Hoosier A6's, R25B's, C100's and Kumho V710s (245/40/17 & 285/35/18) on 17x8 and 18x9 painted white wheels.

Not exactly a tire shop but they definitely know what they're doing!

[Trance4c]

Anyone in particular at Subaru?

[digitalseance]

Anyone in particular at Subaru?

Not really, but when you go ask for Kevin (service) or Shaun (Parts/aka "sparks" on here) and they can get you setup and handled with care.

[Trance4c]

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!

[Trance4c]

So from all the 1200+ views of this thread, no one has any input on good tire installers?

[clark]

I haven't found one yet... my 6UL's came from Phil's Tire Service (in New England somewhere) with R-S3's installed. They were flawlessly beautiful!

I got the tires flipped on the rims by my local mechanic and they came back a bit scarred. Not the front face, but the inside of the rim, like you described. Mine weren't lines (it sounds like their first try didn't have enough clamping force, and it spun the rim on their machine) but I could definitely see little holes from each of the claws holding onto the rim. Is there no other way?

Are these clamp marks always there, or is there a better way to mount tires on flawless rims? How do your other "ok" wheels look?

[Trance4c]

Sorry Jeff, it has been some time since I've logged into the board to check it -

The clamp marks are exactly the marks I'm talking about, I've spent my fair share of time as a garage monkey doing engine swaps and what nots to know what I'm looking at. They are on the inside of the rim where the teeth move outward on the inside of the rim to hold it still for the tire installation.

My front rims are still in perfect shape but soon I will be getting to the point I need to put my new tires on them. There HAS to be someone else in town that does tire installs without marking up rims, who does everyone go to?