Tire Mounting in Bay Area

[John Goddard <jgoddard@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Lew:

Wow!  $42/wheel to mount and balance! I'm quitting my engineering job to
open a tire shop on the peninsula!

With the preface that I don't have any really big wheels, I've had really
good success at:

AutoOptions, Berkeley.  They have done all my street car mounting since
1987.  Zero damage to date.  Really nice guys, good shop.

Roger Kraus Tires, Castro Valley.  They are the Goodyear race tire supplier
in Northern California.  They also do a lot of street tires/wheels.  My
experience with them is in mounting huge cantilever slicks (imagine a 10"
wide slick, brutal outward concave sidewall, on a 15x7 wheel). Most tire
shops won't even look at them, the others that will have butchered the
wheels.  Anyway, Kraus build their own custom mounting machines, which seem
to work very well, and don't damage our race wheels.  In general the shop
is very customer oriented.

John Goddard
88 M3 (searching Grizzly Peak for Porsches)
95 740i ("does that meen 7.4 liters?"  Uh no, but its an interesting idea)
93 Suburban (the real 7.4 liters)
86 Accord (the 880 Corridor warrior)
97 Body Nissan 240SX (GT-3 race car)  (PTG M3 killer)

>Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1998 08:19:45 -0700
>From: "Lew Becker" <subecker@domain.elided>
>Subject: SF Bay Area -- Recommendations To Mount Tires w/o Wheel Damage
>
>I'm about to put 8.5" M Double Spoke 2's with 245's up front (to match the
>rears -- Calvin, I hope you were right about my gripes re: the AVS S1's
>being due to my running Pilots in front with the Yoko's in back).  I
>intended to have Dinan do the mount and balance work (they did the rears a
>few months ago -- scratched my wheels and replaced them with new ones, with
>no argument).  However, I learned today that Dinan now requires a "damage
>waiver" on all tire mounting -- yeah, they'll be very careful, they have a
>"top of the line" Hunter machine, and they've done lots of M3 wheels/tires
>(and, they've all been miserable); but, if they scratch or ding wheels now,
>its not their problem.
>
>A few months ago, there was a thread regarding this issue on the Digest;
>and, several members posted that any quality shop will replace wheels they
>damage.  This was consistent with my experience -- Dinan charged quality
>rates ($42 per wheel to mount and balance on an M3), and they acted
>accordingly.  They still charge the same rate, but now decline
>responsibility (although, in all fairness, I should mention that the service
>writer suggested the degree of any damage would be evaluated -- he also said
>that the damage they did to my wheels last time would still be unacceptable,
>even under their new policy).
>
>Many of us that have had work done by Dinan's shop have encountered
>problems -- my scratched wheels were by no means the worst problem I have
>had with their work (e.g., when they installed their suspension pieces on my
>wife's 325is, they neglected to tighten the bolts that attach the struts to
>the suspension, one of which backed out a few days later when I was running
>hard --very depressing to see the front wheel canted out on top at
>approximately a 45 degree angle; fortunately, only a few blocks from home).
>But, Dinan was always very strong on customer service -- they accepted
>responsibility, and did whatever was required to properly remedy problems
>they caused (e.g. they flatbedded the 325 to their shop; replaced the strut;
>realigned the car; and returned it to my home).  As a result, I (and others
>I have spoke with) could justify their substantial labor charges.
>
>Now, I'm not so sure -- at least as far as mounting/balancing tires.  Any
>strong recommendations for tire mounting/balancing in the SF Bay Area?
>
>Lew Becker
>
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>End of bmw-digest V9 #65
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> 

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