viperbob

Mounting 18" rims is a PAIN. I can tell you from experience that the risk of damage to the wheels is high without the proper equipment and a competant mechanic. When looking for a place, see if they use a touchless tire machine (Corghi Artiglio Master or Hunter equivalent). Do these guys charge more? Yes as the machines are over $10K vs a few $K for simple ones. I took mine to Big O, and they damaged 2 of my wheels and told me that was already there. BS as they were almost new rims. They never did pay to have the rims refinished, and even if they did it is a pain to go through getting them redone. Pay a little more for some piece of mind.

BIG-BRO

Aahhhh...new development since I replied earlier....a friend of mine who works for a local general auto repair shop but is also accumulating all his own equipment to "someday open his own shop" just bought a new Snap-On touchless tire machine and needed a place to store it and hook it up for now..... he said "Paul, do you want it delivered to your house or your office (I have an overhead door / storage parking area out back at my office where the 993 is normally parked and sets of wheels for several friends that come by to change-over wheels...). We'll have it hooked up in a week or so, and he is working on a deal for a balancer to go with it ! Anybody in NH / Mass area that wants to mount/balance their own or have a little help for very minor $$, give me a shout.

Bull

BTW, none of the places I was mentioning are "run-of-the-mill tire stores". In fact, none are tire shops at all. All are Porche shops, except the least expensive, which is a Ferrari, Classic Exotics/Jags/MB and sometimes Porsche shop. I too would not use a tire shop, except for a very few performance tire shops.