Bruce In Philly

FYI...

I just purchased the new Michelin 4S.... I immediately went to Tire Rack for pricing... then on a lark, I contacted a local, high volume tire shop.... guess what? The local shop was cheaper, mounted and balanced, than Tire Rack without shipping, mounting or balancing!!!

I am not dissing Tire Rack, I purchased many tires from the these guys over the years. I am just saying, give your local shops a chance.

I did not pay for shipping to the local shop as the shop noted there is a Michelin distribution center is close enough that they get their deliveries from them via a "route truck". These guys do not carry stock, at least for what they think is a "specialty" tire, so I had to wait 24 hours.

On the bad side, this local tire shop did not have a road force balancer..... and you do need one. I then hopped on the highway and drove 300 miles and experienced a bit of vibration so I took my car to a Chevy dealer in Hubbard Ohio and they did a proper Hunter Road Force balance on all four for $96. They said all four tires were out and both my front wheels have very slight bends in them.... but the Hunter balanced them all out fine.

I knew I was taking a risk with the local shop on balancing but even with the extra $96, I still saved about $200 going local... yes the saving were that good.

Other issues I had with the local guy.... who is a real large, high-volume shop serving commercial trucks and the like. They did not have a torque wrench!!!! I kinda figured this would happen so I brought mine along... Also, the tech didn't know about the jack points... I stood there there and showed him where they were..... I then showed him how to use the torque wrench.

See my quick review of the new Michelin S4 here: https://rennlist.com/forums/997-foru...y-opinion.html

Oh, to find a shop that does road force balancing: Go to Hunter and put in your zip code... in Western PA, there were only three shops: A Chrysler dealer, a GM Chevy Dealer in PA and a Chevy dealer in nearby Hubbard OH. Neither PA shops had time to do my work but the OH dealer took me in. I suspect these dealers need the road force machine because of their big-tire Corvettes and Vipers. Hunter zip finder here: http://www.hunter.com/gsp9700

Peace
Bruce in Philly

andy92782

I used America's Tire (aka Discount Tire) for my Bridgestone S04s. The shop I used has a Hunter road force machine. They also do free lifetime balance (and rotation for "normal" cars).

If your wheels are bent you should consider having them repaired.

rbennett

I used a local tire shop for years. The owner always told me bring in any tire rack pricing and he would match or beat it.
He's been doing this for me for years!

ervin881

Bruce, which balancer did you use? Touch or elite? Do you know?

Bruce In Philly

It was the Touch.

I wanted the Elite... simply because it exists but I have no idea what makes it different .... but the Touch was able to ID a wobble on the rim inside and compensate for it... Not bad eh?

​​​​​​The service manager noted that the machine will tell them if they have to break the bead and slide the tire around 90 degrees or whatever but I don't think they had to do that for mine... At least he didn't say.

I will get these wheels repaired but not now... actually I think I am going to just replace them. I had a bent rim repaired a few years ago and I am not sure which one it was... need to go back to my records.

I hate these stupid 19" rims... I swore to myself I was moving to 18" when my tires were done but my flat sped up my actions so I did not get new rims.

BTW, the GM dealer that had an Elite but had no time form me noted his machine cost him $15K last year.

BTW2, I just drove 6 hours across PA and the ride was smooth as glass... road allowing. Nice.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

garyinseattle

25 years ago, tire rack was a great deal, now it seems like they are average at best. all the local discount tire stores (like Discount Tire in Seattle), have access to the same information and prices. So they price just below what TR would be with shipping and installation.

BIG smoke

As a Canadian, I price on Tire rack. Then try and shop local. I can often find the tire I want, in CDN$ for the same usd. $=$.
I agree on the roadforce is worth the effort. My snow tires on my Subaru, balanced up fine, but on the road force, 3 were bent. Got them close, but not perfect.

nk215

Do Porsche dealers has road force balance machine? These posts make me think I need one done.

2011-sy-carreras

Depends on the Porsche dealer's service center near you. The one I used had it by me. It's easy to find out by using Hunter's road force locator web site. They list who has their wheel balancers in the area by entering your area code. The service and tire shops that have it are listed.

jeffm

I just had tires installed today and the cost to mount and balance (Hunter system) was only $100. I use this as a barometer for prices and it helps me compare apples to apples.

I purchased the tires from Tire Rack and took advantage of the free pick up and saved an additional $70 there. When I priced the tires at a local shop (with install, warranty, disposal fees, etc...) I was still approximately $200 less.

DesmoSD

For those in San Diego, Bear's Tires is the place to go. I've always found Tire Rack and Discount Tire's to be overpriced.

http://www.bearstires.com/

https://www.yelp.com/biz/bears-tires-san-diego-4

jdgamble

I purchased at America's Tire recently, and it was the same unit price as Tire Rack.

Question - I asked about the road force balance, and they didn't have the machine. I figured it was fine, and I don't notice any vibration. Is there any issue with not getting the road force balance done if the ride is ok?

Hella-Buggin'

Big O hd a better price and could install them the next morning when I had a nail in one of my AD08R before a track weekend.

srcn

I was wondering about this. Thanks for the info!! I may need a set of PS4S soon..