Dually tire service/installation

Virgil,

I'm with Dutch on this one, but not Dutch I'm Deutches. The DW is real Dutch.
Back to the story at hand. Our rear are not dual, but tandem. This means that they are not bolted together, but one behind the other and if any of the four get out of balance or was not right to start with, there is now way you can not notice.

After a balance disaster, I bought the fancy valve cores and the packets of balance beads and it was great. That is until I needed more and could not get them quickly. In the sporting good of Walmart, I found Air-Soft pellets. I bought a jar and put nice amounts into zip lock bags that I took to the tire store. They thought it was strange, but they worked great.

They are even better on the front where it mattered a lot. Sometimes, when I am getting up to speed there is a little shake that soon disappears.

I'm never going to pay for "balancing" again.

Matt

Belle Tire (Michigan area store) tossed a bag of balance beeds in my tires.. Seemed to work.

Also if changing duallies... Consider dually valves.. Makes tire pressure checks way way way way way way easier.

HighwayPilot wrote:
Hello all, we have an xplorer 230XL class B ( tires are 245/75R16 load range E)and it's time to change tires. we live in Miami, Fl. and I am able to purchase the tires online at Walmart and delivered to the house or tire shop. but I'am having trouble locating a tire shop to do the work(most don't want to deal with dually's). I was told by one shop he could do the installation but cannot balance the inner tires. Is that a possiblity? in other words, is he pulling my leg? Thanks for your inputs in advance.

What kind of "tire shop" are you talking about? Many franchise tire shops don't work on "truck" tires and just say no. As posted earlier, look around for a tire shop that works on truck tires - local gas station will probably know someplace.

Also, sometimes buying tires separately and bringing them to a shop may not save as much as you think (or save anything), because a lot of shops include the cost of mounting and balancing in their price for tires. When you bring in "outside" tires, they charge you for mounting and balancing. You might want to double check on your pricing.

I am a huge proponent of finding a good local repair shop and getting to know them. Any extra cost to have "my" local shop work on my vehicles is very much offset by them getting me in right away when needed, and also NOT doing work if they find it isn't necessary.

I have found over the years that my local repair shop has excellent prices on tires, because they give one total price (labor included) for the tires that I buy through them. And they will buy odd size and "other" brand tires for me if I want.

Also, although my local shop doesn't officially work on trucks, they have made an exception and worked on small dump trucks (F350ish size) for me in the past.

Would anyone expect a restaurant to cook the eggs that the customer buys at the grocery store? Or the steak?

BurbMan wrote:
Most tire shops don't want to install tires that you bought cheaper online.

I'm betting this is a big part of it.

They probably don't see you as a good long term customer. If you are always trying to cut corners, they see a lot of hassle and little profit in dealing with you.

^This.
And if business is good enough that they can turn away less profitable business, good for them.
That said, I’m kinda cheap like that and buy most of my tires used or online and “most” shops will still mount them. Couple chain stores that won’t, but whatever.
I suspect the OP is just having issue with not calling the right places.
PS he’s in Miami. Any Llanterra store will mount n balance I’d suspect. Although you may need to know a little Spanish.
OPs vehicle and tire size is neither unique or rare.

"
I am a huge proponent of finding a good local repair shop and getting to know them. Any extra cost to have "my" local shop work on my vehicles is very much offset by them getting me in right away when needed, and also NOT doing work if they find it isn't necessary."

^^^ This. My F550 dump truck doesn't compare to the big boys with their KW's and Peterbuilts for needing work, but when the local Big Truck shop knows that they will get all of whatever work I need on the F550, they tend to treat me just like one of their regular customers.

valhalla360 wrote:

BurbMan wrote:
Most tire shops don't want to install tires that you bought cheaper online.

I'm betting this is a big part of it.

They probably don't see you as a good long term customer. If you are always trying to cut corners, they see a lot of hassle and little profit in dealing with you.

The average person isn't a "good long term customer" not even close. How many sets of tires a year do you buy...or more accurately, how many years between sets of tires purchased? We're talking tires here. Like saying you're a "good long time customer" at the grocery store (which you will actually give WAY more business to than a tire shop, lol).

They DO see lost profits, and have likely realized some in the last 10-15 years since buying tires online has become popular. (although the "deals: on tires online is shrinking and almost non existent, as tire chain retailers have already adjusted to that market.)
Reason is mostly lost profits, and not lost "customers" combined with a side dish of perception if they are selling top brands and mounting ching chong tires and sending them out the door.

And this thread is about someone who is just lamenting about something that isn't an actual issue.