Baby's Getting a New Pair of Shoes - Where to Get Them Mounted?
 

My 84 Targa has been wearing the same pair of Bridgestone's for a decade now. Despite very low miles and indoor storage, I am not comfortable driving them at speed at their advanced age.

So, a friend at Conti Automotive has a set of ContiSportContact 2's coming my way at a very compelling price. They were not my first choice (or second) but the price made the decision pretty easy.

Now the question is: Where in southern Michigan shall I take these to have them mounted on my Fuchs without getting my beloved wheels fuched up? I live in the Metro Detroit area, but spend weekends in the Kalamazoo area. Does anyone have a favorite shop that will take appropriate care?

Thanks!

Can't help directly, but you might check Tire Rack's list of approved installers for either Detroit or Kalamazoo and give some a call or go visit and talk directly to the manager about your needs. Tell them you want their best tech on it.

Good luck!

Auto Europe in Birmingham did mine perfectly: http://www.autoeuropesales.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12&Itemi d=30

My color matched Fuchs are perfect after I polished out the "tire monkey scratches" on the outer 1/2" lip (on there when I acquired her). Therefore, I remove my wheels, take them to the tire shop down the street (Merchant's Tire in my area), make sure the "manager" sees them in that condition, and then I insist on on watching their best tech as he mounts and balances the tires to my satisfaction. I cringe at the thought of a tire shop lifting my car and removing/installing them so I don't even go there :). I wouldn't trust the typical 18 year old "tire apprentice" in a million years...

I found a small local shop to do mine here in TX. Cost is $15 each including dismounting and "disposing" of the old ones. They turned out great with no scratches and put sticky weights on the inside. Shop around.

i had mine done at the local Firestone dealer (chain). it worked out ok, except for 2 things:

1) the guy insisted on driving the car into the bay...but he could not get the car moving without stalling and shaking the car violently and finally, drifted backwards and almost nailed my engine on the cement curb. HE then gave up and said, "I just cant manage these floor mounted pedals"..... I was sweating and cringing and wanted to punch him for not letting me.

I did end up driving it in, and out

2) I got home and one of my dust cap porsche emblems was gone. I called them and the guy that installed tires said, "oh yea, i noticed one of them was loose but its not here". Ok, thanks for telling me before I drove away

Be careful

Ditto. The Tirerack installer people won't be pissed off at you for buying the tires elsewhere...

-Wayne

not too much to add.... take the old weights off yourself this avoids the guy using a screw driver to gouge the weights off along with taking paint off at the same time... use googone or other adhesive remover and your fingernail..... clean the painted surfaces on the back side of the wheel where you want the weights to go... if you want the weights hidden tell the installer and he/she should only put them behind the "spokes" / petals. I could go on for pages on the ways tire machine jockies will mark your wheels - one thing to look for is that the machine is the modern type and that the plastic/rubber pads are not missing or worn out... there should be no metal touching your wheels... if the machine grabs the lips.. I think there are plastic pads that are fitted.. I can't remember just now. Then you have to worry how he uses the lever to pull the bead over.... any way you get the idea. And as mentioned above, don't even think of taking the car down there... just take the cleaned up wheels... remove caps. Before you start make sure what type of valves they have... I put on very short all metal ones... I've never figured out whey Porsche used the long ones with the kickstand. Do not shop around for the cheapest mounting... cheap is not worth it for tire mounting. You can also ask if the shop will consider adding some small amount to the Tire Rack price - many of the shops around here do that... then you can use the regular process. Maybe find the best place for mounting and buy the tires there... look for the old guy that works there. I used to go to a place and made the manager mount my tires.

I've used Tires Plus, Sears (on my daily driver's alloys) and others. Always had good luck.

But I recently used a local shop that's been around for years to mount a set of Vredestein's I bought for the '68s 15x5.5 chromed steelies.

They asked me to drive the car into the bay. Given the ground clearance, I drove it on to a flat floor where they proceeded to use floor jacks and jack stands to raise and hold the car. They took about an hour to mount the five tires and after I paid, asked me to drive the car out. During the stay, every tech stopped by to look at the car (about 10 guys).

Get this. When they put the hup caps on, they pointed the tips of every crest toward the valve stem!

Point being...the locally-owned shops that have been around for years (in this case, continuously since the 1950) have to be doing something right!

Auto Europe in Birmingham
 

Just had them install tires on my company car last week and wifes Saab a few months ago. They did my 87 rears last summer and did perfect work. Tom's staff are very careful and respectful of their customers cars! They are also an approved installer for Tire Rack.

Thanks for the feedback guys (and hcoles, wow! I'd hate to see a reply where you DID have alot to add! :D )

I'll likely schedule an appointment with AutoEurope for a day or two after the tires are scheduled to arrive. I'll also post when the job is done to let you (and future tire buyers) know how it went.

Tom