getting tires mounted on stock rims?

[ハチロク]

I bought a decent set of 225/45/17 winter tires that I am planning on mounting on my stock FR-S rims. I first went to a local goodyear auto center who refused to mount my tires because they weren't stock size... some bs about abs or liability or whatever. (they were also complete d-bags to me but that's besides the point) I then called three local shops and asked them if they could mount these tires two of them said their machines weren't new enough to mount a tire with a 45 tire wall without possibly scratching the rims. the third place said "sure no problem" and apparently had no clue why the other two places couldn't mount the tires.

Has anyone else dealt with this much crap trying to get tires mounted? Has anyone heard about old machines running into problems with 45 tire walls? I am not an expert and have never heard of this being a problem before.

it is supposed to be snowing here this week and i will be sliding around sideways and backwards (and not in a fun oversteery top gear kinda way) trying to get to work thanks to this

[finch1750]

Never heard of that. I know some chains charge more to mount low profile tires (usually anything 40 or lower). But never heard of that much trouble before.

[ハチロク]

Originally Posted by finch1750

Never heard of that. I know some chains charge more to mount low profile tires (usually anything 40 or lower). But never heard of that much trouble before.

Thanks for the reply. I thought maybe I was just being an idiot or somehow going crazy but it looks like I have one vote for my sanity.

[Foobar]

The other shops probably are in the business of selling tires primarily whereas the last one is more of a service oriented shop?

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[ハチロク]

Originally Posted by Foobar

The other shops probably are in the business of selling tires primarily whereas the last one is more of a service oriented shop?

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

I'm not sure. That's possible. all three are sort or mom and pop local garages. I figured they would be less likely to give me the same excuse goodyear gave me.

[booyaka]

a lot of the tire techs for the big companies are lazy because they get payed by the hour and not by how many tires they do so if they think the job will be even be a little hard on their back they turn it down plus big companys have a lot more rules because a lot of people try to sue them for anything just to get money. Some of the older machines are crap and won't mount shorter series tires without possibly damaging something like they said but in the end it comes down to the skill of the installer.

I was a tire tech for sams club for 6 years so i would know

[ハチロク]

Thanks Booyaka. I will definitely be giving my business to local shops and avoiding big companies from now on. I don't particularly enjoy being treated like dirt by lazy techs that only care about money and are too afraid of being sued to mount a set of tires.

and thanks for the info on the older machines. I'll just talk to whoever will be mounting the tires first and make sure they feel confident in their equipment and skill to mount the tires without scratching the rims.

[gravitylover]

I needed my winter tires put on in a hurry one late afternoon recently and I got bounced by two shops before the guy at Sears said he'd do it but they might scratch my fresh dip. I said that's why their dipped not painted The tech took longer to get them on than I'm used to, he used a bunch of soap and was crazy careful. Not a scratch

It's up to the tech, if he doesn't give a hoot the shop is better off not taking the job to limit their liability.

[booyaka]

your welcome. and gravity lover is correct, there are some techs that work for big companies that are good and will mount anything and carefully which is what i used to do. not all big companies are bad you just need to find the tech.