Hello everyone,

I went to Sears today, to get pricing on tires and having them mounted on 4 rims I would like to buy...
I want to have tires (will be purchased at Sears) mounted to wheels I am thinking about buying from Amazon. I need them (Sears) to remove my TPMS sensors from my stock wheels/tires and install the sensors on my Amazon wheels and mount their tires.
Here is a breakdown of what they said would be done:

-mount $44
-balance $62... Seems shady to me as they are new tires....
-road hazard protection $37.... Sounds great not too expensive
-TPMS sensor swap $20 or 40
-tires (cooper response touring) 60,000mile tread life. $71 each.

The the guy said either 5 per TPMS or 10, no reason given on to why it would be 10, the other shady thing is the balance cost. Do new tires on new rims need to be balanced? I called yesterday and was told it would be $437
Today I go to Sears and talk to the same guy and he says about $500. Sounds like BS to me. I was very careful to explain what I needed yesterday and went in today to look at the tires and double check as yelp had one guy explain that they did this scam crap about a year ago. Any advice is appreciated, thanks!


P.S. Any recommendations on an honest tire shop on Oahu. Thanks!

yes, new tires need to be balanced
fair price for balancing, i'm not sure.
road hazzard protection, my insurance already has free towing so I dont need that, plus i know how to change a flat.

Sears has some rip off dealings that i've heard of in the past

have you tried Lex brodies?

last set of rims and tires i bought online, mounted and balanced for free, delivered USPS, installed myself.
I left the TPMS off, so my car doesn't have that any more. 
dont need it, just like catalytic converters, dont need um so i remove those too.

I bought my last 2 sets of tires at Costco. Not sure if they will do all that work but I don't see why not.

All new tires have to be balanced. Always. Only time you would not need to balance is if the tire has already been balanced to the rim and it has to be removed and remounted to the same rim. Then only if it is properly marked will you need not need to have it re-balanced. Otherwise all tires (new or used) that are mounted onto a rim (new or used) for the first time need to be balanced.

Other than that the pricing actually seems reasonable. For them to charge $20 or $40 to take off all four of your old tires and remove the sensors and remount them to your new rims is only $5 or $10 per sensor. And balance at $62 for all four tires and mounting 4 tires at $11 each all sound pretty normal. I added up your prices with the sensors at $40 and it came out to $467 not including GET. So for him to say it would be around $500 does not seem to outrageous either if he included GET. So the only two things that stand out to me is the hazard protection warranty and the total you were given of $437. I personally do not like road hazard protection. It takes at least 2 flats before it pays for itself. And I have only had one flat in the last 2 sets of tires. I guess it is a personal thing.

Take what I said with a grain of salt. Prices are all over the place between shops. I had good luck with Lex Brodies on the Big Island. But that doesn't help you much on this island. Let us know what you decide to do.

another thing,
if the new rims are nice ones that you dont want to scratch, i wouldn't take it to sears
places like that hires whoever, they dont really care about custom cars or rims.
I am very paticular about who touches my cars, especially my Mustang.
for the best care, I go to Nakaz Car Care in waipio.
its a small shop, but Allen the owner does the work.
its not the cheapest, but it is the best auto shop that I have found.
he has installed a lot of parts on my Mustang, and everything always runs like it was OEM.

http://www.procarcarezone.com/shops/nakaz_car_care.com
676-8937

Thanks for the input guys!

Monster - if you have tire/wheel questions, try Tirerack:
http://www.tirerack.com/content/tirerack/desktop/en/research_advice.html


Lots of good info there.  Also depending on what you want you can buy from Tirerack and have them drop ship to an authorized installer on island.  I've done this and had the tires dropped shipped to Hawaiian Tire and Auto Center:
http://www.hawaiiantire.com/

They are in the Pearlridge area as well.  Try contacting them for pricing.


My opinion......................dismount, mount, balance and disposal of tires (make sure their price includes disposal) for only $44 + $62  =  $106 or roughly $25 per corner is pretty good.  Disposing of tires is not cheap.  Also figure most shops will be in the $70 - $90/hour range for full service work so you're looking at probably only getting charged a discounted 1 hour rate......so pretty good.

I'm not sure what is in the road hazard protection program, but keep in mind if you got a plug repair kit for yourself:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B002I52RG0/?tag=2ahawaii-20

$18 and easy to do yourself if you ever have punctures.

Word of caution if you see the self sealing tire foam or other stuff, do not buy it:
http://www.autozone.com/sealants-glues-adhesives-and-tape/fix-a-flat-and-tire-sealer/fix-a-flat-12-oz-fix-a-flat-for-compact-tires/466301_0_0/

A lot of TPMS monitors are integral with the valve stems.  If you shoot that stuff in your tires you will kill your TPMS.

Road Hazard Protection is an add-on warranty that covers new tire damage from puncture, bruise or impact break incurred during the course of normal driving on a maintained road.  Damage may be caused by hitting a curb, potholes, glass, or those giant nails that fall out of shipping crates!

Most tire makers warranty their tires for failure due to defects in materials and workmanship.  If you run over a board with nails in it, they will not repair or replace the tire/s.  With Road Hazard Warranty, you get 100% replacement value for a certain number of months.  After that, you'd receive a prorated amount toward the cost of repair or replacement.

Doesn't sound like a scam to me.

The balance is definitely necessary.

I'm a huge fan of road hazard protection as it fixes or replaces tires due to damage by most road hazards.

If the quote was $60 different, just tell them that you got a quote for less, the day before and the name of the person who quoted it.

I say check out other stores like Lex Brodies and Goodyear for prices.  After seeing the prices I thought the prices were high, but then again, it has been over 10 years I worked in a commercial shop.

Tires need to be balanced on initial mount,  maybe once a year as well to maximize tire life. Also, regularly rotated.   

Sears is too dang expensive,  Goodyear and Firestone not far behind;  best value is Costco or Sam's, and unless you are doing some crazy street racing or offroading there is no need for those ridiculously expensive fancy tires, don't get the super cheap ones made in china either.....    just the regular type tire.  You can order it online from Costco, they ship them here for free, takes a couple weeks, then you can setup and appt to get them installed. 

NEVER NEVER NEVER use tire foam fix-a-flat type stuff, not only will it ruin a tire, it will ruin the rim.  I've seen many many a rim and tire trashed.  If you did already better make sure your tire guy dismounts the tire from the rim and scrub both very well and get all that stuff off, even then might be too late. 

costco or sams. 
hazard protection included and mounting and balancing is definitely cheaper.

only undersized low profile tires stretched onto an oversized aftermarket rim should cost that much to mount n balance.

I used be be a Lex fan, but Costco's tire sales are way cheaper.  Only possible issue is what's in stock. 

Depending on brand or model, you might not find exactly what you want.  So far, they've had the same OR BETTER to fit my vehicles for 4 years.

They seem to alternate discounts.  For 2 months they have $70 off a set of four Michelins, then next 2 months they have $80 off set of Bridgestones.  Timing is everything!

Tires need to be balanced on initial mount,  maybe once a year as well to maximize tire life. Also, regularly rotated.   

Sears is too dang expensive,  Goodyear and Firestone not far behind;  best value is Costco or Sam's, and unless you are doing some crazy street racing or offroading there is no need for those ridiculously expensive fancy tires, don't get the super cheap ones made in china either.....    just the regular type tire.  You can order it online from Costco, they ship them here for free, takes a couple weeks, then you can setup and appt to get them installed. 

NEVER NEVER NEVER use tire foam fix-a-flat type stuff, not only will it ruin a tire, it will ruin the rim.  I've seen many many a rim and tire trashed.  If you did already better make sure your tire guy dismounts the tire from the rim and scrub both very well and get all that stuff off, even then might be too late.

I have ridiculously expensive tires, but I don't street race.  Tires are the biggest bang for the buck improvements to a car.

I would not recommend using plugs to repair a flat as they always eventually leak and then you cannot patch it because the plug enlarges the hole.  Most repair shops plug flats because it is quick and cheap.

Patching requires removing the tire from the rim, grinding the tire a bit, applying patching compound, patch, and then remount the tire.  Much more work than simply shoving a plug into the tire, but guaranteed to work unless the tech didn't apply the compound & patch well.

I would not recommend using plugs to repair a flat as they always eventually leak and then you cannot patch it because the plug enlarges the hole.  Most repair shops plug flats because it is quick and cheap.

Patching requires removing the tire from the rim, grinding the tire a bit, applying patching compound, patch, and then remount the tire.  Much more work than simply shoving a plug into the tire, but guaranteed to work unless the tech didn't apply the compound & patch well.

...
This is correct. Plug patching is a bad thing. Except maybe in a serious emergency.

He's buying $71.00, 60,000 mile treadlife all season tire, they'll be fine with a plug.

Patching is better, but for the money if he's going beyond 50% of the tire cost which is pretty easy to do at his price point, IMHO it's not worth patching............plug it.

After wrenching in various tire shops and maintaining a fleet of vehicles, I would only use a plug in my own tires only if my spare was flat and I was stuck out in the boonies.  From my experience most tires with plugs ended up with a tread separation.  I prefer the plug/patch combo offered from Tech Tire for my own tires.  I would settle for the regular patch but prefer the plug/patch combo.  As mentioned I will never use that fix-a-flat.  I also will never use that Slime or similar products as these tend to throw the balance way off in the initial drive.  Granted at work, I have no problem using the plugs and adding that slime as tires are keawe thorn magnets.  At work, using plugs save the company money.  IMO the best investment for your tires are doing an alignment for your vehicle 1 or 2 times a year and rotating your tires every 6 months.  IMO its a small price to pay when some tires cost $200+ each installed.

After wrenching in various tire shops and maintaining a fleet of vehicles, I would only use a plug in my own tires only if my spare was flat and I was stuck out in the boonies.  From my experience most tires with plugs ended up with a tread separation.  I prefer the plug/patch combo offered from Tech Tire for my own tires.  I would settle for the regular patch but prefer the plug/patch combo.  As mentioned I will never use that fix-a-flat.  I also will never use that Slime or similar products as these tend to throw the balance way off in the initial drive.  Granted at work, I have no problem using the plugs and adding that slime as tires are keawe thorn magnets.  At work, using plugs save the company money.  IMO the best investment for your tires are doing an alignment for your vehicle 1 or 2 times a year and rotating your tires every 6 months.  IMO its a small price to pay when some tires cost $200+ each installed.

GZ no can rotate his tires (staggered and direction fitment). 

GZ no can rotate his tires (staggered and direction fitment). 

I thought just driving caused the tires to rotate! 

 

Still able to rotate wheels/tires front to back if the wheel and tire size are the same.  Unless it's one of those high speed Tokyo drift kind of hot rods with the back wheels and tires being a bit bigger than the front.