Tire Mounting
 

I am in the process of getting new tires. Once I decide what to get I will get them from Tire Rack. My question is: where do I get them mounted? I can get them done at the mechanic who works on the Boxster (an independent Porsche guy) or at garage that works on our other cars. I assume the Porsche guy will cost more. But is there really going to be a difference in quality? The "regular" garage is a great guy who we trust and has a very good rep. Let me know what you guys think.

Thanks.

You can goto any place that has a tire mounting and balancing machine... When they mount them, Tell them that you want them Dynamic Balanced. This means instead of them just placing a clip on weight to the inner part of the wheel, they will use those stick on weights and place them both on the outter part of the wheel (but still behind the spokes) and the inner part of the wheel above the lip... A dynamic balance is alot better than a static balance and the boxster is sensitive to even being off balance 1/4 of an ounce the car will shake... I know from experience lol.

You can just take your tires to a Big O, American Tire, Les Schwab. It cost me $60 to get my tires mounted. A lot of mechanics don't have the equipment to mount tires, or at least mine doesn't.

Tire Rack has a list of approved businesses accessible from their website. You can even have tire shipped directly to the installer.

Amazingly my dealer (Leith in Cary, NC) sold me two rears at just $3 over Tire Rack price. Mounting was $30 each.

+1 on the dynamic balancing request, plus find a shop that has a Hunter 9700 series balancing machine, which is what is termed "road force" balancing. This machine is unique in that it has a roller that puts pressure on the tread and simulates the road as well as spinning the tire.

Properly balanced tires have been one of the nagging issues I've had with my car. I lost count after the 4th or 5th time I had them balanced. My third set of tires, Michelin PS2's came mounted on my new rims and they made the car feel as if it was riding on glass so they must have done it right. However, with just 6k on these tires, I need to get them dynamically road force balanced again. Ugh!

Be sure to take your car out immediately after mounting and balancing and slowly raise the speed to 100 mph to see where vibration might occur. Consumer shops like Discount Tire won't guarantee balance past about 75 mph, but what I did was holler at them, saying it vibrates like crazy at 73 mph and demanded they do it again.

And while you probably as anal as I am, stand there and watch the kid do everything and tell him that your rims are far too expensive to repair so not to beat on them or scratch them up.

One last bit of free advice... the wheel bolts can be removed with an impact wrench, but should never be put back on with one. They should be hand tightened and then torqued to 96 ft pounds.

You'll think you have a new car when you get new tires and they're balanced properly, moreso than any other kind of car you've owned in the past.