Ekam, I have no discourse with you, I have read an enjoyed many of your posts. I am simply stating the metrics of what makes one shop scratch and one shop stop to specifically educate how to avoid such incidents. My dad and his partner were from "that generation". He trained Sampson Naval base for WWII. When these guys got back they were they were the type of men whose good name meant as much as earning wages. I'm glad he cemented that in us, it's certainly why I led my region when I applied the same principles and why I made enough wages to have a Spyder waiting on Spring. I treat people that way to this day, just ask any of the guys who bought parts from me.

I went to a chain and they charged $50 per wheel mounting and balancing.
I thought that was a little pricey for a daily driver shop.

My Indy recently picked up a Corghi touchless machine. He said they were way expensive and few have them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XeXEkITkHM

I do take offense to this type of statement, it shows little regard for the other guy. I cant imagine that the person you are describing is actually mentally impaired, thus I would assume you are just impugning auto shop workers in general .

Tire stores and automotive shops see every kind of attitude you can imagine every day and we have a tendency to match whatever is presented to us.

Some folks are better than others, some shops are as well and mistakes do happen but the customers attitude is important as well because it takes two to tango.

I'll tell you this Land, the most extreme, narcissistic, debauchery laced behavior I witnessed in my life was perpetrated by guys in very expensive suits.

It is easy to sit behind a keyboard and judge. It is a lot harder to actually do the job.

I have been the guy in the suit, I was an executive in a renewable energy compnay working in Latin America for the last decade and then the financial crisis hit and I had to earn a living closer to home.

I now own a small shop that specializes in Porsche, BMW, Land Rover, Audi, Mercedes, VW and Volvo. It is hard work and there is a lot of competition but if you are good to people and know what you are doing, you can earn a nice living.

I have the most respect in the world for Porsche and Land Rover service writers. They deal with every self important prick in the world. I don't have to be nice at my shop, I want to be nice and I strive to be but I won't get fired if I tell someone who is rude where to get off. But dealership service writers and managers have to eat crap all day every day.

I see both sides of the story and if you think working a tire machine is easy, try it some time.

It all comes down to the level of equipment and the "monkey behind the wrench". I have a friend who owns a modest wheel shop, who's capable of mounting tires with mere popsicle sticks if necessary . On the other hand, a dealership with a state of the art machine managed to gouge one of my brand new forged Champion wheel during mounting . Although they paid for a new one, it was still an inconvenience .

Perfect Lap makes a good point. There are various tire changing machines out there. I am visiting a friend today that just installed a Italian made machine in his garage for an outrageous price. This machine allegedly never touches the metal. I will find the name of it and report back tomorrow. Claims the machine is OK for Ferrari, Porsche, etc. Most shops have older model machines that mess up the rim and were designed for steel more than alloy wheels. Some machines have plastic runners that are supposed to not scratch the metal but you just read how they sometimes pick up metal flakes leading to the problem we are discussing.

AKL:(

Almost every shop near me has this

http://www.ntxtools.com/network-tool-warehouse/COR-A2024TI-20.html

Corghi, FASEP or Teco ?

It is a Corghi. My friend got it for half the price of a new one. Astronomical for a home garage shop. He mounted and dismounted a tire on an alloy rim as a demonstration. Fantastic job!!! The outer facing rim of the wheel never sees any friction at all. This gives me incentive to have my wheels repainted etc. Only problem is it is an hours drive one way to his place but worth it to keep the wheels from being ruined after having spent good money on a repaint job.

I would ask the dealership what type of machine they use to mount tires with and would feel better about having them done there if they had a competent operator using a Corghi machine. I have no idea the quality and operation level of the other two machines you mention. I was told the good Snap On machine runs $25k..!! a lot more than a new Corghi.

AKL

Do what I did and buy your own tire machine, only problem is the only person to blame is yourself. :eek: