I am insulted by the ridiculous amount that the tire shops want for mounting a set of 4 tires on stock S-lites. One d-bag actually said he'd "cut me a deal" and charge me only $120!

I travel a lot around the NY/NJ/PA area, so I could time my tire swap with a trip through a particular town that had a cheap tire shop. I'm going to order the tires from TireRack and have them shipped to my office in NYC.

Any recommendations?

 

I found an excellent and reasonable local installer by looking on the TireRack site. You also have the option of having the tires sent to an installer.

 

Check out an STS tire store, or one of the Good Year stores, I had my new tires mounted and balanced for something like $15 each. I took the old tires and disposed of them myself. My township will take the tires (4) for free.
I am located in the Burlington area if that helps.

 

i've been getting tires mounted and balanced at the walmart in kearny, nj. they're cheap, don't require an appointment and have done a good job so far.

 

Cheap generally does not mean good...

I get my tire rack orders mounted at Front End Shop in Farmingdale NJ. This shop does it right every time - and they are NOT cheap.

 

Thanks for the responses. I ended up going to Wal-Mart. They charged me $45, which is about double what I'm used to paying in Florida.

 

$45 a tire, or $45 total?

If the latter, that is really cheap!

They charge $21.95 each here at NTB, but that includes disposal of the old tire, life time balance and rotation every 5k and a new valve stem - it's a little cheaper if the tires have a larger aspect ratio (hence a larger, less stiff sidewall).

 

It was $45 total. In FL, I know plenty of tire shops that would do it for $5 per tire, though.

 

i tried to go to walmart, but they will only mount the same size tire that is on the sticker in the door jamb. i bought 17" wheels to replace my 16's. even though its an option from mini, they still wont do it. anybody have any luck doing this at walmart?

 

no issues for me putting 15" steelies on my mini, which had 16" wheels originally, or 17" wheels on the truck which came with 20".

 

I take mine to a guy name Frank (Owner) at ECP Auto in Newark, (973)589-5871.

As long as your wheels are balanced and just switching them out...Frank is more than fair.

Just tell him Lorin (Red R52 MINI Cooper S) sent you.

 

That's the kiss of death!

 

I would be so pissed off by their paternalistic approach that I wouldn't give them my business. But if you insist, why not just bring the wheels themselves (in the trunk of another car) and have the tires mounted? They couldn't give you any crap about not matching the OEM size, since they wouldn't know what the OEM size was anyway. Besides, not having to remove and replace the wheels from a car saves them time anyway. And tire guys hate dealing with studless wheel hubs like the MINI has.

 

Be careful with cheap.... I decided to go with a local that was recommened on Tire Rack and this is what happened....



The problem is that their machine couldn't handle 45's and their duck was metal on the machine. They did this to all FOUR wheels. They ended up replacing them with O.Z. Ultraleggeras but it took a small fight.

I'm lucky enough to have Greasy's 100 miles up the road. He touches them from this point forward.

 

Freddy,

I changed 15s and 16s twice within one month and it was still under what I would pay.

Frank's wife is my wife's best friend.

Lorin

 

Does that make Frank your "Best Friend-in-law"

 

Jealous.