Are we suggesting some DIYers have their own pneumatic machine to break the bead of a tire, get it off the rim, install the new tire and balance it?
This thread is only about
how to properly dispose of the tires.
Since DIY takes more intelligence and knowledge than simply paying someone else do your work, as Tutti57 noted, there's a separate specific thread to learn more about each of the necessary related topics:
- Algorithms for choosing tires (1)
- Methods for purchasing tires (1)
- DIY dismounting of the old tires (1)
- DIY match mounting of wheels & tires (1)
- Proper air pressure (1)
- DIY balancing of wheel assemblies (1)
- Proper disposal of the old tires (1)
- Diagnosing tire wear (1)
- DIY alignment (1)
If so, I've got a lot more tools to buy.
You should have most of the tire-mounting tools already.
About the only thing you won't have for tire mounting is the $50 manual mounting tool that I bought this week from Harbor Freight, and that wooden pallet you see propped against the wall.
you need someone with these tools, like Pep Boys, Tire Rack, Discount Tire, or even a Mom & Pop shop, to do this for you.
I had a 12-year old boy remove and replace one of my tires, so, you don't "
need" anyone but yourself, and your brain.
So you pull your wheels off your car at home, take them to the shop, then drive home and install your new purchased tires.
If you take your tires to the shop, how do you know if they didn't pry off your twist-off BBS hubcaps with a screwdriver?
How do you know whether they bothered to match mount your tires to your wheels?
How do you know whether they bothered to remove the old weights before mounting new weights?
How do you know whether they cleaned the rims so that you don't develop a slow leak?
How do you know they didn't damage the rims?
How do you know they mounted our hub-centric wheels on the tire machine properly?
How do you know that they didn't torque every passenger wheel that ever came in their shop to 100 foot pounds?
etc.
In my last three tire mounting experiences at pro shops, two ended up being free (after I complained about their mistakes), and all three were done wrongly.
I mentioned today to Allen, who has been the Recommended Installer Program Coordinator at Tire Rack since 1992, that I doubt a single tire is actually mounted by the book ever.
It's not that the pros don't know how to mount a tire properly; they just don't care - and - the consumer (as you can tell from the report I noted), certainly doesn't know any better.
Allen didn't disagree with me, but, what he did do was recommend the best tire installer he knew of for the Silicon Valley.
I spoke to them for about a half hour, and, if I end up getting my wheels professionally balanced, they will be the ones I go to (but they are in a different county).
Luckily, it turns out that our low profile tires are easy to dismount and mount properly by ourselves; it's that frustratingly stiff SUV tire you see below which was difficult (as Tutti57 well knows!).
Since you bought the tires from the shop that mounted and balanced them, won't they keep your old set?
Huh?
Who buys tires at the "shop that mounted them?".
Selecting and purchasing tires is a wholly separate task than mounting and balancing them.
There is a recent thread dedicated to removing and mounting your tires at home for less than $50.
Thanks for noting that.
I had not put a link to the thread because mounting is unrelated, per se, to disposal; but here's the link for others to benefit (I know you knew about this link):
>
E39 (1997 - 2003) >
What home tire changing equipment do you recommend for those who have changed a tire?
Most places charge you for tire disposal as part of your mounting fees. $4/Tire last time I had it done.
This is very true.
Out here, in California, as can be seen above, that charge varies from $1 (rare), to $3.50 (very common) to $5 (rare).
However, please note, some shops I called do NOT accept used tires unless THEY mounted the new tires (or you need to be a member of their "club").
So, as always when you DIY, you have to know more than you need to know to just have someone do the work for you.
My village tax has a garbage removal service and they will pick up a max of 4 tires a week, so check with your local disposal service. In the city here, they would haul away dead bodies as long as they were out by the curb Monday morning.
As noted in an earlier post, I called two of the local disposal companies.
- One charges $90.25 to haul away two tires, so it would be $270.75 to have the company that picks up my trash haul away the six tires I just mounted this week
- Another local hauler I called does NOT pick up tires, period.
- No landfill (by law) in California is allowed to accept tires.
- So, your ONLY valid choice for proper disposal is a local tire installer
- However, note, some installers will NOT accept old tires if they didn't mount the new tires!
- And, all charge that fee (none I called were free!)
I suspect, given what I learned by reading the 182-page document on Californians knowledge of tire disposal, some people get rid of them for free, simply by leaving them at the side of the road at night.
Me? I'm going to drop the old tires off at Costco later this week, on my way to Harbor Freight to buy that static balancer tool.