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How much is a tire balance at a dealer?

6K views 17 replies 14 participants last post by  DSXMachina 
#1 ·
Does anyone know in average how much it would be to mount a tire to a new wheel, install the TPMS sensors/valves and balance it at a dealer?

Thanks!
 
#2 ·
At a BMW dealer - I haven't a clue.

From a survey of local tire dealers, $25 to $40 per wheel. The kick is any extra charge for the TPMS sensor.

Now, this summer I had my daughter take my new temp spare, tire, and valve to the local Goodyear store to get it mounted and balanced. When I called and asked the price, it was $25. Sending a 20-year-old girl with appropriate eye-batting, etc. got the tire onto the wheel for $17 and the balance thrown in for free.


FWIW,
George
 
#6 ·
While the dealer is certainly more expensive, you must weigh the ease of getting possible problems resolved against the cost saving.

A scratched rim at the dealer results in either a perfectly refinished wheel or a new wheel vs - "yeah, we can have our guy take a look at it" and be satisfied with the results.

A damaged TPMS sensor is replaced at the dealer while the tire place tells you to go to the dealer, buy one and bring it back.
 
#11 ·
For those who want to know, I asked the question because I can get a set of tires, wheels, TPMS sensors from the Tire Rack already mounted and road force balanced.

However, I really wanted to get Vredestein Wintrac Xtreme tires instead of the Dunlop SP Winter Sport M3 ROF that come from the Tire Rack, but the Tire Rack does not sell the Vredestein brand.

Hence, I was wondering how much extra it would cost me to get the wheels, tires, and sensors separately and have everything mounted at the delivery center.

So, it looks like an extra $100+ for the "privilege" of getting Vredestein tires. Perhaps the Dunlop SP Winter Sport M3 ROF are not too bad of a choice after all. :D
 
#12 ·
I had a set of Michelin snow tires and new wheels balanced at my local dealer. They came from Tire Rack out of balance (someone must have had a bad day). It was 125.00 for force balancing on their Hunter 9700. The price was about the same elsewhere whenever I've forced balanced other tires. Tire Rack picked up the tab without hesitation. Hats off to them as I'm sure it wiped out their entire profit. Great company.
 
#13 ·
It depends if the dealer balancing act is with or without drumroll.
 
#14 ·
My dealer is $50 a wheel, most of the local shops charge 20-25 a wheel until you show up with run flats and then they either say they can't do it or screw up the wheels trying. If you don't use the dealer, make sure you find a good shop that knows how to deal with run flats and has the equipment to handle it - the correct mounting machine runs about 20k and never touches the rim, doing a runflat on a cheaper machine is likely to mark your rims. Even the big refinishing place in my area that does pretty much all refinishing for dealers in the area, gave me my wheel back and said they had a new machine on order, but where afraid they would damage the wheel if they tried and that all the BMW dealer do the mounting and dismounting for them, they just get the wheels and don't normally touch the runflats.

I opted to go to the dealer and pay the money, at least if they screw up the wheel, they are likely to have a replaement in stock to give you!
 
#15 ·
Don't go to the dealers for tire-related stuff such as balancing, flat repair...., and etc. I usually go to the Costco by my house or Firestone by my work. They charge about $13 per wheel for BOTH mounting AND balancing. So, I'd assume they charge less for just the balancing.
 
#16 ·
Gotta say I have seen what costco does with stuff that isn't expensive to replace, I can't imagine how bad they would butcher a run flat and good alloy.

I would but at the top of the list a really good reputible tire shop, or well equiped indy shop
Then I would put my local dealer, they do a very good job on tires and wheels
Then I would put most other places
I would finsh the bottom of the list with Costco!
 
#18 ·
I'm an indy tire dealer. My Snap-On tire equipment walks all over what the local dealer has. We can do things with our balancer which weren't dreamed of five years ago (for instance, hide coated stick on weights behind the spokes).
Roadkillrob knows what he is talking about, read all his posts in this thread.
 
#17 ·
I think you also have to think of the extra cost at a dealership as insurance... You're paying a high price but should have less worry that the job is done right. Also you're insuring against the hassle that might occur if somebody screws up and you know have to run around trying to get it fixed.

I got my winter set from the Tire Rack mounted and balanced and they were just fine when they arrived. When it comes time for rebalancing the wheels, I'm not quite sure what I'll do.
 
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