I will mount and balance tires for local CAMers, not a shop or a vendor just a perk!

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

I recently bought my own rim clamp tire machine and electronic balancer for myself, for home use (I am not a shop!). If anyone in the CAM area (I am in La Plata, MD) needs tires mounted and/or balanced, I have 3 different size valve stems, and about 500 each of 1/4 and 1/2 oz tape weights in stock.

I will not charge you $20 or 25 /each like a shop would and I will actually balance them correctly (I have had so many shops screw up and do a wide wheel static only w/ tapes, put multiple rows of tape weights next to each other, etc).

I was sick of shops damaging my wheels which is why I bought these machines for myself.

PM me if you ever need wheels/tires done

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q116/shylin01/Shop%20tools/CLeanedupgarage025.jpg

Steve

[fastblackmerc]

Niiiiiiiiiiiice!

[Blown3.8]

Sweet. I always wanted to get some machine's of my own too.

Like you I am sick of local shops half azzin wheel balancing.

I may come and see you in a few weeks. Will gladly pay you something for your investment.

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

I am not looking to get rich, I just want to help out other like-minded enthusiasts and if you can throw me a couple bucks to cover the materials and help me slowly chip away at my expense for the machines that's great.

[TiTo35]

When I get my front tires...I will give you a shout...Thanks! :up:

[MyTMerc]

Very nice offer! Thanks!!

My last tire install took over 3 hours on the rack. The kid had no clue. After it was done I had more weights than I've ever seen on one car in my life. It's very noticeable. Someone (can't remember who) noticed all the weights on them when we were in Gettysburg right after the new tires were installed.

I've done all my own work over the years except for tires and exhaust because of my lack of tools for that type of work. I hope your investment at least breaks even. If nothing else, you'll be sure it's done right.

Congratulations on the new toys.

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

I am not worried about breaking even, if I charged real prices and wanted to do any sort of volume I could pay these machines off very quickly, they were not all that expensive. For a one time payment of $1200 I know I will never have to go through what you did with wheels and tires, every time I need them done. That is money well-spent for my peace of mind. If it takes more than 2 oz per side to balance something is wrong. A quality wheel and tire combo should not take anywhere near that much weight to balance. The worst wheel/tire combo on my car has under 2 oz per side and definitely under 4 oz total on it, most have about 3/4 oz per side. Also most shops only carry the 1/4 oz sticky weights, I have both 1/4 and 1/2. If you have to put a lot of weight at one location, the 1/4 oz makes an extremely long strip that starts to counterbalance itself as it wraps around the rim.

Of course defraying the costs here and there by doing a little side work won't hurt. I'm only going to do work for people that are part of a community like this. I don't want random people coming to my house that I don't know from anywhere.

Steve

[Joe Walsh]

Steve, does the tire mounting machine have a way to protect the inside of the rim when it grabs it?
I hate when the typical numb-nuts let the gripper jaws embed into an alloy rim!...:eek:

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

You can mount either internal or external with this machine. You are supposed to mount an alloy external mount (v jaws that are smooth with no texture, grab the outside edge of the back face of the wheel, this will not damage an alloy). You are never supposed to use the internal jaws on an alloy if your machine also has the better option of externally clamping. The reason shops use the internal jaws on $$ alloy wheels sometimes is twofold, 1. some old machines do not go far open enough for an 18 to be clamped externally, and 2. it is much much faster to drop a wheel on the table and internal clamp it (fullly automatic), whereas you have to be very careful to externally clamp an alloy.

My machine is a higher end Ranger (Bend-pak) but it still has a max capacity approaching 18" for external clamping. It might make it w/ the MM wheel externally clamped I will try tonight.

If you have to internal clamp an alloy, they make plastic boots to put over the sharp barbs on the clamp heads so you do not embed them in an alloy wheel. You can be sure, if I find my machine only fits an 18 internally clamped, I will buy the boots before working on anyone else's wheels. I have mounted up a few sets of wheels on this machine already but they have all been 15 and 16" alloys so externally clamping them was no problem.

[Shora]

After spending HOURS removing my rims, fully cleaning one by one and removing all the tape from past balancing, I took the shiny and new looking rims to get balanced.

You guessed in, THEY F__KED IT UP and I had to take it to a different shop to get balanced correctly!!

So, after all those hours cleaning my rims, I received new useless strips of tape (on all 4 rims) bc the jacka$$ couldn't balance correctly!

Heck if I have the motivation to remove them all again.

Bolt the machines to the back of your pickup and travel the Country to balance for us MM.Neters.

[Stranger in the Black Sedan]

You know I thought about that. There is a local place in DC and VA that does just that, has really high end machines, Hunter Road force balancer and whatnot, in the back of box trucks and they will come to you. They only mount and balance if you buy tires through them though and I'm sure the pricing is premium.

It took me a while to clear enough space in garage #1 to fit those machines and still be able to park 2 cars, the snow blower, and the tractor in there. I am NOT moving them again if I can help it! The tire mounting machine alone weighs 600 lbs and it very awkwardly balanced to lift.

[offroadkarter]

Even though i dont need tires mounted, ill be stopping by over the summer :D