Walmart- $8/tire/wheel for the whole deal.

-Craig

On Fri, Oct 14, 2011 at 6:12 AM, Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@hotmail.com>wrote:

> Shops charge a tire deposal fee because they have to pay someone to take
> the
> tires away. Someway somehow they don't just disappear.   It coast about a
> dollar/gallon to also make oil and antifreeze go away. Most states also
> collect some type of tire management tax.
>
> As for hand mounting and balancing the main advantage of the balancing
> machines is speed and consistency. How long did you spend installing those
> tires? Do you want to pay $100/hour for that? Also the bubble balance does
> not compensate for side to side variations.
>
> It's hard to believe that in a state with so many environmental initiatives
> that they allow simply burning tires to get the rubber. What a mess.
>
> As far as the value of the raw materials that is all based on commodities
> markets just like oil. Lead acid batteries have an very recycling rate but
> industrial batteries have also doubled their price in the past few years.
>
> Dennis
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
> Don Hanson
> Sent: Friday, October 14, 2011 12:23 AM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: More about tires...somewhat early ..sort of Friday
>
> I wanted to get my new Hakkapellittas mounted today after they came UPS in
> just one day from Santa Cruz to near Portland, Or.  So I called around to
> my
> local tire places and found they all wanted about $15 per tire to mount and
> balance....and that included a tire disposal charge...I think around $5 per
> tire.
>  When I was pricing tires at these same shops, they told me the cause of
> almost double prices for tires in just two years was that the raw materials
> cost had risen dramatically.    I know for a fact that Les Schwabb Tires,
> with their company headquarters just about 50 miles from me in Prineville,
> Oregon...they load all the worn out tires into the same trucks that bring
> the new ones and they take the old ones and melt em for the rubber, use it
> over again.    In Baja, when they pave a road, they simply doze-out a pit
> on
> a hillside and set up a place where gravel trucks can drive under the
> outlet
> for this pit.....then they burn old tires and the melted rubber funnels
> into
> the gravel trucks.....instant blacktop!
>
>  So why do tire shops try to charge us to 'dispose' of used tires when they
> obviously have value and are re-constituted into more tires to sell us
> again?
>
>  I also used my own tire changer and balancing device....I got a fixture
> for manual tire changing from Brey-Krause Racing...a simple old style clamp
> fixture that I took to races with me in my car hauler trailer...that way I
> was not dependent on trackside tire services to change my racing tires and
> I
> could always count on getting the right tire on the right wheel, etc
> etc...A
> little more work, but perfectly adequate.  The van tires are a lot easier
> to
> change than a 12.5" Goodyear racing slick!    I use a simple bubble
> balancer.  I was skeptical of this, when I first saw the trackside guys
> doing my race tires at Thunderhill park .. and driving it in the next race
> at 180mph with perfect balance on the wheels....
> Who needs all those fancy computer controlled machines with flashing lights
> and automatic brakes?   Who needs all those power-assisted air clamps and
> automatic tire irons?
>
>  So I saved about  $60 bucks and a trip to town by doing my own tires.  Now
> I have to find someone who'll give me some cash for my 'take-offs'...with
> rubber  being "so expensive" now a days (grin).
>   The brand new Hakkas on the rear really make the van track well....I had
> one of the passenger-rated freebie Hakkas on there and one that was almost
> bald....big difference....just waiting now for the Hankooks to show in the
> morning...
>
>  Don Hanson
>