There is one guy in town who knows how to do wire wheels right. He can true
them in addition to just mounting/dismounting. He owns a medium sized
non-chain shop. But, when someone brings wires in he dons a jumpsuit (he
usually wears button down shirt and slacks at work, being more white collar
owner than worker) and does the work. I never used him, too pricey for me,
but those with expensive Jags and such with wires eventually find their way
to his shop. Me, when I had wires, I just bought tires, mounted them myself
by hand (motorcycle tire tools work well) and then let someone balance them
on the machine. It is amazing how thin and flexible the wire wheels are,
easily destroyed by a machine if you don't know what you're doing. I worked
at a full service station in the 80s and at a tire shop for three days, so I
know my way around mounting and balancing equipment somewhat.
Funny thing, when I was in high school and working at the full service
Texaco stations, a tire plug was $7. Nowadays, at my favorite tire shop,
plugs are $7. I get them to dismount the tire and cement a patch on the
inside, still $7. Every time I leave there I feel like I got good value for
the money I spent.
I know three good, honest mechanics. My wife wanted a Jeep Cherokee. We
found a 2000 that she liked at the time at a dealership. The price was
really good and this was the one she wanted. After making the dealership
guy show me all the paperwork I found a document where their mechanic had
written "Noise in rear end". After this, on a second test drive, with the
windows down, sure enough, I hear a noise from the axle area. The price was
really good so we figures at worst I could replace the axle for around $1000
max. We bought the Jeep and brought it home. I tore into the rear end,
pulled the axles, checked the diff, and couldn't find anything wrong. I put
it back together and the noise was still there. So, we took it to one of
our known good guy mechanics. A few hours later he called and said it was
ready. We went, expecting the worst. Though I felt like an idiot, I was
relieved when he handed me the hubcap and said, "Here's your problem".
What? You gotta be kidding? Stupid hubcap! What do I owe you? "$20 for
diagnostic test drive". So, we saved several thousand bucks on a Jeep and I
got a good lesson in humility. Stupid hubcap. My wife's solution? Just
leave the hubcap off. But, I can't have my wife driving around with three
hubcaps. I can remember putting pebbles in my friends' metal hubcaps as a
joke but I had no idea a plastic hubcap could make such grinding and ticking
noises.
Cheers,
Derf
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