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by MegaDeKay 244 days ago
Plus balancing the new tires on those rims, and next to nobody has the gear to do that.
2 comments

When I last priced the equipment it wasn't that bad costwise. In my case though it was only worth it to get rid of the whole "dealing with tire shops" issue. A close friend owns a used car dealership and they bought the mounter and balancer. IIRC...it just needed a 240v line.

I have also lost days waiting for tire shops and alignment...as those are the only 2 things I don't do myself.

A tire machine is life changing in a good way if you have a lot of cars you're responsible for. China is starting to make mid-market ones (simple pneumatic ones that are powered bug geared to home use rather than professional like the ~$1k electric machines) for ~$400ish that I'd take seriously if I was in the market

Once you have a tire machine you'll spend more time at the tire shop (outside business hours, lol) because their trash pile will be your best source for reasonably new used tires. They sell a lot of sets of 4 when 2 would do.

A $50 static balancer will do good enough for new tires in reasonable sizes.

You wanna take used half worn tires and put it on bent rims and make it come out ok, you need a digital balancer to make that not suck.