Mike B

Well, I was afraid this would happen sooner or later (I was hoping never). I managed to pierce the sidewall of the driver side rear tire with a nail. The nail stayed in the tire with no air pressure loss, but I couldn't chance driving on it any further. Needless to say, having to put the spare on the TT took a little of the new car magic away. And if you haven't seen the spare, with its bright yellow decals, on your car yet, it will draw a lot of attention. I heard, "What happened to your tire? ", way too many times when I got back to work. I called around to all of the local Firestone/Bridgestone dealers. Each said they would have to order a tire and it would take 5 to 10 days to get it. PARK MY TT FOR 5 - 10 DAYS? That was definitely out of the question. I went online to Tirerack. They had the tire in stock and shipped it overnight. The tire came in two days later. So, my car was parked for two days, but that was still better than 5-10. Now I had to make the decision of who to take my rim and new tire to. I decided to take it to a place that I had done business with in the past. I explained how easy the rim was to damage and my reluctance to let just anyone try to put the tire on the rim. He understood, and let me stand over his shoulder while he took the bad tire off the rim. Taking the tire off seemed to be the hardest part to do without damaging the rim. There is a bearing that is forced against the outside edge of the rim while the sidewall is being forced up and over the lip of the machine (I have no idea what that machine is called, it was the typical machine that all tire shops have). Given the height of the sidewall, there really wasn't enough room to space the machine’s arm a safe distance from the rim. So he started padding and masking everything on the rim that might come into contact with the machine’s arm. He proceeded with extreme caution and my rim escaped with no damage, except the bearing dimple, and I’m a customer for life.

For those of you who haven’t witnessed this process and are interested:

Once the tire is deflated and the bead (adhesive that holds the tire to the rim) is broken away from the rim.
The rim is placed horizontally on the machine, with the outside of the rim facing straight up and clamped down on the inside of the rim. Next, a lever is used to pry between the rim and tire in order to pull the sidewall of the tire over a lip that is attached at a right angle to the arm of the machine, which hangs from the top of the machine, perpendicular to the rim. The arm and lip form an “L” or upside down “T” shape and are aligned using the edge of the rim. The arm/lip assembly is adjusted down towards the rim. A lever is placed on the top of the lip and under the edge of the tire. At this point the bearing, located on the side of the lip facing the rim, is used as a fulcrum point against the rim and may cause a little dimple on the outside edge of the rim, which should be completely covered by the tire. The inner edge of the sidewall will sit on top of the lip while the machine rotates the rim until the sidewall is on the outside of the rim. While the machine rotates the rim, the strength of the rubber in the sidewall, which is stretched over the lip, will pull the arm/lip assembly towards the rim and may cause the lip to touch or gouge the rim. The process is repeated to get the inside sidewall on the outside of the rim. The tire has now been completely removed from the rim. The process works the same way in reverse while putting the tire back on except the lever is used under the lip of the rim instead of under the edge of the sidewall. When the tire is back on the rim, an adhesive is applied around the contact area of the rim and tire. The tire is then quickly inflated causing it to seal up around the rim.


My two cents to anyone having a tire put on a stock 17” rim:

It’s important that the machine doesn’t move while in contact with the unprotected rim.
Ask them to use a few layers of masking tape on the outside edges of the rim both parallel and perpendicular to the sidewall. In other words, start just below a spoke and wrap it around to the back.
This needs to cover the portion of the rim the machine will be passing over. You might want to bring masking tape with you; they may not have any. Another trick is to apply a lubricant to the masking tape. Soapy water was used to lubricate the masking tape on my rim. This will help keep the tape from getting pulled from the rim as the machine passes over it. The masking tape should not be removed until they are ready to apply the adhesive and inflate the tire.

It is possible to take some bad luck with a tire and not turn it into worse luck with a rim. It just takes finding someone who cares enough to take their time and use caution.

ObsessTT (Ivan)

I lost a tire Friday, too. With tax, installation it was $325. I would like to get a solid number from you to see if the money savings going the Tire Rack way is significant. My dealer always has a tire on hand, as long as I go a week between needing one!

Of course, I sense that you will agree that price is secondary. A good installer is the important part, one that won't scratch your wheel. Three tires replaced by my dealer and the only wheel scratches were caused by me.

Thanks for sharing the details. Your post was very informative.

Ivan

Mike B

Tire $227
Ship/Tax $40 overnight morning delivery
Mount/Bal $11
Tip $20 for a job well done
----------------
Total $298

If I would have had more than a twenty on me at the time, I would have given him what I had.


Mike

Ted

Othe conventional machines are hell on the rims. With a good Euro machine, I never have problems.

DaveB

Ivan, How come you've lost 3 tires ?

STTeve R

In my case, the Bridgestone dealer DID scratch the rim and chip the paint and had to buy me a new one. At his cost, it was $367 (retail is $512) and he also paid Audi dealer to change out the tire/wheel. It cost him another 20 bucks. Now, for Bridgestone, it was a very humbling experience.

By the way, Audi does a total chrome 17" wheel and it is a class job.

STTeve R

ObsessTT (Ivan)

# 1 defect, #2 nail in sidewall, #3 blowout