that is why i bought a tire machine and wheel balancer. i got tired of dealing with idiots at tire shops.i maintain 14 cars and 7 trucks.
the machines more than paid for themselves in the first year i had them in money saved by not spending it at shops

 

What tire machine and balancer did you wind up buying? We've been looking at some, but thus far, none of them can handle truck tires.

 

Truck tires or LT tires?, not being sarcastic, but they do make machines for tractor trailer tires that are a total waste, well not the balancer of course, but ive yet to see a balancer that does car, LT and OTR

We have bars lol, and i cant remember the name of our balancer but its a hunter. Nearest tire store is around 80 miles out, and when you have 100+ tires runnin around the ranch.. well you get the point.

 

i picked up a coats 40-40SA for $300, and a snap on WB 360 wheel balancer for $400

 

True, there are two variables here.
1. the tires you're buying
2. the service of mounting, balancing, and installing on the truck

Both are things you need to worry about. Down in the RV forum there has been many discussions about staying FAR FAR away from certain Chinese made tires. We have no idea of what kind of tires you are buying, and what they might be worth. If you're buying cheap tires from a cheap store, versus name brand tires from some other store....

On the service side of things, I'm sure we've all heard some of the horror stories about the cheap quick lube places: impact gun on drain plugs, not changing filters, not replacing the oil, not draining the oil (refilling and drowning the engine) etc... When your engine fails after a crappy oil change, that sucks. When your wheel falls off because of incompetent tire monkeys, you can crash and die, and kill other innocent people.
Compared to most other vehicles I've seen and worked with, the stock lug nuts for steel wheels on our trucks are huge. One of my spare trucks has chrome lug nuts that are smaller (I think they are cap style, so long and skinny). I can't remember if that truck has aluminum rims or not.. But I'm pretty sure they both have the same tapered seat that actually contacts the rim to hold it. The big problem is like mentioned, not having a socket to fit the odd ones, and that makes a HUGE difference when you are stuck on the side of the road. I have no doubts the tire place saw that and said "We can't warrantee that!"

You're right, no idea what else is in the area, but it sounded like he shopped around. And ONE single place being MUCH cheaper than a group of others immediately puts up a red flag to me. However, I don't know the OP's definition of much cheaper. Is it cheap crappy tires that wear out in a year? Cheap unskilled (illegal) labor? No, or poor warranty support?

Just some things for us all to think about.

 

The steel valve stems I put on my tires have rubber washers on the outside, as well as the washer/insert that goes on the inside/through the hole. Maybe the ones I got (ebay) were different than some styles. Or maybe they don't always need the washer? I don't really know, just wanted to throw that out there for others reading this.

I think I've seen the rubber all pressure ones without the metal inner support showing, so a little different from the one '94IDITurbo7.3 posted.

I bought a Harbor Freight changer and used that to mount the last set of tires I bought. Its not the easiest, but works ok. Worked a lot better after I saw some youtube videos telling me how to do it the right way...
Also gave me a change to clean up and paint the rims nicely. Then I brought them down to the tire chain to balance and paid way more than I thought it would have been. Guess I should have gone to the walmart tire place for the balancing.. or maybe some small garage for a better deal.

I'd love a balancer, but there is no way it would be cost effective unless I got one real, real cheap. I basically just used the tire change to swap out that set of tires and fix a few leaks on my truck and car.

 

at $10 to $15 per tire to balance, the price of a balancer can be paid off real fast.

 

Went back to the shop today and talked to a different tech. He agreed to put the tires on without replacing the valve stems. Looked at my receipt as I was walking out and they charged me for new valve stems anyway. Went back and got a refund for them. While I was waiting for the refund I overheard another tech talking to a customer on the phone, explaining that he had stripped out the drain plug on their oil pan.

Glad I got my tires, but I don't think I will be giving this shop any more business.

 

good lord...........