GMCNet members:
Well I wonder if it is worth it to try to save money. I've just
concluded my purchase of Alcoa Wheels and Michelin all-steel .
I bought the Aloca wheels from Southwest Wheel in Dallas Texas on the
GMCnet Wheel Deal because they ended up being the lowest price. I
called Sears, several local tire stores and none of them could touch the
prices quoted by Southwest Wheel. I ended up paying a few cents over
$1,000 for 6 Alcoa wheels and the various parts and accessories
delivered to my door. The going price less tax seems to be $199 each or
$1200 plus tax for six Alcoa wheels. So I saved more then $200 here.
I tried Continental Accessories in White Pigeon, Michigan but found that
because of sales tax their price was not as good as Southwest Wheel
where I didn't have to pay sales tax. If you don't have to pay sales
tax in Michigan, Continental Accessories would be worth considering.
Now for the tires, I called at least 6 places here in Southwest Michigan
and got prices from as low as $800 for 6 tires from Costco to $1100 for
the six at Discount Tire for MICHELIN LT225/75R16 XPS RIB LRE tires. So
I decided to go with Costco to save $300. I had to special order the
tires. The tires came today. The guy at Costco said there would be no
problem balacing the tires with my Alcoa wheels. He does them everyday
so he said.
Well I showed up with my GMC, Alcoa Wheels and a trailer to haul away
the old wheels at the Costco Tire Dept. in Madison Heights, Michigan.
The first part went well. They mounted the tires on my Aloca rims just
fine. Well when it came to balancing them, everything fell apart.
The guy that messed with the first tire for about 20 minutes. He
installed weights and removed weights but finally he figured he had it
balanced. He was using a cone style adaptor on his machine. I asked
him to rotate the wheel 180 degrees on his machine and see if it was
still balanced. Well it was not balanced and he remarked it was as if
it had never been balanced. They cheerfully gave me back my money for
the balancing and a coupon for a free hot dog for my trouble.
I decided to go to Discount Tire with my mounted tires because I knew
they had a Hunter balancing machine. I arrived at Discount Tire in the
middle of a thunderstorm and they said they would balance my wheels. It
started out the same as with Costco. Finally the main man of tire
balacing came out and took charge. He decided that they needed to use a
8 lug adaptor plate with the Hunter machine. He balanced the first tire
with the adapter plate and then rotated it 180 degrees. It came out
almost the same on the 2nd try as the first. So I said go ahead and do
the other 5 the same way. He did that. It cost me $12 a tire (which
was $3 more then Costco) to have them balanced. Because of the ongoing
thunderstorm and the fact they were getting ready to close they couldn't
mount the tires on the GMC. I took the tire/wheels home on my trailer.
Well we have a trip scheduled for tomorrow in the GMC. Becuase I still
have to work for a living and have an appointment scheduled for tomorrow
i decided to install the wheels today. Well to make along story short I
removed the wheels from the GMC and installed the new Alcoas. I did
this all in the middle of a big rainstorm.
I found out that I didn't have a 1 1/16" socket for my impact wrench or
the torque wrench I bought. Also, my 1 year old Sears 12 ton jack
didn't work. I had to go to Sears and get
Well I wonder if it is worth it to try to save money. I've just
concluded my purchase of Alcoa Wheels and Michelin all-steel .
I bought the Aloca wheels from Southwest Wheel in Dallas Texas on the
GMCnet Wheel Deal because they ended up being the lowest price. I
called Sears, several local tire stores and none of them could touch the
prices quoted by Southwest Wheel. I ended up paying a few cents over
$1,000 for 6 Alcoa wheels and the various parts and accessories
delivered to my door. The going price less tax seems to be $199 each or
$1200 plus tax for six Alcoa wheels. So I saved more then $200 here.
I tried Continental Accessories in White Pigeon, Michigan but found that
because of sales tax their price was not as good as Southwest Wheel
where I didn't have to pay sales tax. If you don't have to pay sales
tax in Michigan, Continental Accessories would be worth considering.
Now for the tires, I called at least 6 places here in Southwest Michigan
and got prices from as low as $800 for 6 tires from Costco to $1100 for
the six at Discount Tire for MICHELIN LT225/75R16 XPS RIB LRE tires. So
I decided to go with Costco to save $300. I had to special order the
tires. The tires came today. The guy at Costco said there would be no
problem balacing the tires with my Alcoa wheels. He does them everyday
so he said.
Well I showed up with my GMC, Alcoa Wheels and a trailer to haul away
the old wheels at the Costco Tire Dept. in Madison Heights, Michigan.
The first part went well. They mounted the tires on my Aloca rims just
fine. Well when it came to balancing them, everything fell apart.
The guy that messed with the first tire for about 20 minutes. He
installed weights and removed weights but finally he figured he had it
balanced. He was using a cone style adaptor on his machine. I asked
him to rotate the wheel 180 degrees on his machine and see if it was
still balanced. Well it was not balanced and he remarked it was as if
it had never been balanced. They cheerfully gave me back my money for
the balancing and a coupon for a free hot dog for my trouble.
I decided to go to Discount Tire with my mounted tires because I knew
they had a Hunter balancing machine. I arrived at Discount Tire in the
middle of a thunderstorm and they said they would balance my wheels. It
started out the same as with Costco. Finally the main man of tire
balacing came out and took charge. He decided that they needed to use a
8 lug adaptor plate with the Hunter machine. He balanced the first tire
with the adapter plate and then rotated it 180 degrees. It came out
almost the same on the 2nd try as the first. So I said go ahead and do
the other 5 the same way. He did that. It cost me $12 a tire (which
was $3 more then Costco) to have them balanced. Because of the ongoing
thunderstorm and the fact they were getting ready to close they couldn't
mount the tires on the GMC. I took the tire/wheels home on my trailer.
Well we have a trip scheduled for tomorrow in the GMC. Becuase I still
have to work for a living and have an appointment scheduled for tomorrow
i decided to install the wheels today. Well to make along story short I
removed the wheels from the GMC and installed the new Alcoas. I did
this all in the middle of a big rainstorm.
I found out that I didn't have a 1 1/16" socket for my impact wrench or
the torque wrench I bought. Also, my 1 year old Sears 12 ton jack
didn't work. I had to go to Sears and get
