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Date:         Fri, 14 Oct 2011 09:13:11 -0700
Reply-To:     Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: More about tires...somewhat early ..sort of Friday
In-Reply-To:  <20111014100710.TL762.2097567.imail@eastrmwml35>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

I thought reminding everyone that one can still do much of the work on a vanagon at home, in your own time using your own skills...that's appropriate for Vanagon list. Even stuff we forget we can do, like changing a tire or balancing a wheel... Click the link to see the simple tire tools.

https://picasaweb.google.com/112899774170781374478/Tire?authkey=Gv1sRgCOHXwcbW4NHd5QE

More below in the quoted text...

On Fri, Oct 14, 2011 at 7:07 AM, <mcneely4@cox.net> wrote:

> ---- Don Hanson <dhanson928@GMAIL.COM> wrote: > > > > So why do tire shops try to charge us to 'dispose' of used tires when > they > > obviously have value and are re-constituted into more tires to sell us > > again? > > They charge us because they can. >

Or maybe not... Now, I can see them having a problem with used tires being collected and re-cycled in a huge city, from all the Wal Marts and Sears stores....I guess.. They paid to get the right to charge us twice, so I guess it is OK....

> My understanding is that the tire shop does not recover money from the > disposal

Somebody does. We pay, the re cycled tires are sold again as raw material and the cost of making new tires is reduced...everybody is making some...

> I also understand that the value of that material is less than the cost of > handling. In other words, the disposal fee keeps new material from being > used, but the old material actually costs, all factors considered, as much > or more if the disposal fee were not charged. >

Weird. but "It's just business" I guess

> > > > I use a simple bubble > > balancer. I was skeptical of this, when I first saw the trackside guys > > doing my race tires at Thunderhill park .. and driving it in the next > race > > at 180mph with perfect balance on the wheels.... > > Who needs all those fancy computer controlled machines with flashing > lights > > and automatic brakes? Who needs all those power-assisted air clamps and > > automatic tire irons? >

Again, if you have a big tire store, you get the machines so you don't need skilled workers...Accountants probably decided that made the business more profit..But like Scott has often mentioned, one can get some really shoddy work out of a tire store.... I often saw this when I raced...tires mounted backwards, inside out, beads broken, balance totally messed up, etc etc. So I got my own tire tools and began making sure it was done properly...

> > Back in the day, there were two ways of balancing tires: The bubble like > you describe, and a device that included a friction fit wheel to spin the > tire on the vehicle, and a contraption that clamped to the wheel. The > latter could be manipulated by hand while the wheel spun. As the operator > manipulated this mechanism, weight was added to various radii on the > wheel-tire combination. the operator could see and feel through his hand > when the tire-wheel combination was spinning without vibration, stop the > spin by the friction wheel, and add the weight at the proper place on the > wheel. > > Prior to the devices being used now, the on the car balance method was > promoted by those dealers that had it as much better than the bubble method. > I have not seen one of these setups, or a bubble balance device, in many > years. However, I do not recall wheel-tire balance as being any more likely > to be a problem back in the day than it is now. In other words, what was > done back then worked. Both of the older methods relied more on operator > skill than does the "computer balance" method that is universal (in this > country) now. >

The big box tire shops in the majority now...they buy the expensive computer machines (usually made overseas somewhere) so they can take a new man or woman off the street at minimum wage, and be making full profit from their labor as a "tire technician" after about 5 mins of instruction on which buttons to push on the very expensive tire machines...

> > When I traveled in Mexico in the nineties, I noticed that tires were > routinely changed on wheels manually, with a tire iron and a mallet if > needed. >

Yeah, here in the US...old "softies" like me, we have these 'fancy' stands to hold the wheel...and real 'high tech' bubble balancers so our 25yr old Vanagons don't have a vibration as they putt putt down the highways... There are a lot of things we can still do for ourselves (we just forget we can, sometimes). I think besides saving some money changing my own tires I saved some time as well, and I got it right the first time. It takes me about 15mins to dismount and remount a new tire, then balance it. Driving to town, sitting in the lobby of Les Schwabb eating popcorn and watching Fox 'News' on the TV while the Van's wheels were worked on, then driving home again...that probably would have been a net loss of half a day.

Happy friday Don Hanson


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