You got to pay to play
Thread Starter
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 3,632
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C63s Cabriolet, BMW M4, Civic
You got to pay to play
… that’s what they say. But paying $165 (which is cheapest I called around) for installation of 4 spacers on my Aston Martin is just stupid. Discount tires only charges $25 each tire for mount and balance which is a lot more labor. My guess, they all feel that they can charges higher because of brand. Kindna like Mercedes charges $225 for an oil change and AM charges $550 for an oil change. Same engine, parts and labors but 2 different prices.
Out Of Control!!
Joined: Nov 2018
Posts: 11,469
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From: San Francisco Bay Area
2019 C63CS
I don't do spacers anymore, because they mess up the suspension geometry, but they are easy to install yourself. I put them on my previous car. All you need is a jack and torque wrench and do one at a time. Assuming you use hub centric spacers, otherwise good luck with vibration. $165 is less than an hour with the prevailing labor rate around here, so that seems pretty reasonable. I'm guessing the $25 tire mounting at Discount tires doesn't include road force balancing. Mounting tires is pretty straight forward these days with just spin balancing and mostly handled by the mounting and balancing machine, but if you are installing spacers you wanna make sure they clean the hub properly, otherwise you'll have vibration, so it is more time consuming if done properly like road force balancing is more time consuming and usually costs more than $25 per tire. Also Discount tire is a low margin, high volume business. AM is the opposite.
Last edited by superswiss; Mar 8, 2023 at 01:25 AM.
Senior Member
Joined: Jan 2019
Posts: 419
Likes: 58
C63s AMG
$165 to install wheel spacers is plain daylight robbery, assuming it’d just labor, excluding the spacers. Should be a 15 minute job max for a shop, so at an hourly rate of $120 to $160, a fair estimate should rage between $30 and $40.
You’re better off doing this yourself at home.
You’re better off doing this yourself at home.
Thread Starter
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 3,632
Likes: 150
C63s Cabriolet, BMW M4, Civic
$165 to install wheel spacers is plain daylight robbery, assuming it’d just labor, excluding the spacers. Should be a 15 minute job max for a shop, so at an hourly rate of $120 to $160, a fair estimate should rage between $30 and $40.
You’re better off doing this yourself at home.
You’re better off doing this yourself at home.
Last edited by Klinh; Mar 8, 2023 at 02:17 AM.
Member
Joined: Nov 2001
Posts: 222
Likes: 35
From: DFW
W205 AMG
I have all the parts. Just remove the wheels, install spacers then put the wheel back on. 5 mins per wheel max. I put spacers on all my cars in the past with no issues. My issue this time is that I don’t have the wheel torque wrench. It required 135 lbs and so I need a shop to do it.
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: May 2005
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1991 964 Turbo, 2002 Black E55, 2002 Black E55 " The Beast"- 2014 E63s
OP, have you watched a YT installing spacers? Unless it's a bolt on spacers, simple spacers is a level 2/10 job with 2 having to jack up and taking the wheels off.
If you don't have any health issues, I think you should do it yourself to get some practice taking the wheel on and off, what if you get a flat tire where no service is available
Your AM might not have the spare tire but you should still practice the routine
AM's are lovely cars but why pay more for an AM when you can buy a similar engine in a MB LOL
If you don't have any health issues, I think you should do it yourself to get some practice taking the wheel on and off, what if you get a flat tire where no service is available
Your AM might not have the spare tire but you should still practice the routine
AM's are lovely cars but why pay more for an AM when you can buy a similar engine in a MB LOL
