ok, so, i finally got my General Grabber AT2's (245/75/R16) a few days ago(came from TireRack.com a day after they shipped couldn't be happier with their service)...I've now tried 3 places to tery to get these mounted. PepBoys and another little garage (friend of a friend), both couldn't get the beads to seal...both of these places attributed this to underpowered equipment not being able to force enough air in fast enough etc. The third place i took them to was a GoodYear tire center, the same tire center where some lady said that if i really wanted to go offroading that i would need a 4-6" lift/should just get a wrangler. I brought the tires there as a last resort and i really regret doing so. They also couldn't get the tires to bead...however, they seem insistent that the tires are the wrong size for the rim (i know they're not stock size...DUH!!!). The manager there proceeded to charge me $25.97 because they couldn't get the tires on...she doesn't "run her shop for free" so she had to charge me something for putting her through the trouble of unmounting/remounting the stock tires, plus attempting to mount the Generals. She also wanted to charge me to ballance the stock tires that they had removed, but i told her not to balance them as i would just take the tires somewhere else. She warned me that there might be some vibration, which i knew, but there isn't any. Anyway, she insisted on saying that the rims i have are "8J" and that i would need an "8.5-9J" rim to mount these tires because the stock rims are too wide...when asked if an 8.5J or 9J rim was wider, she just gave me the "you have an 8J and you need a 8.5J or 9J" without answering if they were wider or not, as the number would seem to indicate. Needless to say, i will NEVER be going back there again, and would not send anyone there EVER. I wouldn't want to put anyone through the hell that is that experience. With that said...they also mounted two of the tires that they took off incorrectly (front of tire facing back of rim) and put my brand new spare where my left rear tire was...now i can just jack the truck up myself and change it...which i will do...BUT I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO, it should have been put on correctly in the first place. NOW....has ANYONE, EVER had ANY trouble mounting 245/75/R16 load range E tires on these rims???
Please, anyone who has these tires or any other 245/75/R16 load range E tires....please tell me, where did you take your tires, and how much did they charge you to mount and ballance them???
[/Rant]
Thanks,
-Savage-