[Caddylackn]

I have been buying my tires off Amazon with free shipping and installing and balancing them myself with a harbor freight tire changer and their bubble balancer. I haven't had one vibrate yet after balancing and I have removed and installed at least 16 tires. The changer and balancer paid for itself 3 times over now. I also like the freedom of doing them whenever I want and not have to skip work or wait in line, or pay $5 tire disposal fees.

All the tire shops around here won't install anything but their in stock tires and there is no selection in 14s, and they do a horrible job balancing and a two hour wait time is standard. The big chain stores also often won't replace just one tire, or put any size on other than what their computer says was stock.

When I changed my Passat tires (last installed by Walmart) I noticed they didn't even remove the old weights when they balanced the new tires. The old weights were mounted on the inside and they didn't even check. I had weights on both sides of the wheels that were opposite to each other.

The only problem with the Harbor Freight changer is there is a learning curve, but there are lots of videos, and it is not kind to shiny fancy aluminum rims. Breaking the bead will scratch the rim face unless you modify their changer base. Works fine on steelies or wheels you can touch up with paint if scratched. I can change and balance a set of four in less than an hour now. Its a good work out.

I have gone to the local junkyard twice and picked up some nice tire sets for $100 or so on my rigs. I have had no problem doing this, but you should be checking date codes. I would not install tires that were over 8 years old if you are going to drive on the freeway at speeds over 60 mph.

It is really tough to find used complete 14" tire sets now so I bought new.