I believe my very next step with this vehicle will be to eliminate the runflats altogether. I can get a standard size aftermarket rim with ctis and subsequently be able to put standard tires on at standard tire shops. This will hopefully eliminate the 8hrs of labor @ $120/hr to mount and balance at the hummer dealerships and replace it with everyday costs ofabout $20/tire and it only takes them about an hour to do it... yah... I think that is what I am going to do.

any thoughts here?

 

first... regarding the Hummer in a crash.... that all depends on what you hit..... Hummers, when they hit other hummers or alike, I don't think really have that great of a crush zone, so watch those ankles, wrists, heads etc.... you have a steel dor not too far from your head if in a side imnpact.... plus not a whole lot of steel between the outside and the frame.... so... again it all depends....

relative to the tires... get the 2 pc wheels and then do the work yourself.... the only thing left is to have them balanced which you can then do at a tire shop / dealer.... just beware, some places will want to shave your tire... the BEST way to balance a tire is from a roadforce balance where they will apply a load to the tire while its spinning....

 

You can remove the runflats from your stock wheels and save the cost of the new wheels. I've got a set in my storeroom. Removing them means that any tire store that handles truck tires/off road tires can mount and balance for you.

 

What do you mean they will "shave" my tires? How do you tell if they are going to do that or have done that already? I dont think I want that done ... at all...

Roadforce Balancer? Is that the machine that balances the tires?

 

Alien it doesn't cost $1200.00 to mount and balance tires on a Hummer rim with or without runflats. The runflat is the wildcard for many tire places.

 

Ok... but that is what they are charging me. Franks refuses to do the work... they either dont have someone to do it or dont have the "tools". Whatever. Sewell's parts/service guy knows squat about H1s and quoted me $250/tire to mount and balance (he was unable to break down that price for me so I could understand wherefor). Classic quoted me $120/hr with a min/max of 7 to 10hrs (they were the only dealership to offer a loaner vehicle). That informationis as of the last couple of days.

So... I came to these forums looking for help with just this problem. I found some aftermarket rims w/o runflats that are of a more standard/acceptable size (4x 18" Cepek - G.T. Wheel w/hidden CTIS and 4500 lb load capacity butw/o runflats + some Toyo MTs 37(38?)/12.5/18 x4 = about 3200), I found that these Dallas dealerships are trying to screw me, but I have not found anyone here in Dallas that can do anything for me for less than 1000 to 1200 to mount and balance.

Oh... I had alread bought the Radial IROKs 37/12.5/16.5 x4 before I found out about the aftermarket stuff so you will probably see me posting the facter rims with brand new IROKs on them soon. I was turned down by three other tire places before I just gave up on getting someone else (besides the dealership) to put the IROKs on for me today (Discount Tire, Tire King, and someplace else).

That about sums it up. If you know where I can go and not pay that price... I am listening.

 

Yes, they will actually "cut" rubber from your tires to balance out the weight..... the road-force I believe is a trade name but it might just be the name for the operation of balancing.... some tire-shops don't know what this is, but when I had it done it was around $150 for 4 tires.....

If you are looking for someone to help you out with your setup, you likely need to spend some time on humvee.net's webforum as I know there are other Hummer owners in your area who can answer your questions.... I know there was one owner near Ft Worth who looked at a Hummer for me prior to purchase....

 

Thank you Sir for the information and advice.

 

Did you get a hold of Sam?

 

I had no contact info for Sam, so I am dropping off the Hummer at Classic tomorrow morning and getting a loaner for the weekend...

Classic says that one piece rims or two piece does not matter. It is going to take them 7 to 10hrs labor but I got the rate down to $105/hr for mounting and balancing. It still sucks, but I dont really have any other options that are available immediately.