Can I do this?

[stoavio]

I am buying a new 2010 Mazda 6 iTouring and I dislike the appearance of the 17" alloy wheels that come with it. However, I quite like the 17" alloys that come stock on the 2010 Mazda 3 5-door.

My question: I want my dealer to install the wheel/tire combination on the Mazda 3 5-door on my Mazda 6 iTouring. They are both 17". Can this be done without causing problems with handling and/or the TPMS sensor? They're quoting me about $350 in labor *if* they can do it.

Thanks!

 

[anarchistchiken]

$350 for ******* what? Rotating tires? If the other wheels are more expensive I could understand that, but if that's truly for labor, I would tell the fat lazy douche to sit on a hot steel pole.

I'm no expert, but I believe there should be no problem with this, the 6 can fit much larger wheel tire combos than the 3, so it shouldnt give you any headaches.

 

[stoavio]

Yea, they say it's only for the labor. I doubt the Mazda 3 tire/wheel combo is more expensive than the one on my Mazda 6. He says the $350 is the cost of breaking down 8 wheels....

Can anyone else weigh in? Any tips on negotiating a lower cost? I don't know exactly what's involved.

Thanks!

 

[Antonio DiMarco]

My dealership charges $70 to mount and balance 4

Yea, they say it's only for the labor. I doubt the Mazda 3 tire/wheel combo is more expensive than the one on my Mazda 6. He says the $350 is the cost of breaking down 8 wheels....

Can anyone else weigh in? Any tips on negotiating a lower cost? I don't know exactly what's involved.

Thanks!

Yeah $350 is high. I would not see it being more than $100.

 

[stoavio]

Ok, I'll see if I can get it down to $100.

 

[nate0123]

Judging by the quote, they didn't want to do it. They threw a high number out to dissuade you from wanting to go through with it.

This may be obvious (I couldn't tell from your post if you already know this) but you'll need the tires from the 6 put onto the 3 wheels. The 3's tires will be too short for the new gen 6.

 

[stoavio]

Hi Nate,

Thanks! No, I was not aware of that. Do you think that's why they quoted me such a high figure? I assumed they could just put the 3 wheel/tire combo on my 6 but you're saying they'll have to break all 8 wheels down and put the 6 tires on the 3 rims, right? In this case, considering the scope of that work, does $350 for that job seem like a fairer price?

Thanks all.

 

[VRMS6]

Not sure what the labor rate is in FL but here its $99.50/hr at the Mazda dealer Im a service advisor at... To do the job you want it would be $20 a wheel for mount/bal... so 8 wheels =$160 plus reprogramming the TPMS sensors on both cars $99.50 per car is is another $199. so your at the $350 quoted by the Fl dealer....

 

[nate0123]

Yes they'll have to break down all 8wheels, but $350 is still high for that job. M&B shouldn't be much more than $12-15 per wheel. They wanted to charge you $43.75 per wheel. Again, IMO to dissuade you from going through with it. Perhaps because they think it may be harder to sell the 3 with the weird-looking 6 wheels on it.

 

[nate0123]

Not sure what the labor rate is in FL but here its $99.50/hr at the Mazda dealer Im a service advisor at... To do the job you want it would be $20 a wheel for mount/bal... so 8 wheels =$160 plus reprogramming the TPMS sensors on both cars $99.50 per car is is another $199. so your at the $350 quoted by the Fl dealer....

Why would you need to reprogram the TPMS? Couldn't you just swap them out while the tires are off?

 

[VRMS6]

You can but depending on the TPMS units the freq may be different.(mazda uses 3 diff freq).... Also they can be a pain in the a$$ to remove/reinstall so the risk of damaging one is there....

 

[stoavio]

Thanks Nate and VRMS6. So, should I bother trying to back them down on price? It sounds to me like the $350 can be justified.

VRMS6: It's important to me that they do this. The stock 17" rims on the Mazda 6's are ridiculous looking IMHO. They crap all over the car's clean lines and understated elegance and I want them off. Can you think of any reason why a dealer's service center couldn't successfully pull this off? Gearheads the world over are successfully swapping wheels out on their vehicles so it's tough for me to believe an authorized dealer service center can't pull this off. They tell me they're willing to try but if the TPMS indicator in the vehicle stays lit up, they'll have to swap the original wheels back on. I'd rather them just disable the entire system than insist I keep the original wheels. This is a leased vehicle BTW.

Thanks for your input!

 

[nate0123]

Another option would to just take the car as-is and purchase an inexpensive set of wheels of your choosing. Sell them at lease turn-in and only be out of the cost of swapping out the tires.

HOWEVER - what I would do is make the deal contingent on the dealership doing this FOR FREE. You have the option to negotiate the best deal possible. If they want your business they'll make it happen.

 

[stoavio]

Nate, that's a nice angle that I should've worked before signing the lease papers but they've already locked me down as a customer.

I'd love to have 18" wheels on the M6 but I hear it compromises the quality of the ride. I've read posts from other users saying that you feel every imperfection in the road. Anyone care to weigh in on that?

If I can scare up a nice set of OEM 18" wheels on here, I'd happily nab those up and pay the dealer to do the swap.