Fair price to charge to take wheels off?

sudsmobile

sudsmobile

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I have a job tomorrow where we're taking the wheels off. Luckily, it's a neighbor I don't know that walked up to my door, so I'm actually doing it in my garage. I have air, air tools, and a low profile jack. The wheels aren't particularly dirty but he's going to a car show this weekend. I'll be taking them off one at a time and cleaning them. I was thinking maybe $50-75 extra? Thoughts.
 
sudsmobile said:
I have a job tomorrow where we're taking the wheels off. Luckily, it's a neighbor I don't know that walked up to my door, so I'm actually doing it in my garage. I have air, air tools, and a low profile jack. The wheels aren't particularly dirty but he's going to a car show this weekend. I'll be taking them off one at a time and cleaning them. I was thinking maybe $50-75 extra? Thoughts.
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I would think to err on the high side of that, especially if you’re hand torquing the wheels when they go back on. Also think of your liability in jacking the car.


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I've been jacking up cars since before most of you were born. I think I'm good with that part of it. ;)
 
You've actually had experience with a dedicated repair shop that had issues jacking your vehicle up?
 
•IMO:

-$15.00, per corner, ought to be a fair
price—considering it’s for a neighbor.

-Using ”safe practices” to clean up the
braking components (as well as the wheel
wells) while you’ve got the tire/wheel
assemblies removed: would also be quite
neighborly of you.


Bob
 
I just recently removed the wheels from my truck to do a thorough cleaning and waxing, inside and out. It took me 7 hrs. You can use that as a guide and subtract the time that you would normally spend if the wheels remained on the car.
 
sudsmobile said:
I've been jacking up cars since before most of you were born. I think I'm good with that part of it. ;)
Click to expand...

Me too, but stuff happens. I've had a wheel stud snap on me before while swapping out a set of wheels.
 
sudsmobile said:
You've actually had experience with a dedicated repair shop that had issues jacking your vehicle up?
Click to expand...

Yep, folded the seam under, deforming the fender on my new (at the time) camaro SS.


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I do not do wheels off service and I won't unless I do three things:

1.) Get these - Car Lift Systems - Portable Car Lifts - QuickJack

2.) Get an ASE Certification - Tires are the only things that keep the vehicle connected to the road. I would say they are the biggest safety features on the vehicle. Before mucking about, it would be good to know all the differences between all the auto manufacturers, to include torque spec's etc.. In effect, you are doing typical work a mechanic does.

3.) Increase the liability rider on the business insurance. ---> What happens when the customer's lawyer claims you were responsible for their accident (when clearly you were not).

After all that, I would approximate/estimate the time to remove, thoroughly clean, polish and coat the wheels, brake calipers (if painted) and thoroughly clean the wheel wells (coat plastics as required).
(Take the estimated amount of time) * (my hourly rate) + incidental charges for materials and usage = Cost to do wheels off correction and coating.

Hence, I do not do wheels off service..., But I have a buddy who does! :)
 
Although I never liked to do this due to the labor and research to torque the wheels properly it was $25 per wheel, no exceptions. The liability is another factor......
 
Well, just to be clear, I'm doing it. It's not even a question. I was just asking about a fair price, not wanting to get a lot of input on your worst fears of all the bad things that could happen.

As for the person that mentioned being "neighborly", he's my neighbor in the fact that he lives on the same block I do. I've never met him. He saw our trailer, walked up and rang the bell. He's paying full price for the job just like any other customer that calls me on the phone. Of course, I'm cleaning the wheel wells while I've got the tire off, I probably should have mentioned that.
 
it depends on how much you think your time is worth. Will it be an hour's worth of labor to remove, clean, coat and re-install the wheels? If so, then $100 seems like an appropriate rate. If it will take longer than an hour, then it should be more.
 
Geez, am I the only mobile detailer that doesn't make $100/hour or think that mobile detailers should make $100/hour? My wife saves people's lives. She doesn't make $100/hour.
 
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