Okay this is an important topic that I think people should know about! I'm surprised it hasn't come up at all on the boards.. but yes, low profile tires are DAMN HARD to remove or to put on, and you better make sure your shop has the right tools for the job.

In fact, it takes a special machine to do wheels 17" and larger. Over the past few years, as bigger wheels/lower tires have become popular, a few places have bought the necessary machines, which cost a boatload of money. And trust me, even some very popular shops that have good reputations, you'd think they have the equipment, well, sometimes they don't. It's costly, which is why a lot of shops refuse to buy the damn machine and insist on doing it the hard way.

I can tell you ONE THING. It wouldn't take _2_ hours for a shop with the right machine. It should take about 2 minutes per wheel. Make sure your shop has experience doing low profile tires! You don't want them taking 2 hours and using your expensive wheels and tires as a learning experience. I know its a pain to find a shop with the right machine and the guy who started this post probably didn't know the deal. But to the rest of yall, I'm TELLING you...

Make sure your tire guy has the right machine, and that they don't merely 'attempt' to do the job with something else like a tire iron to pry it in and out, or ghetto rig it somehow!! You can get your rims scratched up bad!, or like the gentleman above said, get your tire popped and have to wait a few days for another.

For several years before I had the crossfire, my car had 18s, so I've been driving on lo pros for years and I have avoided these problems by shopping around for a shop with the right equipment!

So like I said my last car had 18s too.. I needed tires changed.. I searched everywhere. I even went to Chevy dealers because the Corvette comes with 18s. NOT ONE CHEVY DEALER HAD THE PROPER EQUIPMENT. I called BMW dealers because the M3 comes with 18s or 19s. NO LUCK. They all sent their cars elsewhere to have tires changed. Neither did an actual FIRESTONE shop. I finally tracked down the local shop called Crown Tire that apparently does the job for a bunch of local dealers that have cars with 17s,18s,19s, but dont have the machine themselves. I bought my tires from tirerack and had them put them on .

BEWARE.