Legend2TL

Has anyone used Norris Acura in Ellicott City, MD for mounting and balancing tires?
They charge $60 for mounting and balancing 4 tires on a TL, pretty reasonable for MD. If so how was the experience (rims not scratched, properly balacing weights, done in reasonable amount of time,...)?

Thanks for the input.

Starter

I bought my car there and use them for some service items. Never had a problem. However, I'd use one of the following for tire stuff:

Any Mr. Tire - there are two close by. One is really close on Rt. 40. The other is farther west on Rt. 40 next to the Checkers drive in (this one is usually pretty busy and you may have to make an appointment). Both have Hunter Road Force balancers which are the only one to use (not sure what Acura West has).

The other place is Neubauer's (down behind the Caddy and Chevy dealers just past Rt. 29). They are a Tire Rack recomended installer and also very good for any kind of service work once you're out of warranty.

2005 Silver Bullet

I bought and serviced my Tl at Norris Acura and it was a horrible experience. I won't let them touch my baby anymore.

My recommendation....Goss's Garage in Seabrook, MD. This is Pat Goss's (from Motorweek) family owned Garage. I have used them many times for tire mounting and they are by far the best in the area.

They will match mount your tires and have high end Hunter balancing machines that other shops do not. They can also "road force" test your tires on their Hunter to check for tire and/or rim imperfections. You can even have your tires drop shipped from Tire Rack to their door.

Make sure that you tell them that you are particular about your wheels not being scratched and they will accomodate. Also, ask for "Ernie" to do your work, he's the shop manager and is very good.

Legend2TL

FWIW, Norris Acura mounted and balanced 4 Avon AS M550's for my TL with great service (no scratches on the rims). In addition they also did the "road force" test to check the balance/roundness, and cleaned the rims which means alot since I have a 6MT with it's brake dust. The service rep tried to sell me a alignment but I said no and he was polite about it.

One advantage of going to a Acura dealer is you can look over the latest models while waiting.

ThePianoMan

I had an average experience with them ... unfortunately however, they scratched up my rims with their lug wrench. Simple carelessness since it is on all four rims. If it was just one, I would pass it off as a mistake.

Because of this...I now go to Rosenthal in Gaithersburg, MD. I've been pretty pleased with them so far, except they gave me a complimentary wash after I clearly declined the offer and I was left with hairline scratches over my paint from their dirty drying rags.

Hope this helps.

Legend2TL

I do almost all my own work on our cars so I only go to the dealer for work I can't do so I don't get much experience on places to get work done. As for experiences, I know a few folks that had average experience with Acura West in the past but I made sure to ask the service manager about the rims and scratches before I gave them my keys.

Someone else in this thread recommended Neubauers in Ellicott City. I use to use them to mount tires until I had a bad experience about 10 years ago and never used them again. One bad service experience is enough to turn most folks off from going back.

One thing I forgot to mention in my previous post is I met a AcuraZine Member at Norris while waiting for my tires who just purchased a 2006 Nav/5AT a few months ago. We spoke for a few minutes after I mentions Acurazine. He had already tinted his windows and changed his rear taillights over to the 2007 clear type. Unfortunately I forgot to ask him his name. Funny how we can all be in the net and by chance come across one another at random moments in life.