How to ship wheel on the cheap!

[Missionsix44]

Hey guys, I came across this thread out of google curiosity and find it worthy of sharing! Maybe i'm behind in times and you all will say "duuhhhhhhhh Bro," but alas, i never truly thought of it!

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Have you ever seen one of those awesome deals on a slick set of wheels with tires on them – damn near brand new, no curb rash, 90% tread left on the tires – selling for about two thirds of what they are truly worth? You get all excited about it right? Start asking the seller if he will ship them to you because you live 1500 miles away. Then you get the shipping quote, $300.00! Man, now it’s not even worth it, you could get the same wheels brand new down the street at that price.

This begs the following questions:

Why do people charge so much to ship wheels?
Why do they charge even more when there are tires on the wheels?
How can I ship wheels for less than what UPS quotes me?

Let’s start at the root of the problem – The Carrier (typically UPS or Fed-Ex):
Most shipping companies will make you pay extra if they know you are shipping wheels. They justify the price increase by saying that an automobile wheel is odd shaped and easily damaged, they call it an insurance charge. They will charge you even more still if there are tires on these wheels because of added weight and the probability of a punctured tire. I’ve even had a sales representative at a UPS store tell me I need to remove the valve stems from the wheels before I could ship them. I never got an explanation as to why, but I’m sure it made no sense.

Because of the difficulties when trying to package and ship wheels/tires at carriers store, people tend to get discouraged. Most sellers will refuse to ship their wheels because of the hassle involved. Some will just jack the price way up to compensate for all the extra work involved. It doesn’t have to be that way.

Here is a step by step method for shipping wheels AND tires (with the valve stems still on them) for under $100.00 And just to further prove my point, I am going to make my example wheels a little heavier than normal. I’m also going to ship them a long distance, from Indianapolis to Sacramento. I will be using UPS to ship my imaginary wheels.

The first thing you need to do is secure a commercial address that has a daily pickup. This is a simple task. You can ship them from your place of work, which is what I do. Most businesses have a daily UPS or Fed-Ex pickup/drop off. You just hand the packages to your driver and he takes it from there. If you don’t have a daily pickup at your place of employment, bring your packages to the UPS distribution center closest to you. DO NOT BRING THEM TO A UPS/FED-EX STORE! If you do this, you will screw yourself and end up paying big money. Distribution centers have customer service buildings that will take your packages as long as they are 100% ready to go, this means sealed up and labeled. It will also help if your buyer has a commercial address they can pick the wheels up at. UPS charges less to ship to a commercial address than they do to a residential address.

Next, you need a UPS online account. Go to UPS.com to sign up. Also, you will need a place to print off your labels, so, if you don’t have a printer, head for the library!

Now that you got the particulars out of the way you are ready to package up some wheels and tires! Damn, these wheels are heavy bastards – 55 pounds a piece. You will need four boxes, one for each wheel. You can get these for FREE from a local tire store – They typically throw them away! Just make sure you get some that are close to the size of what you’re shipping. Also, you can buy them from a mover (uhaul sells boxes) http://store.uhaul.com/product_detail.aspx?id=2793
for less than 3 bucks each. Staples and Office Max also sell boxes for around that same price. Make sure your wheels fit snugly inside the boxes, don’t pick huge boxes for your wheels. I am using 18x18x16 inch boxes. I am going to cut the height down to about 10 inches so my wheels fit more securely in the package. So far I have spent around $12.00 to package up my wheels. I just used old news paper to fill in the empty space inside my boxes. Also, don’t worry about deflating your tires all the way, just bring them down to about 10 psi.

Now that I’ve got my boxes all weighed and measured, I can get my labels printed off at UPS.com. Four boxes at 60 lbs a piece, and I am shipping them from Indianapolis IN, 46228 to Sacramento CA, 95843. I packaged them up myself and I am using UPS ground to get them there. My cost is $56.52 and it should only take 4-6 days for them to arrive at their destination.

It’s a little more if they are going to a residential address, but not much. About $64.53 to ship to someone’s home.

You can calculate your own shipment here:
https://wwwapps.ups.com/ctc/request?…&WT.svl=SubNav

Now I just print out my labels, secure them to the boxes with clear packaging tape, and either give them to my daily pick up or drop them off at a distribution center near me. Do not tell them that you are shipping wheels/tires! If the carrier finds out they are wheels and tires, they will hit you with a back charge.

I spent less than $70.00 to ship my wheels, and they were extremely heavy and going across the country!

I hope this helps some people out there when they sell or buy their next set of wheels. Remember, package your own wheels and tires, print your own labels, try to ship to a commercial address, and don’t tell the carrier what is in the box!

Hope this helped you save some money. You can find wheels for your Nissan or Infiniti for sale all day long at the

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[mfox191]

Great to know, THANKS!!!

[bugeyetex]

1 vote for sticky in the tire/wheel thread. Good info

[Missionsix44]

Thanks guys. It was a good find!

[Studmike02]

Sticky!

[p951951951t]

People really don't know how to use UPS? This is common knowledge or so I thought.

Also, shipping wheels with a high insured value boosts the cost. I usually end up paying about $75-$100 from a distribution center for delivery to a home address for WHEELS ONLY, av value about 1000-1500.

[Trustkevin13]

this is great! everyone must know this!

[ToneWrx02]

Please for the love of god dont mail wheels with air in them, i work at ups and if you are putting our lives at risk.

First elevation change, heat and cold effect. Second i prefer when people ship their tires in no box, easier to grab much easier, also if ypu are sending it as standerd price wont jump up, if you send it as express as in 1 day shipping or even 2 day shipping prices will go way up because the have to go thru x ray scanner and a security check.

Also if you want cheaper prices have the package mailed to a business, price will drop.


Btw if you lie about the weight, and size, we will find out, once a package arrices to a main center they all go thru scanners and get weighed and you will get charged.


ALWAYS TELL UPS WHAT IS IN THE BOX.

[Missionsix44]

Originally Posted by ToneWrx02

Please for the love of god dont mail wheels with air in them, i work at ups and if you are putting our lives at risk.

First elevation change, heat and cold effect. Second i prefer when people ship their tires in no box, easier to grab much easier, also if ypu are sending it as standerd price wont jump up, if you send it as express as in 1 day shipping or even 2 day shipping prices will go way up because the have to go thru x ray scanner and a security check.

Also if you want cheaper prices have the package mailed to a business, price will drop.


Btw if you lie about the weight, and size, we will find out, once a package arrices to a main center they all go thru scanners and get weighed and you will get charged.


ALWAYS TELL UPS WHAT IS IN THE BOX.

As the OP I truly agree with you on those parts. I worked in the UPS sorting aisle in Ontario, CA for 2 years and you're right about air in the wheels. But this is pretty much for ground only. The pressure in an airplane could indeed explode a tire.

ALSO, I would agree on not putting them in a box. A shipping sticker can easly be put on each tire. (which should be deflated)

[Missionsix44]

Originally Posted by p951951951t

People really don't know how to use UPS? This is common knowledge or so I thought.

Also, shipping wheels with a high insured value boosts the cost. I usually end up paying about $75-$100 from a distribution center for delivery to a home address for WHEELS ONLY, av value about 1000-1500.

Hence my comment in the Original post where I said "some of you may say "duhhhh Bro." But for those who never thought of the little strings attached to shipping wheels that can be easily cut, this is to help!

[abosworth]

Good info. I already knew all this because I've been shipping with UPS and FedEx for more than 10 years. You can ship tire/wheel packages via Ground (discounttiredirect and tirerack do this) but I doubt they will let you ship them air. That's dangerous. Hell, they won't even let you ship most bug spray via air because it is considered ORMD.

Note: If you ship on your work UPS or FedEx account and don't weigh them properly or dimensionalize them, the account you used will get billed for them. You might very well get away with it depending on how diligent your accounting team is but it's something to be considered.

[ToneWrx02]

Ups does ship air on tires, i live in sweden and we ship all over, for air we ship to malmo sweden from their it flys out to copenhagen, and then flys all over the world. As long as the wheel is deflated or just the tire it should be fine, but please notify ups. Also some spray cans and such things can be shipped air only if its directly picked up from the company.

[alecb]

Man I wish I knew all of this before I shipped my FMIC.

[pugrendo]

Thanks guys. It was a good find!

[vision.dynamix]

Wtf wheels do you have that are 60lbs for the wheel alone?

[SoapBox]

Originally Posted by vision.dynamix

Wtf wheels do you have that are 60lbs for the wheel alone?

They're wheels and tires.



Cut out round pieces/tape shrink rap a round cover piece to each side of a wheel/tire.

It's not rocket science.

No need to box up a full wheel and tire for UPS/FedEx/USPS.

[vision.dynamix]

Originally Posted by SoapBox

They're wheels and tires.

Wheels and tires dont fit in 18x18x16 boxes.

[SoapBox]

Originally Posted by vision.dynamix

Wheels and tires dont fit in 18x18x16 boxes.

You're indeed correct. Why is he talking about letting the air out of them?


In any case.

A huge wall of text to say that if you want to ship wheel, put them in boxes?

Wow, ground-breaking stuff.


Another note, with 16 or 17's, uhaul sells a box in which you can fit 2 wheels.

Gasp! Another wrinkle into the complex world of putting items in boxes to ship!

[ABeastinWRX]

Were the wheels all in separate boxes? How come the price didn't apply per box?

[vision.dynamix]

Originally Posted by vision.dynamix

Its not rocket science.

1a. If youre shipping ground, drop the tire pressure to 10-15psi
1b. If youre shipping air, you must remove the valve stem core.
2. Protect the face and back of the wheel with cardboard discs or squares. Use multiple layers on the face!
3. Use lots of tape. Tape doesnt like sticking to rubber, so youll have to start and end each pass of tape on cardboard.
4. Mark the face side of the wheel as "top" and the back as "bottom".
5. (Optional) If you have a banding gun, add a couple plastic/metal bands in case the tape fails.



Thats pretty much it.

UPS, FedEd, USPS and GreyHound will accept wheels and tires like this without issue.

How safe is it? TireRack ships their wheel/tire assemblies like this.

12345

[SoapBox]

^^^That's all folks...

Originally Posted by SoapBox

Cut out round pieces/tape shrink wrap a round cover piece to each side of a wheel/tire.

[Jack ffr1846]

How I do it: post #21. and I have a FED-X account (you can open one free) so I save about 15% and I can drop it at a FED-X store and it doesn't cost me any extra.

[mechatricity]

Lets not poo poo on the guy, most people probably would just walk into a UPS store and get screwed without realizing there's a better way to do it.

[DabiDa]

Originally Posted by vision.dynamix

12345

Thats is exactly how i shipped my wheels but i used metal bands and sets of two,My local ups was very happy and took them with no issues..

[Ruzty1311]

So does printing your labels at home mean cheaper shipping? I just took one rim (boxed up) to my distribution center and he told me $45 per box that weighed in at 25lbs to a residence and $42 to a business!! Wtf am I doing wrong here? I have a ups account also.....someone help!!