Audi, Alpha Romeo z d other Euro brands are charging $260/hour in Naples Florida. I’d guess Miami is similar.
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I’m surprised the fee wasn’t more than that. They have to raise the car, remove the wheel, put it on their tire machine, remove the tire from the rim, remove the old valve, install a new valve, which probably includes resurfacing the area where it seats, reinstall the tire on the rim, check the balance, bolt the wheel back onto the car, lower the car, torque the wheel bolts, do a test drive. It’s quite a bit of work for just $104, and that includes the price of a brand new valve. I’m presuming for this price this was an ordinary tire valve, not an electronic tire-pressure monitoring type of valve.
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Why would anyone do a test drive on a valve stem replacement?
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I would if I did that job as a diy’er. A double-check, to make sure there’s no wheel wobbling; i.e. all the wheel bolt/lugs are holding the wheel tightly and that the wheel is seated properly on the hub. And that going over a b ump doesn’t immediately flatten the tire b/c the bead hasn’t seated properly.
If you are asking whether a pro-tire shop would go to that extra trouble, I’ll concur w/you, probably not. If the tire wobbled or went flat they’d figure the customer would quickly notice something was amiss & would just come back for a re-do. I give my diy’er self excellent customer service, and sometimes even that fails me. Customer service is always a compromise.
I had a leak I couldn’t find, even in my bathtub. I took it to a llantero who put it in his deeper tub, found the valve was bad, charged me $2. I had swapped in my spare so he didn’t have to deal with mounting and unmounting.
Was that this year or last year? Anyone working for cash under-the-table is going to want at least $5 for a tire repair.
If I’m running the shop, EVERY car gets a road test. Oil change, A/C, window motor, tires, you name it. Quality control/verification is one reason, inspection for upsells is another, documentation of existing issues, etc.
But many cars need to be driven for the TPMS light to go out.
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2009 August 5. I misremembered: it was $3, no tax. I paid cash. Julio’s tire shop in Albuquerque.
Based on the CPI, that $3 would be $4.34 today, about the $5 that @Nevada_545 suggested.
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Heck, 1/2 the time someone would come into one of my old shops with a loose wheel and non tpms rubber stem, I would just pop a new stem in it and send them on there way, not worth the paperwork and time… All you have to do is break down one side of the bead, pop a new stem in it and air it back up, no dismount needed… The only hard part (most of the time) is IF you drop the old butt of the stem down in the tire and have to remove it… lol
That’s a good point. As long as one bead remains on the rim, less chance of accidentally repositioning the tire w/respect to the rim, affecting balance. Still a good idea to double-check the balance however, b/c a wheel weight might have fallen off.
When I worked at a gas station as a part time job in the 1970’s, $2 to repair a flat tire (puncture, not involving the valve). I didn’t do that job myself, but I think the standard method was to just install a plug from the outside , tire remained fully seated on the rim.
The tire will not vibrate any more or any less then it would have been if the stem had not started leaking… If the customer wants it balanced, then it will be written up and put in line, and the customer will then pay for the stem and labor and balance, unless they have road hazard warranty, but will still be put in line… If the customer has no concerns about vibrations, then it is a pop a stem in it and go…
Being somewhat a perfectionist personality type, I probably wouldn’t make a very good shop tech or manager . But I’s probably make a good service writer. I can always think extra jobs needing doing, and billed for 
… lol …
The flat rate labor for a tire mount and balance is 0.4 hours and this includes replacing the seal on the valve stem. Tire stores are different, they charge a separate fee for each step.
As of September 2021, we charged $19.99 for a basic flat repair, that included dismount, an internal combo patch/plug, new stem and mount and balance, TPMS kit added $10.00 and a low pro (low profile) added $10.00, so a low pro w/TPMS cost $39.99, a lot of times we left the TPMS kit alone and didn’t charge for it… Basic repair paid the tech 0.4, with low pro added 0.2 for total of 0.6, I think TPMS added .2 for a total of 0.8… NO charge if the customer has road hazard on their tires from us…
1966, Mobil Station, we used a neat plug. Plug was mushroom shape, puncture was reamed, reamer was covered in rubber cement, plug tool was pneumatic, plug was covered with rubber cement then inserted into the puncture hole. Remove tool, pull on the plug with plier then cut off excess. Re-inflate tire. Worked great. Wish I had that system for my lawnmower. Rope plugs just aren’t as good.
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You can still buy those kits but now they use the boot combination. I have had a leaky plug or two.
For lawn mower a ten dollar tube works
Well provided they remove the offending thorn/nail first. When my shop fixed tire only made it ten feet before going flat again, I just bought a new tube and tire changer and did it myself.
$104 is a bargain for a BMW dealer visit for anything. And some TPMs require calibration.
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I’m presuming the boot combo method requires one edge of the the tire has to be pushed off the rim?
I dunno. I think the tire has to come off so they can use that spreader tool
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