What's new
By:
Filters

Tire Shop WTFs

Fuck Discount Tire too. They wouldn't balance the 4 tires for my wifes Jeep that I brought in brand new and off the vehicle because "Those are beadlocks and beadlocks are not street legal". Told him they were for an offroad only rock crawler and they still refused to do it. :shaking:

Mexican joint down the street did all 4 with stick on and lip weights on the inside for $50. :laughing:
 
300sniper said:
Yeah, when we were first discussing the size change, he ran the calculations and even said the theoretical difference in diameter was .3" smaller, but said that the same size in different brands/styles often varies more than that.
Click to expand...
Time to buy from tire rack and head to the small owened tire shop?
 
My local Les Schwab was OK replacing factory 225/60R18s with 245/55R18s, then a couple years later with 235/60R18s.

Dunno if it's all Les Schwab stores, but the few I've been to have all been reasonable w/ great service & OK prices.

Local America's Tire, Discount, and Big-O are all on my shit list for valid reasons, so I'm hoping Les Schwab stays good.
 
Weasel said:
It's beyond retarded, my dad went to Sams to have a leak checked on a tire (installed at Sams club). They had it for 45 mins and told him they couldn't check it as they couldn't remove the tire. The lugnuts had swollen and would not come off. They couldn't do anything else and he would have to have someone replace the lug nuts first. :shaking: He argued with the for about2 mins before walking out.
Click to expand...

It's crazy how GM has used the same worthless chrome-capped lug nuts for 30 years. Then again Ford and probably a few Jap brands have as well.
 
Weasel said:
It's beyond retarded, my dad went to Sams to have a leak checked on a tire (installed at Sams club). They had it for 45 mins and told him they couldn't check it as they couldn't remove the tire. The lugnuts had swollen and would not come off. They couldn't do anything else and he would have to have someone replace the lug nuts first. :shaking: He argued with the for about2 mins before walking out.
Click to expand...
Throw this in the glovebox. 😂 :flipoff2:
66261411.jpg
 
ExWrench said:
My local Les Schwab was OK replacing factory 225/60R18s with 245/55R18s, then a couple years later with 235/60R18s.

Dunno if it's all Les Schwab stores, but the few I've been to have all been reasonable w/ great service & OK prices.

Local America's Tire, Discount, and Big-O are all on my shit list for valid reasons, so I'm hoping Les Schwab stays good.
Click to expand...
I have never had a problem changing tire sizes either with Schwab
I went to discount tire to get my BFGoodriches replaced that were already mounted and wore out , and they wanted the keys and wanted inside my vehicle :confused:
Well they wanted to see the sticker in the door, I told them that they don't need to look at those numbers, look at the numbers on the side wall, cause that is what I want to buy
well, evidently they cant do that, so fuck um
 
WTF? said:
I bought a tire machine off marketplace this spring so now I just have to argue with all these guys to balance them, until I inherit or find the right deal on a balancer..
Click to expand...
like the dots up and send them
or beads
 
WTF? said:
I’ve wasted a bunch of time and money on beads in The past with terrible results. I did get a bubble balancer in the tire machine deal, but my wife’s uncle has a balancer if I don’t want to go pay the guy 4 min up the road $10 a wheel.
Click to expand...
I have had great luck running dot alignment by itself
 
Roc Doc said:
Elephantids of the lug nuts?
Click to expand...
Some of the manufacturers (chrysler/jeep in particular) used a cheap steel lug nut with a stainless skin crimped over them. So the road salt rusts the nut and the rust jacking starts bulging out the stainless skin so a socket no longer fits. Hence "swollen nuts".

So then you pound the 19mm socket on and then when you get the nut off the stainless skin stays stuck in the socket so you use a punch to try and clear the socket and it pokes through the cap and you have to peel it out with dikes while swearing at the fucking cheap pricks that designed such shitty nuts to start with. Then repeat for the next 19 nuts on the shitbox.

Once the skins are gone a 18mm fits pretty good on the rusty nut.
 
Ranchtruck said:
Some of the manufacturers (chrysler/jeep in particular) used a cheap steel lug nut with a stainless skin crimped over them. So the road salt rusts the nut and the rust jacking starts bulging out the stainless skin so a socket no longer fits. Hence "swollen nuts".

So then you pound the 19mm socket on and then when you get the nut off the stainless skin stays stuck in the socket so you use a punch to try and clear the socket and it pokes through the cap and you have to peel it out with dikes while swearing at the fucking cheap pricks that designed such shitty nuts to start with. Then repeat for the next 19 nuts on the shitbox.

Once the skins are gone a 18mm fits pretty good on the rusty nut.
Click to expand...

had that a couple times, these didn't have that. I did a full front end rebuild on it a few motnhs ago and they came off no problem, some marks from a impact but not nearly anywhere close to what I thought they were talking about.
 
Discount has done right by me. Got me a heck of a deal on 285/65R16 General X3s for the W250, price matched Walmart, then when I told them another shop wouldn't budge on price and suggested I just go to Discount Tire, the guy at Discount chuckled and knocked another $15 a tire off just because. Then there was a shipping mix up, only 3 of the 4 tires showed up for my scheduled appointment. Thankfully they called ahead of time, and knocked another $80 off the total for the inconvenience. I wound up pretty close to 4 tires for the price of 3 when it was all said and done.

I don't know if ratty old Dodge trucks are in their system but 285/65 is a lot bigger than stock. They didn't even mention it.


What chaps my ass is when a shop refuses to rotate tires on a FWD car when the front tires have less tread than the rear. Bologna about FWD cars oversteering in wet conditions. :shaking: We had our tire supplier pushing that crap when I was writing service too. I'd give the customer the company line, then tell them what I'd do if it was me. I rotated their tires 97% of the time.
 
WTF? said:
I’ve wasted a bunch of time and money on beads in The past with terrible results. I did get a bubble balancer in the tire machine deal, but my wife’s uncle has a balancer if I don’t want to go pay the guy 4 min up the road $10 a wheel.
Click to expand...
did the bubble balancer work?
 
WTF? said:
I bought a tire machine off marketplace this spring so now I just have to argue with all these guys to balance them, until I inherit or find the right deal on a balancer..
Click to expand...
Get a bubble balancer. They work 99% as good as the expensive machines. Every time I use mine I’m impressed at how good the results are for how little fucks I give. :laughing:
 
  • Like
Reactions: DMG
Void_of_Light said:
I worked for sears doing tires and batteries 20+ years ago. I bet I could have found a reason to not work on every car that came in if I followed all the required rules they had. I'm sure it's not gotten any better.

I can just about guarantee that lawyers are to blame.
Click to expand...

I guarantee he got paid the same that day whether he sold you tires or not.
 
Ranchtruck said:
Some of the manufacturers (chrysler/jeep in particular) used a cheap steel lug nut with a stainless skin crimped over them. So the road salt rusts the nut and the rust jacking starts bulging out the stainless skin so a socket no longer fits. Hence "swollen nuts".

So then you pound the 19mm socket on and then when you get the nut off the stainless skin stays stuck in the socket so you use a punch to try and clear the socket and it pokes through the cap and you have to peel it out with dikes while swearing at the fucking cheap pricks that designed such shitty nuts to start with. Then repeat for the next 19 nuts on the shitbox.

Once the skins are gone a 18mm fits pretty good on the rusty nut.
Click to expand...
Use a 3/8 extension to clear the cap and it’s less likely to puncture.
 
We have Town Fair Tire, it’s a New England chain, and I needed new tires for the 3500. Looked at prices online and then went into the store, asked about going up in size and if it was an issue. Guy behind the counter said they can fit 37’s on my 3500 stock. I put 35’s on it and it wasn’t an issue at all, it came with 32’s.The appointment was a day out, and they called and said they only had 2 tires delivered, and rescheduled for the next Saturday. Install and alignment ended up being free since they screwed up the tire delivery. I’ll be buying from them again soon as I will need tires again on the 3500.

You need to find a better tire shop.
 
Lee said:
What chaps my ass is when a shop refuses to rotate tires on a FWD car when the front tires have less tread than the rear. Bologna about FWD cars oversteering in wet conditions. :shaking: We had our tire supplier pushing that crap when I was writing service too. I'd give the customer the company line, then tell them what I'd do if it was me. I rotated their tires 97% of the time.
Click to expand...


I take it you have never driven on ice before. Best on back is rule at my shop.
 
SLOWPOKE693 said:
Fuck Discount Tire too. They wouldn't balance the 4 tires for my wifes Jeep that I brought in brand new and off the vehicle because "Those are beadlocks and beadlocks are not street legal". Told him they were for an offroad only rock crawler and they still refused to do it. :shaking:

Mexican joint down the street did all 4 with stick on and lip weights on the inside for $50. :laughing:
Click to expand...

Brought my 37’s to discount and asked them to pop the inner bead. That all I wanted. I tried every home option, but they were on tight.

“We don’t do headlocks.”

The rings were already removed.

NTB wanted $40/wheel to pop the beads.

Ended up paying the local offroad shop a full hour of labor. Still way more than it should have been
 
Ditchdigger said:
I take it you have never driven on ice before. Best on back is rule at my shop.
Click to expand...
Sure have. I was in Ohio when I was a service writer. More snow than ice there. More ice than snow here in God's country. We usually get freezing rain or sleet more than snow.

If a few/32 difference is going to impact your performance, you are already going too fast for the conditions. I want my tires to last as long as possible as did most of my customers. I'm going to rotate the tires and not drive like a dumbass.
 
SomeGuyFromOlympia said:
did the bubble balancer work?
Click to expand...

arse_sidewards said:
Get a bubble balancer. They work 99% as good as the expensive machines. Every time I use mine I’m impressed at how good the results are for how little fucks I give. :laughing:
Click to expand...

Works fine for me too.

I've seen a couple YT comparisons where they bubble balance then spin balance, and the bubble is off according to the computer. I expect this is correct, but doesn't matter until 120mph. Bubble was all there was in the 60s, and people survived.

80% results for 10% price.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Back Refresh