It's worth it just to go to Costco for a hot dog & pop....
Costco for tires
- Thread starter JHZR2
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It's worth it to go to Costco for a lot of things. I may look again for tires when it's time to buy now that I will have a larger selection.
Sam's lost me forever on tires when I attempted a flat repair on the Honda's BFG Touring T/A's. I picked something up on the road that looked almost like half a piston ring. It appeared that it punctured the tire in two places. They did not even pull it from the tire and simply pronounced it irreparable due to having two holes in it. So, I figured my road hazard would come into play. No dice. They no longer carried that tire model. The replacement model was "directional" so they said I could only get them in pairs and since my tread was halfway worn I could have two new tires for half price. So, what should have been a repair or road hazard replacement was looking to cost me $130. I said forget it and drove home - on the spare, since they insisted they could not let me leave on the slowly leaking tire. When I got home I figured, what the heck, and pulled the piece of debris out of the tire to find that it had only been punctured once. I plugged it myself and went on about my business, but decided to call the manager to express my dissatisfaction. He said "sorry," but his guys offered me the best deal they were allowed to offer.
I can tell you that any time in the past when a tire could not be repaired at Discount or NTB they made it right, period. They also have a much better attitude about the whole process than Sam's does. In fact, it pretty much helped me make my decision to stop renewing my Sam's membership.
Sam's lost me forever on tires when I attempted a flat repair on the Honda's BFG Touring T/A's. I picked something up on the road that looked almost like half a piston ring. It appeared that it punctured the tire in two places. They did not even pull it from the tire and simply pronounced it irreparable due to having two holes in it. So, I figured my road hazard would come into play. No dice. They no longer carried that tire model. The replacement model was "directional" so they said I could only get them in pairs and since my tread was halfway worn I could have two new tires for half price. So, what should have been a repair or road hazard replacement was looking to cost me $130. I said forget it and drove home - on the spare, since they insisted they could not let me leave on the slowly leaking tire. When I got home I figured, what the heck, and pulled the piece of debris out of the tire to find that it had only been punctured once. I plugged it myself and went on about my business, but decided to call the manager to express my dissatisfaction. He said "sorry," but his guys offered me the best deal they were allowed to offer.
I can tell you that any time in the past when a tire could not be repaired at Discount or NTB they made it right, period. They also have a much better attitude about the whole process than Sam's does. In fact, it pretty much helped me make my decision to stop renewing my Sam's membership.
I just checked about tires for a recent bought vehicle at one of my Costco's last week while there shopping. Fella said they didn't have any tires in my size. Guess I'll be checking DT hopefully before end of year. Have plenty of tread (new but don't trust current tires). Hope around end of year for any sales too.
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Originally Posted By: Errtt
I just checked about tires for a recent bought vehicle at one of my Costco's last week while there shopping. Fella said they didn't have any tires in my size. Guess I'll be checking DT hopefully before end of year. Have plenty of tread (new but don't trust current tires). Hope around end of year for any sales too.
You can order them online at Costco.com and have them shipped for free to the nearest warehouse, I did that and saved a bundle on some Michelin tires. DT didn't have my size in stock either but was much higher.
I just checked about tires for a recent bought vehicle at one of my Costco's last week while there shopping. Fella said they didn't have any tires in my size. Guess I'll be checking DT hopefully before end of year. Have plenty of tread (new but don't trust current tires). Hope around end of year for any sales too.
You can order them online at Costco.com and have them shipped for free to the nearest warehouse, I did that and saved a bundle on some Michelin tires. DT didn't have my size in stock either but was much higher.
Costco only sells tires and does not make them. they usually only carry the top of the line models of tires. no off brand tires for them. many times you wait for a long while to get your tire rotated or flat fixed.
they used to rotate any members vehicle tires. did not matter if they bought them there or not. i think too many people abused the service and they stopped it because it took too much time for no return. they also will not fix tires that were not bought there.
if you know what you want, just take costcos price to DT and they usually match it.
the only thing i would deal with in costcos tire shop is the batteries.
they used to rotate any members vehicle tires. did not matter if they bought them there or not. i think too many people abused the service and they stopped it because it took too much time for no return. they also will not fix tires that were not bought there.
if you know what you want, just take costcos price to DT and they usually match it.
the only thing i would deal with in costcos tire shop is the batteries.
JHZR2
Staff member
Originally Posted By: DBMaster
It's worth it to go to Costco for a lot of things. I may look again for tires when it's time to buy now that I will have a larger selection.
Sam's lost me forever on tires when I attempted a flat repair on the Honda's BFG Touring T/A's. I picked something up on the road that looked almost like half a piston ring. It appeared that it punctured the tire in two places. They did not even pull it from the tire and simply pronounced it irreparable due to having two holes in it. So, I figured my road hazard would come into play. No dice. They no longer carried that tire model. The replacement model was "directional" so they said I could only get them in pairs and since my tread was halfway worn I could have two new tires for half price. So, what should have been a repair or road hazard replacement was looking to cost me $130. I said forget it and drove home - on the spare, since they insisted they could not let me leave on the slowly leaking tire. When I got home I figured, what the heck, and pulled the piece of debris out of the tire to find that it had only been punctured once. I plugged it myself and went on about my business, but decided to call the manager to express my dissatisfaction. He said "sorry," but his guys offered me the best deal they were allowed to offer.
I can tell you that any time in the past when a tire could not be repaired at Discount or NTB they made it right, period. They also have a much better attitude about the whole process than Sam's does. In fact, it pretty much helped me make my decision to stop renewing my Sam's membership.
Lack of follow-through is disappointing... However, replacing one punctured tire and one good one with two new ones at half price doesnt sound like THAT bad of a deal... WHat were you looking for them to do?
Since the tread was halfway worn, I cant see how they would be able to give more
It's worth it to go to Costco for a lot of things. I may look again for tires when it's time to buy now that I will have a larger selection.
Sam's lost me forever on tires when I attempted a flat repair on the Honda's BFG Touring T/A's. I picked something up on the road that looked almost like half a piston ring. It appeared that it punctured the tire in two places. They did not even pull it from the tire and simply pronounced it irreparable due to having two holes in it. So, I figured my road hazard would come into play. No dice. They no longer carried that tire model. The replacement model was "directional" so they said I could only get them in pairs and since my tread was halfway worn I could have two new tires for half price. So, what should have been a repair or road hazard replacement was looking to cost me $130. I said forget it and drove home - on the spare, since they insisted they could not let me leave on the slowly leaking tire. When I got home I figured, what the heck, and pulled the piece of debris out of the tire to find that it had only been punctured once. I plugged it myself and went on about my business, but decided to call the manager to express my dissatisfaction. He said "sorry," but his guys offered me the best deal they were allowed to offer.
I can tell you that any time in the past when a tire could not be repaired at Discount or NTB they made it right, period. They also have a much better attitude about the whole process than Sam's does. In fact, it pretty much helped me make my decision to stop renewing my Sam's membership.
Lack of follow-through is disappointing... However, replacing one punctured tire and one good one with two new ones at half price doesnt sound like THAT bad of a deal... WHat were you looking for them to do?
Since the tread was halfway worn, I cant see how they would be able to give more
JHZR2
Staff member
Originally Posted By: Vikas
Costco usually has either Bridgestone or Michelin on sale. They usually run them for two periods i.e. the same sale will be active in two consecutive booklets. So if you miss one, you end up waiting for about 8 weeks before it comes back. I just missed the Michelin and will now be waiting for couple months before it is back.
We were planning on getting new tires in the early fall, so roughly two months from now is probably a good target for us.
Even with a new baby, Ive never been able to justify the $55-110 membership fee, especially after I consider CC rewards that Id get from using visa/mc/discover, compared to buying good stuff on sale and just keeping a reasonable eye out...
But the savings for a set of tires would kind of justify the $55, of course then Im just back to break-even for the membership fee...
The costco we were at had very few customers in the tire area when we were there, and the service guy came right up as soon as we walked in. We could have taken our car right in if it were there.
If I decide to go there, may have the cousin take the car in, and use their "executive" membership, so they can get the 2% back. That's the only real way I can see ME saving money (and Id give up 500-something frequent flier miles).
Still, its a good option to keep in mind... Will see what my local guy can do price-wise... We dont have DT around here.
Costco usually has either Bridgestone or Michelin on sale. They usually run them for two periods i.e. the same sale will be active in two consecutive booklets. So if you miss one, you end up waiting for about 8 weeks before it comes back. I just missed the Michelin and will now be waiting for couple months before it is back.
We were planning on getting new tires in the early fall, so roughly two months from now is probably a good target for us.
Even with a new baby, Ive never been able to justify the $55-110 membership fee, especially after I consider CC rewards that Id get from using visa/mc/discover, compared to buying good stuff on sale and just keeping a reasonable eye out...
But the savings for a set of tires would kind of justify the $55, of course then Im just back to break-even for the membership fee...
The costco we were at had very few customers in the tire area when we were there, and the service guy came right up as soon as we walked in. We could have taken our car right in if it were there.
If I decide to go there, may have the cousin take the car in, and use their "executive" membership, so they can get the 2% back. That's the only real way I can see ME saving money (and Id give up 500-something frequent flier miles).
Still, its a good option to keep in mind... Will see what my local guy can do price-wise... We dont have DT around here.
costco here is very good, techs are well trained and balancing is great not like tire monkeys in many other shops who use massive impact wrenches.
go midweek to avoid crowds
go midweek to avoid crowds
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Lack of follow-through is disappointing... However, replacing one punctured tire and one good one with two new ones at half price doesnt sound like THAT bad of a deal... WHat were you looking for them to do?
Since the tread was halfway worn, I cant see how they would be able to give more
It was not my fault or problem that they stopped carrying the tires I bought a year after I bought them. That happened to me multiple times in the past at both Discount and NTB. Their solutions were to honor the road hazard (before NTB started pro-rating it) and put me back on the road for the cost of new coverage on the new tires (about $5-7 per tire). Sam's road hazard is not pro-rated. So, what I expected was to pay no more than that for TWO tires if they insisted that I had to have two.
Call me unreasonable, if you will, but I no longer will buy tires there.
Lack of follow-through is disappointing... However, replacing one punctured tire and one good one with two new ones at half price doesnt sound like THAT bad of a deal... WHat were you looking for them to do?
Since the tread was halfway worn, I cant see how they would be able to give more
It was not my fault or problem that they stopped carrying the tires I bought a year after I bought them. That happened to me multiple times in the past at both Discount and NTB. Their solutions were to honor the road hazard (before NTB started pro-rating it) and put me back on the road for the cost of new coverage on the new tires (about $5-7 per tire). Sam's road hazard is not pro-rated. So, what I expected was to pay no more than that for TWO tires if they insisted that I had to have two.
Call me unreasonable, if you will, but I no longer will buy tires there.
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
If I decide to go there, may have the cousin take the car in, and use their "executive" membership, so they can get the 2% back. That's the only real way I can see ME saving money (and Id give up 500-something frequent flier miles).
Still, its a good option to keep in mind... Will see what my local guy can do price-wise... We dont have DT around here.
He may need to take the car in for services such as rotation, flat repair ... if his name is on purchase order.
If I decide to go there, may have the cousin take the car in, and use their "executive" membership, so they can get the 2% back. That's the only real way I can see ME saving money (and Id give up 500-something frequent flier miles).
Still, its a good option to keep in mind... Will see what my local guy can do price-wise... We dont have DT around here.
He may need to take the car in for services such as rotation, flat repair ... if his name is on purchase order.
Use them all the time. IMO best there is. They will only do factory approved installs though. Great service, great care, they follow man specs to a T.
Today did the Online Costco tires check and after inputting the year, make, model, options, I got "0".. big fat zero results.
So after a little thinking, because of location & service, I'll wait toward end of year and see if DT gets a few sales on.
Other problem... if I go to Costco for tires, I know I'll snack & get a cold mocha drink then sweep around the store and probably end up with a cart full of mostly "I don't really needs this" kind of stuff" (tools, flashlights, electronics etc.). Which might cut into cart space for rib-eye steak, tri-tips, baby backs etc.
So after a little thinking, because of location & service, I'll wait toward end of year and see if DT gets a few sales on.
Other problem... if I go to Costco for tires, I know I'll snack & get a cold mocha drink then sweep around the store and probably end up with a cart full of mostly "I don't really needs this" kind of stuff" (tools, flashlights, electronics etc.). Which might cut into cart space for rib-eye steak, tri-tips, baby backs etc.
^^^ Yeah, I just cannot resist their 3 pack of the 250 lumen each Cree flashlights for what, ~ $20.00??!! (Which IS a bargain BTW.
)
Originally Posted By: Vikas
If you are somebody who cannot resist those lights, I am betting you already have hundreds of other lights in your possession
Ya can never have too many Mag Lights.
If you are somebody who cannot resist those lights, I am betting you already have hundreds of other lights in your possession
Ya can never have too many Mag Lights.
You paid too much they're on sale with $4 instant rebate now!!!!
Go buy some more!
Originally Posted By: dailydriver
^^^ Yeah, I just cannot resist their 3 pack of the 250 lumen each Cree flashlights for what, ~ $20.00??!! (Which IS a bargain BTW.
)
Go buy some more!
Originally Posted By: dailydriver
^^^ Yeah, I just cannot resist their 3 pack of the 250 lumen each Cree flashlights for what, ~ $20.00??!! (Which IS a bargain BTW.
JHZR2
Staff member
Well we pulled the trigger and I was pretty happy. It turned out that the savings from Costco vs other places was enough to more than pay for the membership (and we did the executive membership - not that I think we will buy enough to make it worth it, but because if we dont, they will refund the difference).
So I went online and ordered the tires. I had called three costcos and they all seemed to give a different story on different days whether they had them in stock or not, if they could hold stock tires for me, if they could order them for me, etc.
If I could have done a no-cost order the tire to the store or hold it for me, we probably would have gone to delaware and done it tax-free. My only downside (still ahead financially though) is that I ended up paying tax on the transaction.
So I bought the tires credit card on the 18th, right before dinner at about 6pm, from a hotel room outside of Quantico, VA (had joined the costco at that location earlier in the day). The tires were delivered to the Costco of my choosing in NJ, and were ready to be installed Friday PM.
We got to costco, and decided we would eat a pizza there for dinner and then shop. We got there and there was one person dropping off their car. When the guy got to us, he said there were two cars in front, so figure 1.5-2 hours. Seemed like a long time, but thats why we planned how we did. This was at around 6pm Friday evening.
The car had two different TPMS part numbers, the tech was very thorough. They had ours in stock so they proceeded with the service. Took about the whole 2 hours. Seems like they did a thorough job, and mentioned coming back in 25 miles for a torque check-up. He said he had to spend some time cleaning corrosion on one TPMS, so it seems that he was careful.
We are SUPER happy with the tires, and quite satisfied with Costco.
So I went online and ordered the tires. I had called three costcos and they all seemed to give a different story on different days whether they had them in stock or not, if they could hold stock tires for me, if they could order them for me, etc.
If I could have done a no-cost order the tire to the store or hold it for me, we probably would have gone to delaware and done it tax-free. My only downside (still ahead financially though) is that I ended up paying tax on the transaction.
So I bought the tires credit card on the 18th, right before dinner at about 6pm, from a hotel room outside of Quantico, VA (had joined the costco at that location earlier in the day). The tires were delivered to the Costco of my choosing in NJ, and were ready to be installed Friday PM.
We got to costco, and decided we would eat a pizza there for dinner and then shop. We got there and there was one person dropping off their car. When the guy got to us, he said there were two cars in front, so figure 1.5-2 hours. Seemed like a long time, but thats why we planned how we did. This was at around 6pm Friday evening.
The car had two different TPMS part numbers, the tech was very thorough. They had ours in stock so they proceeded with the service. Took about the whole 2 hours. Seems like they did a thorough job, and mentioned coming back in 25 miles for a torque check-up. He said he had to spend some time cleaning corrosion on one TPMS, so it seems that he was careful.
We are SUPER happy with the tires, and quite satisfied with Costco.
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While the mounting and balancing rates at Costco are reasonable, the tires are a little expensive. I was pricing some Michelin MXV4s and Tire Rack is cheaper, even with shipping. Even the Bridgestone's at Costco were pricey. The added cost is probably due to the lifetime balance/rotation and road hazard but I learned in the past with Costco tires that it is a hassle. Unless you plan on spending 3 hours shopping, it is annoying dropping the car off for so long just for a rotation/balance. If anything does go wrong with the tires that requires the warranty, Costco goes through your records with a fine tooth comb and will deny warranty work if you skipped one stupid tire rotation at their auto center. I've also had a bad experience with their techs scratching up my rims. Costco= great place to nosh on samples as you look at their $5000 TVs, but no bueno for tires.
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JHZR2
Staff member
Originally Posted By: mclasser
While the mounting and balancing rates at Costco are reasonable, the tires are a little expensive. I was pricing some Michelin MXV4s and Tire Rack is cheaper, even with shipping. Even the Bridgestone's at Costco were pricey. The added cost is probably due to the lifetime balance/rotation and road hazard but I learned in the past with Costco tires that it is a hassle. Unless you plan on spending 3 hours shopping, it is annoying dropping the car off for so long just for a rotation/balance. If anything does go wrong with the tires that requires the warranty, Costco goes through your records with a fine tooth comb and will deny warranty work if you skipped one stupid tire rotation at their auto center. I've also had a bad experience with their techs scratching up my rims. Costco= great place to nosh on samples as you look at their $5000 TVs, but no bueno for tires.
Not for us. Out the door, with mounting and all was cheaper at costco, including buying membership, then if I had bought at tirerack, paid shipping and got he tires installed locally. Even with NJ tax paid, which I wouldnt have if I had bought frm tire rack and shipped them and gotten them installed at a DE installer, we still came out ahead.
Maybe not every tire, every time - exactly why it is smart to shop and do your due dilligence. But for he tires for my wife's car, in the model we wanted, etc. it was.
Plus paying only $13.38 with tax for TPMS rebuilds was great, most shops charge $5+.
Im not sold on costco being the end-all, be all place to buy everything. That's why we didnt have a membership until now. But for this situation, the price was superior, and I cant complain.
While the mounting and balancing rates at Costco are reasonable, the tires are a little expensive. I was pricing some Michelin MXV4s and Tire Rack is cheaper, even with shipping. Even the Bridgestone's at Costco were pricey. The added cost is probably due to the lifetime balance/rotation and road hazard but I learned in the past with Costco tires that it is a hassle. Unless you plan on spending 3 hours shopping, it is annoying dropping the car off for so long just for a rotation/balance. If anything does go wrong with the tires that requires the warranty, Costco goes through your records with a fine tooth comb and will deny warranty work if you skipped one stupid tire rotation at their auto center. I've also had a bad experience with their techs scratching up my rims. Costco= great place to nosh on samples as you look at their $5000 TVs, but no bueno for tires.
Not for us. Out the door, with mounting and all was cheaper at costco, including buying membership, then if I had bought at tirerack, paid shipping and got he tires installed locally. Even with NJ tax paid, which I wouldnt have if I had bought frm tire rack and shipped them and gotten them installed at a DE installer, we still came out ahead.
Maybe not every tire, every time - exactly why it is smart to shop and do your due dilligence. But for he tires for my wife's car, in the model we wanted, etc. it was.
Plus paying only $13.38 with tax for TPMS rebuilds was great, most shops charge $5+.
Im not sold on costco being the end-all, be all place to buy everything. That's why we didnt have a membership until now. But for this situation, the price was superior, and I cant complain.
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