Discount Tire attempts to scam me...

[Brybo86]

Originally Posted By: sayjac
TPMS rebuild with new tires is pretty much SOP especially for safety considerations.

And in my experience, torqueing the lugs at DT is SOP.


I understand that rubber of any kind when subject to the elements will degrade....
(Which is exactly why I have the original carb bowl gaskets on my 27 yr old motorcycle.) How fast does this degrading actually happen?

So the 1 in a million chance that the rubber seal begins to slowly leak is a safety issue? Isn't that the whole point of TMPS? The sensor will tell you when the tire loses pressure? I don't buy it that 2 yr old seals are shot... sorry.

Now I could actually see the argument in replacing the actual sensors whose battery could die, requiring the wheel to be removed. Even then... is this actually a safety issue, if so driving any car without a TMPS system is a "safety issue"

As I said above I'm glad they used a torque wrench to install the wheels, saved me the time of taking the torque wrench out of my trunk and torquing them myself in their parking lot.

 

[aquariuscsm]

It`s just the sleazy business of corporate retail. Add on as many *add on sales* as possible. That why I despise corporate retail,but unfortunately,it`s taken over our world.

 

[zzyzzx]

I would have recorded a video of it and uploaded to YouTube, and made a Yelp review of the place and contacted corporate, and a TV consumer reporter. But that's just me.

 

[Sayjac]

Originally Posted By: Brybo86
.....I don't buy it that 2 yr old seals are shot..

As the age of the seals was information not included in your original post that could change the need for the TPMS kit or not wanting it.

But, as I posted but not included in the quote a call to the corporate office is always an option to express your dissatisfaction with the transaction process.

 

[TallPaul]

Originally Posted By: demarpaint
I just did a tire rotation this morning instead of having Mavis Tire do a free rotation. Its just not worth the hassle to have to say NO to all the up selling, then worry about someone messing something up on purpose.
Besides, who can you trust to properly tighten lug nuts? I did my own rotation last week and surely the lug nuts were way too tight from the shop that did them last. I could barely undo them and am sore still 5 days later from it.

Once I had a rotation and when I got home I checked the nuts. On each wheel, some were very tight and some were so loose that I could turn them with the 4-way wrench with little effort. I called and reported it to the shop, but have never gone back there since.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: Brybo86
So the 1 in a million chance that the rubber seal begins to slowly leak is a safety issue? Isn't that the whole point of TMPS? The sensor will tell you when the tire loses pressure? I don't buy it that 2 yr old seals are shot... sorry.


It does happen. I share your disappointment that they lied about the tires leaking. But they are correct that a TPMS rebuild kit is generally part of a tire job...just as valve stem replacements were a part of every tire job for decades. This is simply the modern equivalent of replacing the valve stems.

We have a 2005 Acura MDX and it has the original TPMS sensors and all the sensor seals are original. Eight years and almost 100,000 miles with no leaks; great. We also have a 2008 Honda CR-V we bought used with 46,000 miles on it (at the time). I don't know if the sensor seals were original, but it did have at least one set of replacement tires. Two of the four TPMS sensors leaked at the o-ring seal. I attempted to re-seal them by unscrewing the set nut a few turns and tightening it back up, but they'd always lose a few pounds of air a week. It was not cost effective to dismount the tires to have the seals replaced because I was buying new tires within 6 months anyway, so I lived with it. I did have the seals replaced with the new tires and they no longer leak.

Presumably, Honda and Acura are using the same seal material. They're probably the same sensors even, or at least the same seal part numbers. Why they had started leaking on a 2 or 3 year old Honda and they haven't yet leaked on an 8 year old Acura, I cannot say. But it does happen. If you need to have one seal replaced over the course of these tires' life, you'll probably break even with the labor to dismount, remount, and rebalance (plus the potential that the tire doesn't rebalance as well), compared with the cost of buying the new kits up front.

If Discount Tire is charging $10 per tire for the kits total, parts and labor, that's a fair price. You can buy the kits from Pep Boys for around $4 each. Assume DT gets them for half that or less, that's still $8 each to train the techs on all the different styles of TPMS sensors and how they seal to the wheels, and to actually remove your old ones and install new ones.

In the end, they were wrong to lie about it. No argument there. And do you need them on what is apparently a two year old car? Probably not. But it does happen, and it generally is a good idea to replace them with each tire job.

 

[demarpaint]

Tall Paul- Good point on the lug nut torque, I use a torque wrench. There are a lot of shops that send them home with the impact wrench, and their torque is something left to the imagination. Then God forbid you ever get a flat good luck getting them off, or some are finger tight. No thanks!

 

[SatinSilver]

Originally Posted By: Brybo86
I had them pricematch an online retailer that is about a mile down the road at 140 per tire plus the 100 rebate so 593.19 OTD including rebate.


So the rebuild kits were included in the $593 OTD price? Then you were trying to weasel them down on the price even more it sounds like. The last thing I want to do is tick off someone that's working on my car. I'm sure they have a long list of things they "could" do. Just like parking valets, I wouldn't say or do anything to tick them off either for obvious reasons.

I normally stand at the garage bay opening or inside the shop a few feet away. Since it's not tea time at high noon at Buckingham Palace they let me in.

 

[Johnny248]

Tpms sensors leak all the time. At least here in Michingan we see it all the time. There is oxidation that forms, valve cores seize in the sensor. Stems crack from the inside out, rubber seals crack and become hard. To say that its a one in a million thing is [censored]. The rebuild kits we sell range from about $1 to $3 per wheel for normal stuff. There are some complete stems that are like $7 or $8 each. On my cars I change them. $10-$12 per car to replace that stuff and be preventitive us well worth it. I don't agree with them going that far to push it on you, but it is a good thing to replace when replacing tires. You already nickled and dimed them down nearly $200 so what is the big issue? I would have replaced them. Just me.

 

[jeepman3071]

Tire pressure sensors: Another fancy electronic nightmare added to cars because people were too lazy/stupid to check their tire pressures themselves.


That sucks they lied to you. It only reinforces my belief to trust nobody, especially when your safety depends on it. Sure, there are tons of good people in the world, but you can't take that chance.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Bah, never a problem on my car. Change seals when new tires are purchased. Don't even need a TPMS tool or a scantool as my system automatically figures out which tire is where on the car.

8 years and six sets of tires later and never a peep. Seem pretty trouble free to me.

You do have to be careful, tire places have even tried to charge me a 'TPMS reset" fee. So depending on the car you have, be aware of what you need.

 

[stephen9666]

I used to be your basic BITOG TPMS hater, but the TPMS in my Sonata has never really malfunctioned and has twice alerted me to small leaks I wouldn't have otherwise noticed until the tire was completely flat.

The TPMS kit for my Sonata is a new valve core and rubber seal that goes between the stem and rim. I had them rebuilt the last time I had tires installed. It wasn't $10 per tire, though, if memory serves.

Both times the tire appeared fine, but had a small puncture. I check my tires pretty regularly, but unless you check it every morning you still have a good chance of missing a small hole until the tire is very flat.

 

[Sayjac]

Quote:
...So the 1 in a million chance that the rubber seal begins to slowly leak is a safety issue?....

Is replacing the valve stems with new each new tire replacement a safety issue? I wouldn't buy new tires without new valve stems even though I could. Just me.

I've never had a bad experience with a DT purchase to the service after the sale. In fact the service after the sale has been unparalleled in my experience. No reason for me to buy tires elsewhere, and I don't. And the torquing of each lug to spec is just one part of that.

Not excusing what happened in this case though, clearly the actors here were in the wrong with the intent to deceive. So, as with most things where the individual retail store is ultimately responsible, exceptions can occur.

 

[SatinSilver]

As mentioned earlier I'd contact corporate and the district manager. That may get some things taken care of. I'm sure the store manager is already aware of the issues or doesn't care about them. They may even offer you a free oil change or some free valve stems.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted By: jeepman3071
Tire pressure sensors: Another fancy electronic nightmare added to cars because people were too lazy/stupid to check their tire pressures themselves.


You got it!

I much prefer the TPMS system in my Cherokee. Take a look and see if any of the tires look soft. If they do, grab a gauge and check ...

 

[gizzsdad]

Originally Posted By: Brybo86
Originally Posted By: sayjac
TPMS rebuild with new tires is pretty much SOP especially for safety considerations.

And in my experience, torqueing the lugs at DT is SOP.


I understand that rubber of any kind when subject to the elements will degrade....
(Which is exactly why I have the original carb bowl gaskets on my 27 yr old motorcycle.) How fast does this degrading actually happen?

So the 1 in a million chance that the rubber seal begins to slowly leak is a safety issue? Isn't that the whole point of TMPS? The sensor will tell you when the tire loses pressure? I don't buy it that 2 yr old seals are shot... sorry.

Now I could actually see the argument in replacing the actual sensors whose battery could die, requiring the wheel to be removed. Even then... is this actually a safety issue, if so driving any car without a TMPS system is a "safety issue"

As I said above I'm glad they used a torque wrench to install the wheels, saved me the time of taking the torque wrench out of my trunk and torquing them myself in their parking lot.


My experience has been that dealers fall in to one of two camps. Both camps it seems, are equally passionate about TPMS rebuilds.

The first is that TPMS should always be rebuilt when new tires are installed, these folks consider it preventative maintenance.

The second is that a TPMS that is working as designed should NOT be fiddled with. A position, I'm sure, jaded by bad experience(s).

I lean toward the rebuild myself - and have done so several times.

 

[Sayjac]

Originally Posted By: gizzsdad
..My experience has been that dealers fall in to one of two camps. Both camps it seems, are equally passionate about TPMS rebuilds.

The first is that TPMS should always be rebuilt when new tires are installed, these folks consider it preventative maintenance......

Though I haven't had to deal with TPMS yet, after reading/posting on this thread I called two different local DT stores and asked about their SOP with TPMS and new tire installation. Both explained that it's considered "preventative maintenance" while the tire is off the rim with a new tire installation. As for if it's truly necessary I suppose that's up to the individual.

Again doesn't change the OP's store experience, this presented just as a point of information.

 

[Brybo86]

Originally Posted By: satinsilver


So the rebuild kits were included in the $593 OTD price? The last thing I want to do is tick off someone that's working on my car. I'm sure they have a long list of things they "could" do.


Of course I was trying to weasel the price down, Money gets tight and the wife loves to shop...

No, that was was what I actually paid. I said I tried not to get angry, and just said "they look ok to me lets put the wheels on the car." Knowing that they could very easily and intentionally mess something up.

 

[Brybo86]

Originally Posted By: sayjac

I've never had a bad experience with a DT purchase to the service after the sale. In fact the service after the sale has been unparalleled in my experience.


^^^^ Exactly what I have heard about DT and exactly why I decided to purchase tires from them...

Which is also why I was so surprised they tried to dupe me.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: satinsilver
As mentioned earlier I'd contact corporate and the district manager. That may get some things taken care of. I'm sure the store manager is already aware of the issues or doesn't care about them. They may even offer you a free oil change or some free valve stems.


I doubt corporate will care, they'll probably yes the OP to death, and fluff it off. The name of the game is profit, and I'd be willing to bet the guy trying to make the sale was doing exactly as instructed. Or maybe he embellished a bit. The B_S our sales managers put us through when I was selling cars was unreal, many times just plain stupid in fact. Many times the customer would call the GM, the GM would later laugh about the call with the sales manager.

To keep the peace the OP might as you said get a free oil change coupon, I'd toss it in the trash. Why give them another crack at the car, especially when they know the OP called in a complaint.