Shot down at tire shop due to dumb rules

[XS650]

Originally Posted By: Volvohead
On a side story, Costco recently refused to sell me other than a V-rated tire for a vehicle that absolutely cannot reach 130 . . . because that's what the Michelin online tire selector told them.

They would not mount the H-rated version on the vehicle, which was $200 less for the set.

Needless to say, no sale for Costco that day.


I quit buying tires at Costco about 10 years ago when they wouldn't sell me a slightly different sized tire. Compared to the stock size, the tire size I wanted was a better fit for the rim width, would have improved speedometer accuracy and increased load capacity.

Even if a Costco tire store manager does have an IQ higher than passenger car tire pressure, store policy doesn't allow him to use his judgment.

 

[Volvohead]

Originally Posted By: Kestas
Take the tires off yourself and bring them in.


Way too much work and expense. Costco's not that much cheaper to go through all that.

I just go to my preferred local tire shop, who has brains, will chime in with recommendations, but do what I ask.

I think I've been driving and servicing vehicles longer than the Costco tire manager has been living.

 

[fsskier]

OK, back to the original, best tires on the front or rear: I have driven to the mountains for skiing every year for over 30 years, and live in the snowbelt. Its clear to me:

Best tires in the rear. The worst possible combination is Q rated snow tires on the front and regular tires on the rear. I once wound up with this combination going across Nebraska in a blizzard, 455 miles of slippery road and high winds.

The car I was driving was constantly sideways, oversteer was rampant. Without my SCCA driving experience and being good at handling oversteer I would have been in the ditch 100 times.
We looked and found a place to swap the tires, and put the Michelin X's on the front and the Yokahama Guardex Ice tires on the rear of the Front wheel drive car that we were using. It instantly returned to stable at any speed. Yes, of course it took longer to accelerate on the on ramp. Stopping distance no doubt increased, but you can easily comply with the ability to stop in the assured clear distance, as the law requires.

This trip, like so many others was notable by the 100s of cars in the ditch. Many of the SUV's and pickups had flipped when they hit the ditch. NO CARS WERE STUCK ON THE ROAD!! Getting stuck is a hugely less important event then flying off the road and flipping!!

Best tires on the back, if you do not have enough traction up front buy new tires there also. Only use Q rated Ice tires in sets of 4 for FWD cars although I find just 2 on the rear of a RWD car to be adequate.

 

[Audi Junkie]

Well, I'm told WalMart dropped the "new tires on rear", thing.

However they declined to mount my 215/65-15s in place of the 205/70-15s on the CRV, although they are the exact same height. My other set for that vehicle are tall 215/70-15s and work great. Either oversize is better than the stock size, but they boned me.

 

[mrsilv04]

Carry the rims in. My local WM will mount any size tire, just as long as they don't see the vehicle that it will be going on.

 

[Audi Junkie]

Yeah, but that's part of the luxury of paying for their service. I've done carry-in, but with snows and other odd rims. This set is a direct replacement, so I'd like to get them bolted-on. One thing that makes it worthwhile is the after-service is fine with whatever size, if you want a rotation or a rebalance. They actually do great oil service with ANY produt you choose, so maybe that makes it more worthwhile. I'd rather do a carry-in than accept a size I don't want, but I also could just pay the extra $20 somewhere else.