Shot down at tire shop due to dumb rules

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Audi Junkie

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I decided I wanted my Eagles mounted up since it will be snowing later today. Naturally I wanted them in the front and my slightly worn ASX in the rear. They are also wider and lower by 10mm and half-series profile. Basicly running 215/55-16 when oem is 205/60-15. Difference in overall dia is negligible.

Anyway, my buddies at WalMart would not do it now, "policy". PepBoys wanted $23/tires and balked at the plus zero size. I can go to a place tomorrow, but wanted them now and they turned me away. That's just insane. The could advise and suggest all they want, but to literally turn someone out into the cold, puts me in peril far more than putting my dam new tires where I want them.

It's now industry standard, that bull about new tires in rear. They cite the oversteer/hydroplane thing. No way will better tires in rear stop strait as short nor will I have control, even moreso I won't even be able to get moving!

It's just irritating and wrong.
 
I have 245 75 R16's on my Yukon. I got 17" rims from an Avalanche and bought 265 65 17's from Costco. These tires are exactly the same OD as the stock tires and Costco wouldn't put them on the truck... Only mount the tires to the rims.
 
Originally Posted By: NYEngineer
I have 245 75 R16's on my Yukon. I got 17" rims from an Avalanche and bought 265 65 17's from Costco. These tires are exactly the same OD as the stock tires and Costco wouldn't put them on the truck... Only mount the tires to the rims.


I owe Costco a dept of gratitude for their policy. About 10 or 12 years ago after buying tires from Costco for several years, they refused to sell me a small size change for my S-15 truck.

The size I wanted would have made the speedometer and odometer more accurate than stock. was a better fit on the factory rim width than the stock tire and had increased load capacity. Because of their policy I discovered America's Tire (Discount Tire in the rest of the country). Now I have a better choice of tires at better prices with better service. Thank's Costco
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To correct a typo, the oems are 205/60-16.

I think their ideal customer is someone who asks no questions, pays for every "stem lube" service they offer.
 
This and you still have shops putting on (and pushing) passenger car tires for 3/4 and one-ton trucks.

As long as the car isn't AWD, then having different sizes doesn't really matter.

IMO, you could swap the tires front to rear, then have the fronts replaced.
 
At my shop, I'll put just about anything just about anywhere you want it. Standard load tires on a 3/4 or 1 to is main no-no. Of course anyone comes back to sue me, I'll have to ,,,,um never mind, better not put that in writing.

Bob
 
Some cars have as many as 3 or 4 sizes listed on the filler door. Of course the shop must use their own database. New tires on the rear is a miserable suggestion when it makes stopping diatances longer and the control issues I listed. It's a total scam to sell more tires at the cost of actual safety and ~reality~. It makes me appreciate the indy shop all the more, although the mid-sidzed local chains are pretty horrible too with their top-dollar Kelly and Coopers. I would just assume buy from a local shop if they would compete w/mail order prices. A lot of people get that from indy and mid sized shops, but none offeer it to me. I did get good pricing from Bridgestone Service before.
 
read this.

they've got a video that demonstrates the concept quite nicely as well, but i can't seem to find it.

i used to believe the same thing (good tires on front of a fwd car.)
 
On my last truck a 94' Dodge 1500, I went to buy tires at Sams Club and they would not sell me P tires because my truck called for LT tires. I could see this on a 3/4 or 1 ton truck but 1/2 ton. I was P.O'd but after i went to Walmart and they stated the same thing I ended up buying the LT265-75-16 tires and the truck rode like a brick, worse gas milelage, I thought that was crazy. My work truck, a F150 has P tires and so does every other 1/2 ton truck, but Dodge. Now Dodge puts them big goofy 20" tires on their 1500s that are P tires.
 
I can see a little more control with better tires on the rear, but most times they are making an example of those people running BALD tires on the rear. The whole deal is to sell more tires...

They also tell you that you need studded tire on all four corners around here...that the amount of control difference is the selling point.

It amazes me...based on all this new recommendation, some of us should not have lived as long as we have running better tires on only one end or the other.
 
Considering the litigious nature of our society, getting more so by the day, unfortunately, I can actually see their point. Rather than take the chance of being sued for doing something that is not strictly by their 'Corporate' book, they'd rather alienate a customer.

Along that same line, most motorcycle shops around here will not mount tires purchased online or from anywhere else but them. The one guy told me he's seen too many customers show up with blems purchased online, and they worry that they'll be held responsible, or at least named in the suit, if there's a problem later on. They're probably right, too!!
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the tire shop was watching their butt. when i used to see/install tires, we had the same policies. we also would not put anything but the same or higher speed ratings on cars.

for some reason, where i live there are a lot of AWD cars, not needed in our climate, but its amazing how the owners want to only put 2 tires on at a time. many Audi Quattro owners were very cheap about it. our shop was about 1/4 of a mile from the Audi dealer and we regularly got owners of Audis complaining that they tried to sell them 4 tires and a $250 alignment. i told them that we could do the 4 tires, but not the alignment, we werent about to drop an enging cradle to adjust camber.
 
Panzerman,

Buy your tires online from Tire Rack or DTD and then take them to your local Tire Kingdom and they will mount your tires....NO QUESTIONS ASKED. Even if your tires are slightly different in size verses the factory spec tire (width, profile, speed rating, LT or P type tire, etc....).


AudiJunkie,

Why not just let them mount the tires in the rear and then simply have them rotote your tires a week later ??
 
The full story is that I went to that WM a couple of weeeks ago to get the nephew's 2 snows put on front of the Volvo. They never cared about that stuff at the WM that is closer, but this one has been good and was more convenient at that time. So, it was snowing badly and I went through a lot of trouble to get there and do the job, it was basicly an emergency considering the snow on the ground and more still due. I griped and said I would jack the car up in the lot an carry in the wheels myself. They relented probally because I was pretty cool about it. I burned a lot of goodwill in the process. This last time, yes, I did ask if they could rotate them *after* installing on rear....whatever. They did not like the size thing either.

Anyway, screw that video with the new ones on rear. That demonstrates very bad driving practice and just a single parameter. How about strait braking? How about slalom or basic manouvering or just a skill driver vs the moronic driving shown in the video? How about just letting ME decide since it's MY car!

Anyway, I looked at TRs recommended installers and found a few maybes. I needed to make it to a noon appt somewhere with my woman, so I actually ended up a a truck stop near the highway where I was already meeting her to drive about 1 hour away. I dropped the car there, $17 even each and $10 for a half rotation. Meh, $43 is expensive to me but was ok this time since I did not want to rotate myself later nor run around for a few $. The guy where I did the work was friendly and attentive, making all the difference. He even pitched me on shipping directly to him, that some of his customers do it. The job came out perfectly.

Whew. The tires are killer, I mean really prime. I'll get into it in another thread later.

btw, yeah...it's a scam to sell more tires, but at the expensive of not just customers like me, but it puts people in danger.
 
btw- I picked this place in part because they do have some nice for sale cars sometimes, Porsches, Jags and stuff. They also have a St. Police car there for some reason, but mostly do medium duty trucks.
 
Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
...we also would not put anything but the same or higher speed ratings on cars...




This is another pet-peeve of mine...if the posted speed limits are 65mph (typical for most states), then why would I need a tire capable of 180mph???? This makes no sense at all...if you can't legally do the speed, why do you need the tire?
 
Originally Posted By: deeter16317
This is another pet-peeve of mine...if the posted speed limits are 65mph (typical for most states), then why would I need a tire capable of 180mph???? This makes no sense at all...if you can't legally do the speed, why do you need the tire?

This is just another one of those "cover your a$$" policies. In case someone decides to go over the speed limit and crashes because his tire suddenly blew up, neither the car mfg nor the tire mfg want to be responsible and held liable in court. Sadly, this is just another result of our litigious society.
 
Originally Posted By: Audi Junkie


Anyway, screw that video with the new ones on rear. That demonstrates very bad driving practice and just a single parameter. How about strait braking? How about slalom or basic manouvering or just a skill driver vs the moronic driving shown in the video? How about just letting ME decide since it's MY car!

btw, yeah...it's a scam to sell more tires, but at the expensive of not just customers like me, but it puts people in danger.


hey, it's your car. you can believe what you want, but there's not a tire manufacturer on the planet that recommends putting new tires on the front of a fwd car.
 
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