THIS is how to buy tires (if you have free time)

[doitmyself]

Originally Posted By: pbm
Don't you know that "It's PATRIOTIC to pay taxes"...


Not only is it patriotic, its the law. Washington has a use tax and he will be breaking the law if he doesn't pay taxes come tax return time:

http://www.nmsd.wednet.edu/userfiles/-12...ines.pdf?id=901

"Use tax is due on: Goods purchased in a state with no sales tax or a state with a sales
tax rate lower than Washington’s"

 

[Finklejag]

Originally Posted By: doitmyself
Originally Posted By: pbm
Don't you know that "It's PATRIOTIC to pay taxes"...


Not only is it patriotic, its the law. Washington has a use tax and he will be breaking the law if he doesn't pay taxes come tax return time:

http://www.nmsd.wednet.edu/userfiles/-12...ines.pdf?id=901

"Use tax is due on: Goods purchased in a state with no sales tax or a state with a sales
tax rate lower than Washington’s"



Yeah, good luck with that. 99.9% of Washington residents that buy items in Oregon don't do that. That's why some of the big retailers don't have stores in Vancouver and they have stores right over the border in Portland knowing they will get most of their traffic from Washington residents.

 

[69GTX]

Originally Posted By: doitmyself
Originally Posted By: pbm
Don't you know that "It's PATRIOTIC to pay taxes"...


Not only is it patriotic, its the law. Washington has a use tax and he will be breaking the law if he doesn't pay taxes come tax return time:....


I'd agree that it's the law. The "patriotic" part can be debated. The nation was founded on no taxes w/o representation. I can debate on how well I'm represented for each of my tax dollars vs. large corporations/lobbyists/wealthiest 1%.

 

[Finklejag]

I live in Washington and work in Oregon. I pay my share of Oregon taxes and get nothing in return. I will gladly take that $68.00 sales tax savings when I buy my tires in Oregon. Clark County, Washington is one of the largest tax base for the State of Oregon .

Back to the subject. How are these tires in the rain?

 

[Cubey]

Originally Posted By: Finklejag
Originally Posted By: doitmyself
Originally Posted By: pbm
Don't you know that "It's PATRIOTIC to pay taxes"...


Not only is it patriotic, its the law. Washington has a use tax and he will be breaking the law if he doesn't pay taxes come tax return time:

http://www.nmsd.wednet.edu/userfiles/-12...ines.pdf?id=901

"Use tax is due on: Goods purchased in a state with no sales tax or a state with a sales
tax rate lower than Washington’s"



Yeah, good luck with that. 99.9% of Washington residents that buy items in Oregon don't do that. That's why some of the big retailers don't have stores in Vancouver and they have stores right over the border in Portland knowing they will get most of their traffic from Washington residents.


It's an unenforceable law (except on motor vehicles & businesses) and quite frankly the silliest thing I've ever heard in my life, except maybe for Oregon's mandatory "no pumping your own gas" law. I was fine paying Use Tax on my Vibe I bought in TX and drove back, but to owe "use" tax on something you pay a 25 cents for at a garage sale? Come on. And yes that's what it says.

This CPA's site even says flat out it's unenforceable for individuals. http://www.hkpseattle.com/2015/11/20/washington-state-use-tax/

I don't stash away money for decades in a bank account like people who are in a much better position to pay such a "use tax" voluntarily by virtue. Aka wealthy people, or even middle class, by income comparison to myself. If I could afford it, I'd do so.

Have you not noticed how I keep talking about how I have had to use a CREDIT CARD to buy these tires? I'm going to be paying these off for the next 7 months, but I needed safer tires for the rainy weather conditions here. Even the old 1993 Geo Metro with 12" (not a typo) wheels I had before didn't spin it's tires on wet ground when as bad as the Vibe's current tires do.

 

[Cubey]

Originally Posted By: sopususer
No offense to you personally as I'm sure there are good techs at some Sears, but I will not let a Sears Auto Center touch my vehicle.


That comes down to user error. Any shop anywhere can have a bad tech who's in too big of a hurry. Unrelated to Sears tire installation on the camper van I had, I later removed the rear wheels to fix a botched brake job from another shop, and the 8 lug studs and nuts on both wheels were fine. 8 per wheel, that is.

I can understand how that would sour your opinion of Sears auto though. When Montgomery Ward left the oil cap off of my mom's 91 Corolla, she never took the car there again. They did pay for an engine cleaning, however. It was just a stupid mistake by someone in too big of a hurry. More recently a couple years ago, I found the oil filter on her 03 Taurus wasn't even HAND tightened on the car after 3-6 months from her last oil change! She had Midas to thank for that. I told her never to take it there ever again. She can thank her lucky stars it didn't fall off. The only thing keeping from spinning off must have been the oil pump's pressure acting as a vacuum with the engine running.


Originally Posted By: 99Saturn
Nice deal. My issue is I have trouble finding stuff I need at Sears to spend the points on at the lowest net price, plus a 40 minute round trip means I'm not going for small stuff.


Kmart & Sears offers buy online, pick up in store and you can redeem your points online. In the case of the tires, they'll hold them up to 30 days and they are due in on January 28 to the store, as they didn't have them in stock. I will call before I go there to be sure they haven't sold them out from under me. (A Chevy dealer did that to my RECALL PARTS recently!)

Recently, Kmart emailed me $10 in "surprise points" on women's apparel, no minimum purchase required. They do completely random categories, not based on what you normally buy. I emailed my mom across the country and told her pick out something for about $10-12 and email me the link. I ordered it and had it set for free pickup at the Kmart near where she lives.

There is a Sears Outlet across from Kmart nearby. I sometimes buy new, deeply discounted clearance clothes there, as much as 90% off with their added "buy one get one free" deals. Kmart has good sales, much of it unadvertised. You have to take the time to browse the store, which isn't something most people can't do due to working 2 or 3 jobs, kids, etc. For me? I have no problem finding stuff between Kmart, Sears & Sears outlet and they are all 10 to 15 minutes away from home.

If nothing else, I could get a 24 to 32" LCD/LED TV free or very cheap with the $116 in points. Or a new set of bed sheets and have half or more left over. Or chip away at it on things like shampoo, coffee, socks (heck knows I could use some new ones. I've been putting it off for months), and so on. It won't be hard to put $116 to good use on other things I could really use in the next 3 months that might find otherwise myself buying with cash anyway.


Originally Posted By: stockrex

I try to avoid dealing with sears.



The $70 rebate is only for certain retailers. At first I thought I could get it for Sears also, but no. It seems to be limited to retailers such as Discount Tire. Costco is doing an INSTANT $70 off. I guess they worked a deal so they could get the rebate amount directly instead of the buyer filing for it.

 

[edyvw]

In Costco Michelin Pilot AS with taxes and installation would be cheaper, plus you buy at retailer that treats it's employees the way they should be treated.

 

[69GTX]

Originally Posted By: Cubey
The $70 rebate is only for certain retailers. At first I thought I could get it for Sears also, but no. It seems to be limited to retailers such as Discount Tire. Costco is doing an INSTANT $70 off. I guess they worked a deal so they could get the rebate amount directly instead of the buyer filing for it.


I would guess it's the Michelin manufacturer's rebate directly applied with that retailer. But, if you take that best price and get it beat somewhere else, you can apply for the $70 rebate to the mfg directly as there won't be a trail of it ever having been applied.

Since you didn't get it applied from Sears, you should be able to file through Michelin's website/on line offer for the $70 rebate assuming you bought tires within the required window and haven't exceeded the time to file. Anyone buying Michelin tires should ensure they buy during those 2-3 month windows each year when the coupons are in effect. Just check their website from time to time.

 

[Cubey]

Originally Posted By: edyvw
In Costco Michelin Pilot AS with taxes and installation would be cheaper, plus you buy at retailer that treats it's employees the way they should be treated.


I don't know how it is now, but 10-18 years ago when my mom worked for Sears, she as was treated well as an on-the-floor employee. She started out part time and was elevated to full time a few years later when it was her turn to advance. As a full time employee, she had decent pay, good medical benefits (she was hospitalized with viral meningitis during that time!), paid vacation and good overtime pay. When she got injured on the job, she got workman's comp and wasn't fired over it. Once her leg/knee got better, she returned to full time work. 4-5 years later she had to finally call it quits due to continuing chronic, severe medical problems that got too much for her to continue working.

Originally Posted By: 69GTX
Originally Posted By: Cubey
The $70 rebate is only for certain retailers. At first I thought I could get it for Sears also, but no. It seems to be limited to retailers such as Discount Tire. Costco is doing an INSTANT $70 off. I guess they worked a deal so they could get the rebate amount directly instead of the buyer filing for it.


I would guess it's the Michelin manufacturer's rebate directly applied with that retailer. But, if you take that best price and get it beat somewhere else, you can apply for the $70 rebate to the mfg directly as there won't be a trail of it ever having been applied.

Since you didn't get it applied from Sears, you should be able to file through Michelin's website/on line offer for the $70 rebate assuming you bought tires within the required window and haven't exceeded the time to file. Anyone buying Michelin tires should ensure they buy during those 2-3 month windows each year when the coupons are in effect. Just check their website from time to time.


They don't seem to have a rebate page on Michelin's site. The one that comes up in Google returns a 404 on the site. The rebate forms I found on DiscountTire and TireRack say you must buy from the store in which the rebate comes from.

I've already spent $11 of the $116 in rewards points on a $10, 10-pack of USA made socks from Kmart, and a $2 sale priced package of Chips Ahoy cookies.

I have until April 30 to spend the remaining $105.xx so I'll keep an eagle eye out for a sale priced TV. I already have my eye on one, but I'll wait until April to decide if I want to blow it on a TV or something else.

 

[eljefino]

I got a pair of "Guardsman plus" tires for $82 OTD, including tax.

They were $44 ea, but I found a $10 off $75 coupon on retailmenot.com. It seems this random coupon blocks future SYWR points on the purchase, but I'm cool with that. Bought the tires online through SYW and picked them up in store. Mounted & balanced myself with crude tools and a He-Man attitude.

If I were you I'd skip the $48 for balancing and hope that they space out and balance them anyway. Otherwise, thump across the street to walmart who'll do it for $6/ tire. Unless you needed balancing in the "package" to get various credits.

 

[69GTX]

This shows Michelin rebates now expired

I suspect that Michelin's last promotion ended in November. The next one should be in the spring. Michelin has a reward/fulfillment center web page to keep track of your rebates. Now that I think of it, I probably did file my $70 rebate request through Town Fair Tire. They approved it and cut me the check. So I guess you couldn't get it from Sears directly. But if you took the Sears offer to another distributor offering the rebate, then you get them to match/beat Sears, then apply the rebate after the purchase. In any event, wait for the 2X to 3X per year tire coupons before purchasing.

 

[Cubey]

Originally Posted By: 69GTX
In any event, wait for the 2X to 3X per year tire coupons before purchasing.


I've already purchased them and I'm satisfied with the deal I got on them, but thanks for the advice.

The low base price of the tires at $130/each on sale before any extra discounts I applied to the order may have been Sears using a rebate deal with Michelein to discount the tires, even on a 1 by on 1 basis rather than a complete set like other retailers are doing. Maybe Sears figures it's better to offer the discount on each single tire than force people to buy a complete set of 4. Not everyone buys a complete set. Sometimes people only want/need a pair. Sell two pairs on two orders and Sears can probably combine that as and get a "set" when applying for the rebate.

 

[Cubey]

Okay, so I went to get them today and as expected, they said (in a nutshell) "you need an alignment badly. all 4 wheels are out of toe. It's $90 for the 6 month alignment." [as well as others for more money such as 1 year or "lifetime"].

Well, I know to that take that with a grain of salt, so I said I'd think about it and call them back. (I was at another store in the mall). A few minutes later, I called back and said no, I'll take it to the dealer and they said ok.

I wasn't really shopping so much as killing time, so I decided to go back to the Sears auto center so I could see the claimed "bad alignment" printout.

When I got there, the lady quickly offered up $50 off any alignment, so I opted for the 6 month alignment for $39.99 with the discount, which isn't at all bad for a 4 wheel alignment. (It as $50 about 10 years ago I think, without any such discount)

They also made the comment that my front strut boots are torn (probably the originals, to be honest) which I knew about. I should go ahead and replace the front struts while I have the 6 month free alignments contract with Sears; which is what the lady actually suggested; although she was probably hoping I'd get them done there. I can do those myself in the form of Quick Struts in a few hours, then take it in to Sears and say "It feels funny, check the alignment please".

I also nabbed a couple of clearance items: a headlight restore kit for $4 and a "trim" restorer cream for $2. I also had them upgrade the balancing to lifetime (from 6 months) on the tires for an extra $20 ($5 per tire).

After the remaining $19.xx I had in "Shop Your Way" points, it came up just under $50 total for the 6 month alignment, lifetime upgraded balancing plus the headlight restore kit and trim restore stuff.

 

[CKN]

All you have to worry about is if they will be in business in six months......

They can't keep blowing things out at Sears and Kmart as been reported here (by the "I made a score posts") and stay in business- at least not in their present footprint.

I was in a Sears Monday evening-completely devoid of shoppers-and the blow out prices on Winter apparel was unbelievable!

 

[Cubey]

They have been that way for 15 years. What keeps them afloat seems to be the appliances and automotive. That and closing stores now and then, oh and making craftsman hand tools in China now.

If they suddenly close in under 6 months (like how Montgomery Ward did so suddenly), a single alignment still would have cost me more than $40 probably.

The road hazard warranty is what I'd get shafted on.

The $50 discount on the alignment, they'd rather sell a $40 alignment than no alignment at all since they already had me there getting the tires. Being a service and not a product they had to buy, it's not like they lose money for selling it too cheaply. They already paid the mechanic to show up for work, so any service they sell at any price is good for the auto center since it recoups paying the salary. Something is better than nothing when it comes to service fees.

Oh and I have seen JC Penny and Kohls at certain odd times with almost no customers and 90% off out of season clothes. The shirt I have on right now I got for 90% off at Kohls in a fairly newly built store, when I bought it.

 

[HerrStig]

Originally Posted By: doitmyself
Originally Posted By: pbm
Don't you know that "It's PATRIOTIC to pay taxes"...


Not only is it patriotic, its the law. Washington has a use tax and he will be breaking the law if he doesn't pay taxes come tax return time:

http://www.nmsd.wednet.edu/userfiles/-12...ines.pdf?id=901

"Use tax is due on: Goods purchased in a state with no sales tax or a state with a sales
tax rate lower than Washington’s"

Oh yeah, those use taxes are really heavily enforced. If you buy a car, that's different.

 

[Cubey]

Hmm, looking over the paper of completed work, it looks like they didn't even do much of an alignment. In fact, one is further out of spec then it WAS. I guess I'll be taking it in to the local Sears auto tomorrow and having them deal with it.

This was the "failed" claim on 4 wheels before:

(I wish I had noticed the "all wheel alignment" check box unmarked. I kinda did but I sorta looked past it, not really noticing what it was.)

And this is the completed paper, showing the left rear even further out of spec. HUH??

Did they only do a 2 wheel alignment? Assuming that's true, why did the original claim say all 4 were out of line when one rear was in spec? This is why I didn't really want to trust them with alignment, but $40 I figured I'd be dumb to pass up.

Maybe I can get the local Sears to get it right. The website says nothing about it being for only a 2 wheel alignment so they can't try to pull that on me. http://www.sears.com/alignment/p-09013011000P

EDIT: Under the notes on my receipt it claims in tiny print "YOUR VEHICLE MAY REQUIRE ADD. PARTS AND/OR LABOR TO COMPLETE YOUR ALIGNMENT SERVICE". HUH? That's asinine. I will be nagging the local Sears about it for sure, if they don't fix the other location's screw ups.

 

[eljefino]

Yeah Vibes need shims in the rear to align. I had a friend with same problem. FWIW being a little out on the rear seems common and his mech said let sleeping dogs lie.

This is the fine print with a chain store alignment, they only adjust stuff that has thread on it. If grinding out a strut hole etc is needed, forget it. They will say "not adjustable from the factory."

 

[Cubey]

A week or two ago, I moved the rear tires to the front. I didn't do a real tire rotation because for some inexplicable reason, it had 205s on one side of the car and 215s on the other, so I simply swapped front and back. The fronts were far more worn out than the rear, so I swapped them out so the deeper tread would be on the front.

Mind you, I put almost 3,700 miles on the car before the tires/alignment were done (3,000 of that within a week of buying the car in early December) and it had no steering, wandering or pulling problems, so I wonder if it's just a shotty alignment diagnostic. I guess if two of my tires get eaten up from bad alignment I'll know.

From what I am reading, improper rear toe can cause the front tires to wear out which perhaps could be the problem since I don't recall the fronts being THAT worn out when I got the car. But then Sears said the front was out of alignment also and corrected that, so who knows, maybe that was the problem too?

 

[eljefino]

All they did was "set the toe and let it go". In their defense they have fine print that basically says "if we have to bend your frame or add special parts (cam bolts) you get to pay more."