Tire purchase at Walmart - great price, poor service

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I dont see an issue with anti-sieze I do understand about properly torquing but do not see it as an issue on tire rims.
Far, far to often lug nuts are way overtightened by shops. Properly torquing with anti seize is not going to throw a proper torque off too much if at all.
I kind of give credit to Walmart for that extra step and actually the workers who follow it.

With the above said, I too in the past have had tires misbalanced, though it can happen anywhere it was a Walmart. I simply took it back and they rebalanced them, came out perfect.
 
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Originally Posted by Fawteen
Originally Posted by cos
I recently purchased a set of General Grabber (235/65-18) tires at Walmart on line. Price was reduced from $140 a piece to $100, ... ... ... three of the four tires weren't balanced properly. I later had them Road Force balanced at Discount tire, now they're nice and smooth.

Last time.

Rant off.


You get what you pay for. Personally, I don't want any of my vehicles serviced by some tatted up nitwit who was just promoted into the automotive service center from the men's underwear section.

Hey that is everywhere.
Some Really Nasty guys working on cars near me.

That said I try to do my own stuff. Selling dealer mechanics trashed my cars too many times

And I mean ruined them!
 
I bought the Cooper Adventurer A/Ts for the GMC in my signature as soon as they started selling in my size. Ordered online to pickup in store and have installed. Two days later when they were supposed to be at the store they instead showed up at my house, that should have been my first clue. I called up Walmart and explained the situation to whoever at TLE picked up the phone and made an appointment for the next day at 7. I ended up leaving Walmart the following day at noon and going to my mechanic to get them mounted since they ran out of wheel weights at 9 and it took the TLE folks three hours to look around and not find any... They did give me and everyone else waiting a $40 gift card but that was still an unneeded annoyance.

From now on I'll probably order my tires from them unless someone else has a good deal then just have my mechanic install them, like I should have done from the beginning in this case.
 
I totally agree with the title of this thread....Walmart can have excellent prices but the hours long wait for mounting and balancing takes a lot of the good out of it. I've had many tires M&B at Walmart over the years, most that I bought at Tirerack or some other online seller and it's always a chore (although I never had a problem with the 'balancing').

I miss the days when I worked in the South Bronx where there were 'tire shops' everywhere....they usually spoke little English but they could M&B your tires quickly, reasonably and without any issues.....
I think the hourly workers at WM have little incentive to hurry...while the workers at these 'tire shops' make more money by producing.... and they also get 'tips' for their great service....
 
Originally Posted by dishdude
What's wrong with anti-seize on wheel studs? Sounds like a sound policy.
I put a very very light coat on my studs, never an issue at all
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Originally Posted by zzyzzx
I've had cars come from the factory with anti sieze on the lug nuts.


It's not a problem to use AS on threads. The problem occurs when the engineers only provide the dry thread torque spec, which is the most common spec offered. Additionally, it's tough to create an accurate 'wet thread spec' because everyone is going to apply a different amount of AS.
 
I have anti-seized my studs and rotors for decades. The wheels are always easily removable and the rotors aren't rusted on.
About 10 days ago I had the Walmart here in Leamington install a set of RT43s and they nailed it (pressure right on, balance right on) in 23 mins.
Very friendly and accommodating staff ....
 
Originally Posted by sloinker
You know when you assemble engines properly a lubricant is applied to the threads and under the heads in order to get the correct torque. I imagine rod cap bolts have stresses that may exceed wheel studs. I'm in the camp that says wire brush the threads and brush on a little Kopper-Kote for everyday drivers, especially in any environment where rain/snow/salt/sand may be encountered. If you are racing the car it may be a different story.


That is correct, but whenever I have put an engine together using ARP Ultra-Torque, there are torque specs provided by ARP taking into account using their lubricant.
 
Originally Posted by FordBroncoVWJeta
Balancer issue is a whole different deal.


What's the deal on that? I had to have a tire replaced on my mom's car. The other tires were about two years old but low miles, prob 10k or so. Tires are General RT43's which were installed at Ford Quick Lane.

Even before the tire was replaced I noticed a little vibration on the hwy so wanted all the tires rebalanced. The one that was way out of spec was the new tire that was just replaced at Walmart according to Discount Tire. I went first thing in the am while they were slow at Walmart. Second time I've had a tire install mess up at WM. The other one was even worse which I won't go into right now.
 
Oh, one more thing - the tire beads had way too much lube on them. It took a while to clean off that mess when I got home. It was similar to Sil-Glyde brake lube.
 
Originally Posted by SatinSilver
Originally Posted by FordBroncoVWJeta
Balancer issue is a whole different deal.


What's the deal on that? I had to have a tire replaced on my mom's car. The other tires were about two years old but low miles, prob 10k or so. Tires are General RT43's which were installed at Ford Quick Lane.

Even before the tire was replaced I noticed a little vibration on the hwy so wanted all the tires rebalanced. The one that was way out of spec was the new tire that was just replaced at Walmart according to Discount Tire. I went first thing in the am while they were slow at Walmart. Second time I've had a tire install mess up at WM. The other one was even worse which I won't go into right now.

There's multiple ways a tech can screw up a balance.
1. Not entering dimensions of the tire. (Maybe)
2. Not using the correct cone. (Very Likely)
3. Cross Balancing. (Likely)
4. And my most favorite, cheap Coats balancers. (Least likely)

Before I worked for Walmart, in highschool, I was taught how to run a Hunter balancer. I came to Walmart, and had to take two steps back because how dated Coats balancers are. Hunters are waaayyy better in performance. Some of you will remember I worked for the VW dealership for 2 weeks. I learned a lot there but the job sucked. They had a Hunter Road Force Balancer. I balanced my own tires at Walmart before I left and they always had a slight shake in the seat. Then I Road Force balanced them my self with that balancer, which required me too debead the tire and spin them on the rim so far. Brought the road force from 27-35lbs to 7-9.lbs on a couple of my tires. Now my car has no shakes at all, it feels like a new car should have.
 
Originally Posted by FordBroncoVWJeta

There's multiple ways a tech can screw up a balance.

2. Not using the correct cone. (Very Likely) ALMOST ALWAYS




Saw this all the time back when I worked in the business (mid 80s to early 2000s)
 
I had tires installed at my local Walmart several weeks ago and when I approached my car I noticed the wheels were full of some kind of grease. The tech saw me wiping the grease off and ran toward me and apologized for not removing it when done. Apparently they add a coat of grease around the circumference of the wheel to prevent scratches when mounting. It came off easily; No big deal.
 
How I bought my last tires from Walmart: I need 4 31x10.5x15 Goodyear authority tires. Website says this location has plenty in stock. "Of we don't have those in stock" me: "the website says you have plenty". Walk over to the floor model tires with Walmarts tire guy. He goes over to the Wrangler Trailmark 31" tire. Me: "that's not what I'm looking for, I want the authority" and proceed to point at the Goodyear authority RIGHT NEXT to the Trailmark. Him: "oh we have those, let me check". Disappears for 15 minutes, comes back and says they have 8 in stock (just like the website said). 30 minutes more of them pulling the tires from inventory, taking all kind of info from me I see no reason to take given they have no warranty AND trying to fix a situation of a tire that got shipped to the wrong store with nothing to do with me i finally got to pay and rolled them all out myself from the service bay area into my truck. They had about 20 cars lined up to be serviced so I didn't even ask. They probably wouldn't anyway given the tire size, wheel size and vehicle (10.50 wheels on 7" wide wheels.2nd gen Ford explorer they think tip over without stock size tires). Drove down to my local used tire shop 10 minutes from my house where I always go and they immediately mounted and balanced the tires perfectly. From now on I'll have the tires shipped to my house or use Amazon.
 
The above linked "honest mistake" is bad, no doubt. Not excusing it in the least. I would add though, very unlikely WM the only tire place that similar or same has occurred. All one needs to do is google Ron White Sears Tire Guy and watch his skit on youtube. Funny too.

The key at this point is whether WM makes it right and the customer whole. I'd certainly understand if that customer didn't go back no matter the outcome. Again, as I have my tires serviced at DT, no vested interest one way or the other.
 
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