Walmart.com

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I haven't necessarily been a huge fan of the Walmart experience, but I may have to reconsider after this.

Was driving to work this past Wednesday on the usual narrow 2 lane at 5 AM in the Accord when all of a sudden I hear BLAM! No question about it, blown tire (like I really needed a TPMS light to come on to confirm it.) Since it was dark on a narrow highway and no favorable place to pull over, I called AAA and let them handle it. Continued on to work with the donut spare on it.

Given my 130 mile/day commute, I needed a tire sooner than later. Was confronted with the decision to get one of the OEM Dunlops to replace it (other 3 tires are at 6/32) or find something black and round to slap on it. Called two Dunlop dealers, neither had one in stock and both quoted $133 for the tire. So decided to go with option 2, and got on Walmart.com. I was amazed to find the exact tire that matched the other 3 for $79. So ordered it at noon, and stopped by Walmart at 4. Went to the internet desk and they had the tire. Paid for it and the wheeled it to TLE and they had it installed in 20 minutes for $11.and change.

Overall, pretty painless ending for a lousy day.
 
In my limited experience with them, Walmart TLEs seem pretty good.
Awesome that Walmart had the tire you needed when you needed it at a fairly cheap price.
The OEM Dunlops are about the cheapest name brand tire you'll find in the required size, unlike the Michelins Honda used to mount as OEM on Accord LXs.
OTOH, the OEM Michelin Energy tires on our '99 Accord were truly lousy in the rain after only 48K.
So your OEM tires are still at 6/32 after 52K?
Sounds like they've worn really well, although you might not want to run them through another winter.
 
Originally Posted By: fdcg27
In my limited experience with them, Walmart TLEs seem pretty good.
Awesome that Walmart had the tire you needed when you needed it at a fairly cheap price.
The OEM Dunlops are about the cheapest name brand tire you'll find in the required size, unlike the Michelins Honda used to mount as OEM on Accord LXs.
OTOH, the OEM Michelin Energy tires on our '99 Accord were truly lousy in the rain after only 48K.
So your OEM tires are still at 6/32 after 52K?
Sounds like they've worn really well, although you might not want to run them through another winter.


I had expected the Michelins, as they were on the two other Accords that I had owned in the past. I was somewhat unhappy when I saw that they were Dunlops; however, that is what happens when you buy a car via e-mail/phone like we did.

I have been pleasantly surprised that they have worn as well as they have. I am somewhat OCD on rotation, so that may have helped their longevity. I was just going to find something cheap to last until winter, but figured that I may as well match them up since it wasn't really any more $ than a Walmart Douglas/Goodyear on sale.

I read a review from someone who got 70K out of a set of them. I was going to replace before winter, but I might just play it by ear and see how long I can get out of them.

I have had mixed experiences with Walmart TLE, and have documented them here. This was my first experience with WalMart.com. I was amazed that logistically they could get the tire to the store in 4 hours, as they do not stock these in the store.
 
I can assure you that the Michelins fitted OEM to our '99 Accord LX were nothing special.
They went after I took an exciting sideways excursion at what I thought was a pretty moderate speed in the wet.
Better me than my wife and no damage done.
I replaced them with a set of better Michelins, which I then replaced at 115K with a set of MXV 4s.
These were on the car when my older son unfortunately crash tested this Accord against the back of a tractor trailer last year at about 175K.
The Accord protected my son, who suffered no harm.
The Accord was done, though.
 
Originally Posted By: Tdbo
... This was my first experience with WalMart.com. I was amazed that logistically they could get the tire to the store in 4 hours, as they do not stock these in the store.

Didn't realize that, thought it was in stock for pick up. That makes is even more amazing. Wonder if the warehouse is nearby.

As I deal with DT now, never look at WM other than for an installation price comparison.

Sounds like the stars all aligned for you, after the blowout.
 
That's good to hear - but my Walmart TLE experiences (and as of lately, Discount Tire) have been downright awful. I would check the lip of your rim very carefully for scratches.

The few TLEs stores I've been to, do not have the proper mounting equipment for alloy wheels (i.e. pad on the arm). They left scratches on my brand-new wheels and refused to pay for them.
 
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I would not let TLE touch my car. When I was working for a repair shop we got a nice engine job the first week the new Walmart TLE was open. They screwed up the oil change in a Ford F150 and the engine lived for about 15 minutes after it left the parking lot.
 
Originally Posted By: The Critic
That's good to hear - but my Walmart TLE experiences (and as of lately, Discount Tire) have been downright awful. I would check the lip of your rim very carefully for scratches.

The few TLEs stores I've been to, do not have the proper mounting equipment for alloy wheels (i.e. pad on the arm). They left scratches on my brand-new wheels and refused to pay for them.


It didn't leave Walmart with any scratches that it didn't go in with.

Picked up a couple of scratches after the tire blew trying to get to a safe place. These scratches could also have happened as a result of the object that did the damage to the tire (chunk out of the sidewall.)

This is a relatively dangerous stretch of road. The AAA guy that came to assist almost got wiped out by a guy that went into a ditch, came out sideways and about got hit head on by that car.

I was glad to get out of there. Was not in a good place to have a flat. I'll live with the scratches, it beats being dead.
 
Originally Posted By: Tdbo
...pretty painless...


This is how most people's experience with WTLEs is...except, curiously, for those on the internet, who have a disproportionately high number of bad stories...

I've never actually bought tires through Walmart before, but I've had them swap a number of different wheels/tires on various cars in the past. My parents always took their cars to WTLEs for oil changes, as they were full-time RVers and they would easily find one in most areas.
 
I just had a very similar experience with out '12 Accord.
The right front had a slow leak that turned out to be a screw through the tread very close to the sidewall.
I knew that this was not a repairable puncture, but I had the shop shoot a plug in it as a temporary repair until I could find a matching tire, since this seemed better than driving around on the donut.
Based upon your original thread, I checked out Walmart.com and found a matching Dunlop for the $79.00 you quoted.
I ordered one ship to store and it was available that very day as promised.
Thanks for the tip, since the Dunlops appear to be holding up well at about 30K on the car.
 
Pro tip - check with the store first before ordering off of Walmart.com. Most of the time, .com will have the best price. However, TLE can special order tires from their own proprietary system and they arrive within 24-48 hours.

The only down side to ordering off of .com is they get a lot of special tires that stores don't carry. So if you have a warranty issue later on, it might be a little more work to get the correct tire.
 
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