Walmart installation (experiences)

[bigjl]

Originally Posted By: Mr Nice
CKN,

How many years did you work for Walmart ?


So because he has a different viewpoint to the bash Walmart rhetoric he must work for them?

 

[Dallas69]

Your valuable garage space can't hold a case of oil?
Wow, I'd like to see your garage

 

[HM12460]

Using a Walmart TLE is just rolling the dice as to whether or not you get a quality job done. Not worth it, especially with something as important as tires and oil changes.

 

[bunnspecial]

FWIW, when I put tires on my MG, the Tire Discounters store I used didn't have a pin balancer to correctly balance the Rostyle wheels on my car. They sent me up the road to Wal-Mart where the tire and lube manager-a nice English gentleman-pefectly balanced the new tires on my Rostyles and was happy to torque them to the correct 65 ft-lbs. Tire Discounters then refunded the cost. I've heard many horror stories about balancing this style wheel(and its American equivalent, the Magnum 500), so the fact that he got it so perfect is a real testament.

Every Wal-Mart is different, but I'd let that store handle my tires any time. In fact, just about two weeks ago, I had one of the tires on the MG patched, and the same gentleman balanced the tire again after Tire Discounters patched it. Fortunately, neither cost me anything since the tires came with lifetime tread repair and Walmart did lifetime balancing.

 

[fdcg27]

When I used my old MGB as a daily driver back in the eighties, I don't recall any problems having the stock steel wheels balanced.
Wires were of course available but few cars had them.
They looked archaic on the A and a little ridiculous on the B.
OTOH, a NART Ferrari 275LM on archaic wire wheels won Le Mans in 1965 against an armada of very modern Ford GT-40s, so who's to say?
The top three finishers were Ferraris on wires while every GT-40 entered retired.
There was no Ferrari factory entry because Ferrari was mad about something.
Sorry, but a running argument in another thread has me thinking about old race cars and races.

 

[CKN]

Originally Posted By: Dallas69
Your valuable garage space can't hold a case of oil?
Wow, I'd like to see your garage



My Garage barely fits my Silverado and my wife's Subaru Legacy. That's right. I have about three inches to spare when I back my truck out.

 

[CKN]

Originally Posted By: bigjl
Originally Posted By: Mr Nice
CKN,

How many years did you work for Walmart ?


So because he has a different viewpoint to the bash Walmart rhetoric he must work for them?



The Union guys are the most frequent bashers of Walmarts. It drives them crazy the cashiers are not making $20.00/hr to drag my purchases across a scanner.

And no I don't/ever have worked there. My oil stash is there and I can well afford the couple of hundred bucks it costs me not to keep a "stash" in my garage.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Originally Posted By: fdcg27
When I used my old MGB as a daily driver back in the eighties, I don't recall any problems having the stock steel wheels balanced.
Wires were of course available but few cars had them.
They looked archaic on the A and a little ridiculous on the B.
OTOH, a NART Ferrari 275LM on archaic wire wheels won Le Mans in 1965 against an armada of very modern Ford GT-40s, so who's to say?
The top three finishers were Ferraris on wires while every GT-40 entered retired.
There was no Ferrari factory entry because Ferrari was mad about something.
Sorry, but a running argument in another thread has me thinking about old race cars and races.


The GT40s were TOO new...they were finished just before the race, and the bugs weren't all found. (Mostly, the untested cooling systems weren't up to the task.) A year later, the GT40s swept the top three.

 

[fdcg27]

...and Ferrari, whatever the faults of the man and his company and team, knew how to build raceworthy cars since they had had vast experience in doing so.
Ford didn't and it showed.

 

[dareo]

There are plenty of walmarters that make $20 an hour, but only after a long tenure there. They also get long paid vacations each year. All without union dues.

Wages in the 12 to 16 dollar range are far more common tho.

 

[javacontour]

In this day of online reviews, there are probably reviews for your specific store. Look for those and decide. Probably a better tactic than asking here.

 

[KE7JFF]

I have a few friends that work at Wal-Mart. All of them told me this: It boils down to how the store is managed; if the general manager is a jerk, it will trickle down to each department in the store. If thats the case in your store, then make sure you are heard on the customer survey; Corporate takes those seriously and assess each store on customer satisfaction: they usually notice a trend...

Regarding the tire shop, my friends told me that the issue at some stores is that they have all new guys and gals who this is their first tire shop job and sometimes don't have a manager over them who has automotive experience; so all the quirks that a tech at a big name tire shop don't know yet. But I think this isn't a deal breaker; just be a bit patient if thats the case.

Personally, I have no issue with the tire/lube shop at Wal-Mart, they do a good job and pretty quick. I've had issues though with the old K-Mart Tire Lube Centers; I can see why Mr. Penske pulled the plug on that venture...

 

[RatBikeRandy]

Don't do it! Never again!

Sam's Club and WalMart are side by side here. I researched and had Sam's order the specific Michelin tire that I wanted.
Install went fine and then I inspected when I got home. The wrong Michelin tires were installed.

A bunch of back and forth to finally get them to order and install the correct tires two weeks later.

Here's the GOOD part! After the 2nd tires were installed, the WalMart mechanical buggy helper got away from them and slammed into my truck flipping onto the hood. The WalMart employee and management knew about it and had it on video but since it was dark had hoped that I would not see it and drive away. The first manager was a jerk even though they were at fault. The second manager was OK and WM did finally pay for the repair. I still can't believe they wouldn't have put a note on the windshield.