Walmart Tire Experience: Never again!

[totegoat]

Cheaper is often not better.

 

[hrv]

Has anyone had Walmart, (or any other discount tire places), bugger up nice wheels?

No I have had good luck in the past with them..

 

[hrv]

Cheaper is often not better.

But looking at other posts on this site it seems that cheaper is what people are looking for in tires...brakes...oil and filters....

 

[RaymondP]

Ever since I found out that Tire Rack's mobile installers will come to me, all of my tire changes get done here at the house. I put the car in the air and take off the wheels, they swap the tires and I reinstall. I usually have tires shipped to me when they're on sale and I bag them until it is time to install them.

They'll do it from start to finish if you wish, but I prefer to R&R my own. I set up an appointment, they show up on time, and are gone in about 30 min.

That's cool. Didn't know that was an option. Tire Rack has been my go too, partly because of their excellent website. Do they balance the tires at your house too? Assume no way they would have portable alignment equipment?

 

[FowVay]

Did I ever tell you guys about the mail-order tires I had from WalMart? I ordered 4 tires in size 195/60-15. I received 3 tires in that size and one tire in a 185/65-14. I tried to return the odd sized tire and they wouldn't take it back because it's not what I ordered. It was the craziest thing I'd ever seen. WalMart is a screwed up organization. I ultimately got reimbursed for the odd sized tire and I gave it to a local tire store in exchange for some valve stems.

The idea that WalMart could send me the wrong item and then not take it back because it's not what I ordered just blew me away. I don't deal with WalMart any longer and I think my hair color is returning. Could they have been the cause of my premature greying? Possibly!

 

[fdcg27]

I had my one Walmart TLE experience with them mounting the one set of Continentals I've ever bought.
Went just fine.

 

[SHOZ]

The last time I bought tires at walmart the tech refused to install them. The placard on the door sill was for 225-70R 17 but the tires from the dealer were 265-70R 17. I showed them the window sticker that showed the upgrade with the SLT package and they still refused. It took an hour, a manger and 2 phone calls before they agreed they were factory installed and would put the new tires on. That was the last time I bought anything from the tire center.

I use Walmart but neither of my two cars has the placard size tires. I have found nowhere that will install them if you bring in the car to have them done on. I always have to bring them in loose. 20 years now.

One of the first times I had directional wheels and directional tires to mount. It was a total mess as they kept getting them wrong on two of them. I think they had to try three or four times to get them all the same.

 

[Eddie]

My local Walmart tire shop does a good job all around. I see they use a torque stick to snug up the lugs before they use an real torque wrench. They checked their computer for my vehicles recommended torque value and adjusted the T wrench to that value. When finished I slipped the fella $10 tip.

 

[atikovi]

Two local shops want $35/tire with disposal plus tax. Walmart is $80 for all four out the door.

Find a used tire store. Buy your tires at Walmart but have them installed at a used tire store. $10-15 to mount and balance around here and the guys are way more experienced because this is all they do day in and day out.

 

[demarpaint]

Find a used tire store. Buy your tires at Walmart but have them installed at a used tire store. $10-15 to mount and balance around here and the guys are way more experienced because this is all they do day in and day out.

One of the two places I checked out was a use tire store. I got the feeling he wasn't interested. He wanted $35/tire to mount balance and dispose of the old tires.

 

[Nukeman7]

You guys are scaring me. I got a great deal from WMT for tires on Black Friday, and they're sitting in my garage. Soonest I could get an appointment to mount and balance them is 12/18. That's not a problem, this thread has me spooked is the problem. I know it depends on the guy doing the job. Just looking at the shop and how they answer the phone along with this thread got me thinking now. Two local shops want $35/tire with disposal plus tax. Walmart is $80 for all four out the door. I might check one more place before I roll the dice.

As most of the posts have suggested, the quality of the installation will be dependent on the location and specifically, the technician who will actually perform the work. This is going to be a roll of the dice anywhere, whether it be at a WalMart TLE, America's Tire, Mavis, or Discount Tire. Over the years, I have had 6 different sets of tires installed at two local WalMart TLEs that are 20 miles apart without issue other than one experience where it took them 8 hours to complete. No damage to any rims, lugnuts were properly torqued and the balancing was spot on.

Recently, I have been using the Firestone store which is 1/4 mile away since they were willing to beat WalMart's pricing. YMMV.

 

[CKN]

I am often tempted by low prices/ promotions. But this is an example of low pricing being not worth it in the end. Pay a few more dollars for a reputable/competent shop and be done with it.

Exactly!

 

[Dave Hess]

I bit on the goodyear black friday deal.

I had an appointment at 1pm, I wasn't in my vehicle driving off until 5pm. They kept me hostage with my car on the lift with all 4 wheels off it for 4 hours. Nobody to be found. Later they told me they broke all 4 hubcaps and they would refund me the cost to replace them if I brought them a receipt.

When I got home, I just HAD to check the torque on the lug nuts and to my surprise they weren't loose, were impacted on so tight they needed a cheater bar to break loose. Also, there isn't a wheel weight on any of the 4 wheels.

If you're like me and thinking, "mounting and balancing tires is pretty easy, how bad could it be?" Just shut up and go to a local place that has a verifiable reputation.

Past 30 years I’ve been going to Tire Kingdom and have appointments at 8 AM on weekday.

Im the very first car on lift and out within 45 minutes.

Walmart is less expensive but I have to go out of my way and I refuse to wait a long time to get tires mounted.

 

[Dave Hess]

Ever since I found out that Tire Rack's mobile installers will come to me, all of my tire changes get done here at the house. I put the car in the air and take off the wheels, they swap the tires and I reinstall. I usually have tires shipped to me when they're on sale and I bag them until it is time to install them.

They'll do it from start to finish if you wish, but I prefer to R&R my own. I set up an appointment, they show up on time, and are gone in about 30 min.

How much for that at home service ?

 

[hrv]

Did I ever tell you guys about the mail-order tires I had from WalMart? I ordered 4 tires in size 195/60-15. I received 3 tires in that size and one tire in a 185/65-14. I tried to return the odd sized tire and they wouldn't take it back because it's not what I ordered. It was the craziest thing I'd ever seen. WalMart is a screwed up organization. I ultimately got reimbursed for the odd sized tire and I gave it to a local tire store in exchange for some valve stems.

The idea that WalMart could send me the wrong item and then not take it back because it's not what I ordered just blew me away. I don't deal with WalMart any longer and I think my hair color is returning. Could they have been the cause of my premature greying? Possibly!

I have ordered 4 sets of tires through Walmart over the years and had no issues with the tires or the installation...and the price was great too...

 

[JTK]

The only time I had a decent walmart tire/lube experience is when I dropped off 4 rims to have 4 in-stock Douglas tires installed.

Every other time it was a disaster.

Mail ordering tires through walmart has been excellent for me. I then take them and the vehicle I want them mounted on to one of 3 local tire/repair shops I like. They charge anywhere from $80-120 to mount/balance 4.

It's got to be a good deal on the tires for it to be worth the hassle though.

 

[spbonus]

I recently had a bad experience at Walmart as well. My appointment was 8 am to get 2 front tires replaced. The car was not done until noon. I re-torque my lug nut when I got home and yes it was over torqued.

 

[JustinH]

Walmart lost the key for the wheel locks on my Tuscon. They then couldn't find the wheel lock key. I had to have a shop chisel the wheel locks off and they ended up scratching up the wheels.

 

[dumkid]

I've discovered if you bring the wheels and leave the car at home, but you know the VIN on the car, they'll give you a road hazard warranty. I don't know if they'll actually honor their warranty though.

 

[JTK]

my Walmart experience was the lady doing the paperwork didn't know how to use their computer system. the guy had the tires mounted and balanced a full hour before i got my receipt

I was trying to return my lawn mower battery core recently at the WTL counter. I could care less about the $5 core charge. I just wanted to "properly" rid myself of the old battery. I stood at the counter with them for a solid 20 min while several tire techs tried to key in the info properly. My old battery was already comfy, stacked with all the others on a pallet, so I told them I was good to go and forget about it. They asked me to hold on.. Finally one of them got the cash drawer open, pulled a $5 bill out and handed it to me. Originally made the purchase on a CC, but so what I guess. All the while, other customers were lining up.

As our community joy spreader @CKN suggested above, you can't go into a WM TLC expecting super service. I know I don't and I'm rarely disappointed. LOL There's a price to pay for everything.