Tire shops suck. Won't mount my tires

[housegsx]

Ok, has anyone else noticed that tire shops are a bunch of nansy pansy's these days? They won't mount snow tires for me because they are not the same size as factory. First of all, if I'm putting snow tires on then I want them to be narrow. Second, I wanted to get all 4 tires in the same size so I have to option to rotate them and use them on a different car in the future.

The idiots at the tires shops just keep saying "Oh, we can't mount those because of liability issues." WTH. So instead they just send me on my way into the snow on bald all season tires... Awesome!!!

The only two options I see are to either find some independent little shop somewhere or remove the wheels and bring them in, which is just annoying.

Yet they take the guy in front of me mounting 31's on his lifted Chevy.

Anyone else get turned away?

 

[silvreclips]

I have had a few shops turn down mounting my tires because I brought them in. Apparently they only mount tires they sell you. Some company policy or some BS. You should be able to find a shop that will do it.

 

[mitsubishi9908]

Yea i got turned away a month ago when i did it. I had three tires that were the same and the fourth one was in a different direction. He turned me down. Then he told me that i should buy some new ones from him.

 

[yokotabrat]

That sucks. I know tire rack specifically lists narrower tires as an option on some cars when you're going to snow tires. I did this with my civic when I bought 175 vs 185 stock tires.

The problem I recently had was from the tire speed rating. Tire rack wouldn't sell me tires for my N/A 05 Subaru wagon because it was below the manufacturers recommended speed rating. I was trying to buy T rated tires, but tire rack insisted H rated or above was required. I couldn't find anything in my owners manual that specified H rated tires. This was a non turbo wagon, I'm not even sure it could do more than 120mph that the T rated tires are good for.

So, I told them the tires were for a Chevy Cavalier Z24 that happens to use the same size tire, but is "allowed" to use T rated tires. They shipped them out the same day.

 

[housegsx]

I've had them mount tires for me before. I always bring tires in that I order on the Internet. It's like some new stupid policy to keep me from hurting myself.

Yokotabrat, never knew tirerack wouldn't let you do that. That's why I order by size and don't shop by or specify my vehicle.

 

[TalonTsi31]

wow this is good to know i have never had a problem but i will double check before bringing in my own stuff in the future. discount tire mounted my 235/40/17 no problem but ill watch out in the future

 

[Morphius]

If you have a second car (or a good friend), pull the wheels off and go down to their shop and have them dismount them. Get a price quote for a mount and balance, but have them knock a few bucks off because you'll put the tires on the rims yourself after they dismount the tires. Take the rims out to your buds car/truck and mount your new tires on the rims. All you need is a rubber mallet. It takes all of 30 secs to mount a tire on the rim. Walk the wheels back in and have them inflate them and balance. (or do the mount/inflate at your house) Be sure to get them balanced after that.

 

[Drifte]

I hear about this happening to people. I used to work for sears as a mechanic (got me through a few years of college) and I made it a point to mount just about whatever people wanted. All we had to do was ask them to sign a no liability paper. Same with the exhaust shop that put on my 3" with no cat back in the day. I actually mounted some stretched tires for a drift 240 even (205/45/17-17x9wheels).

Just need a friend in a shop, it will get done.

 

[Auto RS T]

Same thing out here at the big tire stores. The tire must match or have a better speed rating than factory. I just bring the wheels in by themselves now, or go to the local tire store at the track which is a small shop and takes longer to get stuff in, but he will work with me on whatever I want.

 

[housegsx]

Same thing out here at the big tire stores. The tire must match or have a better speed rating than factory.

Yeah, stupid and I can even see it with regular tires. But I'm not looking for Z rated snow tires.

I'm just going to have to find myself a small tire shop I can trust that won't ruin my wheels. I'm done with the big name places when it comes to tires or alignments.

 

[98GSXtreme07]

That's what happened with me on an ordeal. Went to 3 big named places: Tire Kingdom, Denham Car Care, and I forget the other one. Lets see: Tire Kingdom scratched up my rims also checked out a brake master cylinder and sent me on my way and when I got right down the road the brake pedal went to the floor; I also once had a brand new OEM rim and Falken tire and some how the mechanic took the tire out of the trunk, the wheel was in there too, and mounted it on the old/bent rim and didn't see the new rim right by it. Not sure how you miss that one.

My biggest ordeal was with Denham Car Care. When I bought all new tires they did a full mount, balance and alignment. As soon as I left, I was having to keep my steering wheel turned a good 30* to keep it straight and it was pulling to the right as well as wobbling. Went back and they said they did it again and its still doing it. They said it was because my struts were gone?? Yea, ok.

All of these incidents were solved by a local Mom and Pop shop, Walker Tire. They fixed my balance, alignment and wobbling. I actually had to do a credit disput against Denham Car Care because they said, "They work with the DSPD and they never have problems. You need new struts." DCC didn't want to help me and I had to be a "little" rude, if you knew me you'd understand that I can be a push-over sometimes, and demand my money back. Walker Tire had also given me a nice discount because of my incident with Denham Car Care. Something they didn't have to do since it was their problem. Walker Tire also fixed my BMC and found my leaking caliper and bled the brakes as well as a few other minor things.

I had one more issue again with another big named "shop" but can't rememeber what it was. From then on I decided I would only go to Walker Tire, a Mom and Pop shop, because of their great customer service and they do quality work. Of course any engine/tranny work I leave to the "professionals" at Mitsubishi.

Thanks for reading.

 

[GsXdSmKingGsX]

They wouldn't do it for me either.

 

[PIMking]

Yeah, stupid and I can even see it with regular tires. But I'm not looking for Z rated snow tires.

I'm just going to have to find myself a small tire shop I can trust that won't ruin my wheels. I'm done with the big name places when it comes to tires or alignments.

I run a construction division of a small tire company. We do retreads on semi tires in our cap shop but we also do light duty vehicles too. If people want to bring in their own tires we will just charge for mount dismount and disposal. We did have a guy come in with wheel spacers he wanted to use and I wouldnt allow the tire tech to do it. I dont like spacers and that is something I thought would be a liability.

I think the big deal was that they were not going to make a profit on the tires just mount and dismount is the reason why you got turned away. But I would think with the economy the way it is they wouldnt turn away any business.

 

[housegsx]

I think the big deal was that they were not going to make a profit on the tires just mount and dismount is the reason why you got turned away. But I would think with the economy the way it is they wouldnt turn away any business.

I can see that if they weren't charging a lot for mounting and balancing. But they wanted $23 each. I was quoted on the phone for $18 each which is still $72 for 20 minutes of work. And the garage wasn't that busy. I just don't think they should turn me away because I didn't buy their tires, especially when they are a featured/recommended installer by tirerack.

I don't think that was the problem though. They made it clear it was the size, although they would not explain to me what the liability was, just that there was one.

 

[turboglenn]

Usually they have a waiver or make you sign off on the wrong size tires. I ran into this a few times, but both sears and sams lub said as long as i'd sign off on the liability of having "oversized" tires on my rims they'd mount em... I always go back there or just show up somewhere that i know the people some what and have enver actually been made to pick up nd go somewhere else to get them mmounted.. I guess it's all in how you talk to people

 

[95redturboawd]

All you have to do is take the wheels/tires off your car and bring them in along with whatever tires you want to switch to. Discount tire did it for me, I don't think I ever even told them what I drive.

 

[pukrnukr]

I've never ran into any problems at sears. I had them put summer and winter tires on my car and neither were the original tire size, nor were they the same size as each other. I don't even remember signing off saying it was a different size or speed rating. If there is a sears next to you, you should call them up. They were one of the cheapest places around too.

 

[2slow4now]

I buy tires at my local mom & pop tire store. (dealt with the same crap)They also usually charge less than the big places and will do whatever you want. Last set I got I saved what it would cost for the mount, balance and disposal fee. love my tire shop!!