New tire wierdness at discount tire

[Bodyperson]

And... not all skidding of the tires are from braking. I knew 2 people who died from the front passing the rear from deceleration going down hill on a really icy road. Should have thrown it in neutral. Been there done that. Its just instinct for me.
I once lost control of my rear wheel drive car with studded tires. I had crossed lanes and was headed towards a guard rail backwards. I slipped it into reverse (automatic) and effectively turned it into a front wheel drive and gave it a little gas and the thing straightened right out and I drove it backwards parallel to the guard rail unit we came to a stop. My passengers still talk about it today. You just dont think you just do. Comes from years of flipping cookies and driving like an idiot.

 

[pishta]

...and a HF changer, which I bought for 20.00 for the tire tool LOL. Do some stuff myself

I got the same red HF changer, bought it to dismount 4 tires, same price as someone breaking 4 tires for me. I bolted it in the bed of my beater truck so I could walk the pry bar around the rim. Takes a little practice....Big O tire out here has been pretty good to us. We bought new tires here for the mommy van and drove to Utah, smooth as glass until I somehow hit a 4x4 piece of wood on the freeway. Knocked the right wheel pretty good and had a wobble. The Place we stayed at had a Big-O right across the parking lot so I cruised it over and told them the brand new Big-O right front is giving me a shimmy so they looked at it, determined the new tire had a sidewall bulge in it (imagine that) and replaced it for free.

 

[famous bob]

Good points.

Many people think that a brake inspection, as sold them by the big chains is just taking a look at the brakes. Hell, many of the people who work there thinking the same.

Rotor/drum condition, hydraulics and mechanics working, but carry it further.

Suspension and steering also have a lot to do with braking, also. Bad shocks/struts will throw rhe weight transfer off. Bad ball joint or tie rod end can lead to a pull.

Crap tires will cause crap braking no matter if your entire brake system is brand new.

It's all a system. It all has to work together for optimum performance.

Check one, check them all.

I`m not reading all these posts, but I would have told them , DO IT THE WAY I WANT or l`ll go to someone who will.
I haven't ran into that here in "crooked politician / backward / don`t have the money to fix roads" Oklahoma yet.
Or finish the ones they started 10-12 yrs. ago------------

 

[Bulldozer]

the only thing I use ANY tire shop for is busting the bead and dismounting. I do all the rest myself. I have had bigO , discount and a couple of others ***** my wheels up, so I buy tires and wheels and mount them at home

 

[YY1]

The last tire shop I went to was about 3 years ago. They wanted $48 to swap 2 tires onto 2 rims with bad tires without balance and without them keeping the junk tires.

I declined.

I bought a 60's vintage Atlas tire changer at a scrap yard for $75 and it paid for it's self in less than a year. It won't mount on rims wider than 7" but it will dismount up to 9".

Works fine for my rallye wheels.

I get my tires delivered to my door and mount them myself.

I also got a snap-on manual spin balancer from a pawn shop.

it's "OK" but I'm looking for a better one.

 

[moparmat2000]

If i had time, and it wasnt nail in my tire type ****, i woulda bought the tires online like i bought the cooper cobras for my pickup, and just woulda given em to my buddy whos a high school auto shop teacher. He has the kids mount and balance them. Charges me for the valve stems and wheel weights, and the kids get to learn. Only steel wheels though, i wont take aluminum wheels there.

 

[famous bob]

If i had time, and it wasnt nail in my tire type ****, i woulda bought the tires online like i bought the cooper cobras for my pickup, and just woulda given em to my buddy whos a high school auto shop teacher. He has the kids mount and balance them. Charges me for the valve stems and wheel weights, and the kids get to learn. Only steel wheels though, i wont take aluminum wheels there.

If I have tire work done on any aluminum wheels , I always ask them if they can do them w/o hurting the rims. That way u can raise hell in front of thier customers if something goes wrong. Theu usually will take care of it anyway .

 

[ramenth]

I`m not reading all these posts, but I would have told them , DO IT THE WAY I WANT or l`ll go to someone who will.
I haven't ran into that here in "crooked politician / backward / don`t have the money to fix roads" Oklahoma yet.
Or finish the ones they started 10-12 yrs. ago------------

Except the fact the customer isn't always right. Sometimes the customer has to be educated on the why's and wherefores.

Know how many times I've pushed back a piston caliper to have the master cylinder puke? Hey, the customer filled his master, he did it his way. Not knowing the master is specific volume and the reason it's low is because the pads/rotors are at minimum thickness for the volume of the master?

Customer does his own pads on an ABS car. Proper procedure is to actually empty the master and vacuum out all the brake lines before pushing the caliper pistons back, that way fluid isn't pushing back against the seals in the ABS pump. Refill master/bleed through with all new fluid. Now the guy has ABS issues related to the HCU, but he did it his way.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with refusing to do it the customers way, knowing that not only is the customer's life is in your hands, but the lives of those around him or her as well.

Extreme scenario. Customer is driving down city streets, spikes the brake in wet conditions because the light just flashed to red. *** kicks out, hits a kid standing too close to the curb. Accident investigation shows the rear tires to be unsafe. Who's responsible for that kid's life? The vehicle owner and the shop who mounted the tires.

 

['63GT]

Except the fact the customer isn't always right. Sometimes the customer has to be educated on the why's and wherefores.

Know how many times I've pushed back a piston caliper to have the master cylinder puke? Hey, the customer filled his master, he did it his way. Not knowing the master is specific volume and the reason it's low is because the pads/rotors are at minimum thickness for the volume of the master?

Customer does his own pads on an ABS car. Proper procedure is to actually empty the master and vacuum out all the brake lines before pushing the caliper pistons back, that way fluid isn't pushing back against the seals in the ABS pump. Refill master/bleed through with all new fluid. Now the guy has ABS issues related to the HCU, but he did it his way.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with refusing to do it the customers way, knowing that not only is the customer's life is in your hands, but the lives of those around him or her as well.

Extreme scenario. Customer is driving down city streets, spikes the brake in wet conditions because the light just flashed to red. *** kicks out, hits a kid standing too close to the curb. Accident investigation shows the rear tires to be unsafe. Who's responsible for that kid's life? The vehicle owner and the shop who mounted the tires.

Well stated !
I just wish respectful explanations, like yours, could be used by the majority of businesses..
Instead of the 'it's my way or the highway' barking by counter jockeys....
I think we could ALL get along a little better that way.

 

[ramenth]

Well stated !
I just wish respectful explanations, like yours, could be used by the majority of businesses..
Instead of the 'it's my way or the highway' barking by counter jockeys....
I think we could ALL get along a little better that way.

The last shop I owned I had a booming business in word of mouth. The majority of my customers were female.

I took the time to explain things, didn't treat them like they were stupid, and didn't treat them like an air head with full purses.

Amazing what happens when your customers trust and respect you and you trust and respect your customers. They keep coming back! And tell their friends!

 

['63GT]

The last shop I owned I had a booming business in word of mouth. The majority of my customers were female.

I took the time to explain things, didn't treat them like they were stupid, and didn't treat them like an air head with full purses.

Amazing what happens when your customers trust and respect you and you trust and respect your customers. They keep coming back! And tell their friends!

Yep. When I was at the transmission shop, a lady came in with a leak. (Boss went home early...as usual) I racked it, and saw the solenoid pack was leaking. ( A604 Dodge minivan - pretty common)
So I checked the 'clutch volumes' with a scanner. All well within spec. but it had a code for the solenoid pack. So I quoted her a price for a solenoid pack and a service. She started doing cartwheels cause the last place she went, told her she needed a rebuild.
Next day, boss was pissed cause I didn't talk her into a rebuild... one of the reasons I left..

 

[Unconventional]

At Big Brand I had to sign a waiver to allow them to rotate the steer tires with 20K on them to the rear to replace the rear that had 50K (used up) and put the stickers on the front. The Hemi likes to spin the tires. What can I say? Numbers could be inaccurate but they are close. First set of drive tires gone at 20K.