Costco Tires: Free Lifetime (non)rotation

[Scrapr]

ERD50

I'm late to the party.

Quick solution. It will take like 20 mins. Take it back to Costco. Tell him they mismeasured.

BURN OUT!!!!!

 

[Brat]

Les Schwab walks on water in the Pacific NW.

 

[DeborahB]

FWIW... the last time the Volvo dealer rotated the tires, I think they put the newer ones with better tread on the front. I had previously replaced the back tires (flat on one, metal on the other, oh joy). I can't swear to this, it was a year ago. I'll try to remember to ask when I get it serviced soon.

 

[Scrapr]

Les Schwab walks on water in the Pacific NW.

Not for me. I own a business with a good amouint of rolling stock. 8 trucks right now, as many as 17 a few years ago. I started splitting our flat business to see if they would be better than our present vendor (Tire Factory). I told Les Schwaab I was giving them a tryout.

After a couple months the manager says I need to have your tire business or we won't do your flat work. I said goodbye. About once a year their on road flat guys come knockin on our door to pick up our tire work. I relay that scenario. they slink away.

i hate pressure in sales.

 

[haha]

Not for me. I own a business with a good amouint of rolling stock. 8 trucks right now, as many as 17 a few years ago. I started splitting our flat business to see if they would be better than our present vendor (Tire Factory). I told Les Schwaab I was giving them a tryout.

After a couple months the manager says I need to have your tire business or we won't do your flat work. I said goodbye. About once a year their on road flat guys come knockin on our door to pick up our tire work. I relay that scenario. they slink away.

i hate pressure in sales.

Fair enough, but does your current vendor give you a freezer full of beef like Les?

 

[Brat]

Les Schwab's commercial team changes the tires on the boatyard's rolling crane, the are the same size that a 747 uses. No complaints.

 

[BigMoneyJim]

Do the two new tires go on the front or back of the crane? 747?

 

[packrat44]

Fair enough, but does your current vendor give you a freezer full of beef like Les?

So that is where the cows that have been disappearing from the family ranch have been going.

 

[Brat]

Do the two new tires go on the front or back of the crane? 747?

Because neither breaking or acceleration is an issue a new tire goes where the problem tire is removed.

 

[yakers]

While I understand the position of COSTCO, fully designed by lawyers and not much else, I get really irritated that they don't allow the customer make their own decisions. Enough that I don't buy tires there although I did buy 4 new tires for older son once.
I have driven motorcycles, some heavy trucks (drove a dump truck working construction in college),FWD, RWD, 2WD, 4WD and AWD cars with open diffs, limited slips, locking diffs, ABS and ESP (electronic stability system). A couple years ago I went 1K miles off road in my Jeep. I know that 4WD means you can go and not that you can stop. I have 'severely' under and over inflated tires to get traction in specific circumstances. I understand the limited area of concern that COSTCO has. In FWD the front wheels drive, turn and do most of the stopping; the primary purpose of the rear tires is to just keep the car straight, not contributing much to stopping effort. (Anybody remember empty pickup trucks before ABS and no load, don't care which tires had the most thread there was a good chance of the rear end getting ahead of the front end.) Now ABS has solved a lot of the concern COSTCO should have and I even have ESP on my Jeep. Now the COSTCO position has a small validity about stopping in some limited circumstances, especially where someone doesn't know what they are doing, including going too fast. But they provide no help to the fellow stuck in snow in his driveway or in some mud where good thread on the drive wheels is what is needed to get going. So they are worried about whether you can stop but not whether you can go.
I buy my tires from a speciality supply tailored to my needs, like extra layers of sidewall for off roading or towing, performance tires for DWs Miata and really strange tires for the 1985 VW camper. I simply will not buy @COSTCO. If they had a tire I want at a good price I expect my tire guy to match it as he already does for Tire Rack tires. If somehow I ended up with COSTCO tires I would rotate them myself as I see fit. While I really like COSTCO for most things I don't even bother to visit their tire dept. Folks there just read the book, have no knowledge or judgement and don't allow their customers to have any either.

 

[Brat]

Actually their tire department employees are quite knowledgeable about the tires they offer, COSTCO sends them to their corporate training center. The policies in place were established by the tire manufacturers for the products they offer and they stick to them. Flexible, they are not.

Each retailer or service provider has a type of customer they serve. None of them meets the needs of every customer.

 

[BigMoneyJim]

I happened to wander through a Walmart tire department this week and noticed a prominent Bridgestone poster also saying new tires go on the rear. It's apparently all the rage among tire manufacturers and service departments.

 

[easysurfer]

Where the best tires go (front vs back) has to do with in case of hydroplaning.

Is it dangerous to put 2 new tires on the front wheels only?

As you can tell, there is still debate where best to put them. When I had tires changed recently. I decided to just change all four at once to start with a new set.

 

[packrat44]

Where the best tires go (front vs back) has to do with in case of hydroplaning.

Is it dangerous to put 2 new tires on the front wheels only?

As you can tell, there is still debate where best to put them. When I had tires changed recently. I decided to just change all four at once to start with a new set.

In the case of a true blow-out (not a tire going flat), the chance of loosing control is greater if the blow-out is on the rear.

When I was in COSTCO getting a pair of new studded snow tires for my front wheel drive car they put them on the rear and the regular tires (which were almost new) on the front. I went home and moved the new studded snow tires to the front and placed a pair of used studded snows on the rear. My concern was more for traction and steering in snow than a fear of a blow out.

 

[Westernskies]

Not for me. I own a business with a good amouint of rolling stock. 8 trucks right now, as many as 17 a few years ago. I started splitting our flat business to see if they would be better than our present vendor (Tire Factory). I told Les Schwaab I was giving them a tryout.

After a couple months the manager says I need to have your tire business or we won't do your flat work. I said goodbye. About once a year their on road flat guys come knockin on our door to pick up our tire work. I relay that scenario. they slink away.

i hate pressure in sales.

I understand Les Schwab's position on this. (I have a lot of experience with them and admire their business model and ethics) As a full-line tire dealer with locations all across the Pacific Northwest, they make money selling tires, the service aspects are there to support new tire sales. Remove either and the equation doesn't work; they have a huge overhead burden to support, but they can't run a sucessful business doing nothing but sh*t work when the guy across the street is getting all the gravy.

It's not "pressure in sales", it's an economic decision- bottom line is they can't afford you as a customer if all they're getting is the dirty work.

Besides, someone has to pay for all that beef they give away every fall.

 

[Brat]

Westernskies
+1