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Hey Guys,
Soo... I was just wondering you guys' experience with Discount Tire.
Mine isn't so great. I have given them chance after chance to get the job done right, and each time they screw it up to the point where I feel the need to share my experience to the community.
I will cut down my experience short: I essentially bought all my tires from Discount Tire.
1) Last year, I bought a set of 245/45-18 tires for my G35 from them and had them installed at their Tulalip, WA. location. I watched with my own eyes severely scratch and gouged one of my $700 OEM wheels with a crow bar. The guy doing it was a beginner and when his colleagues heard a loud screeching metal sound, they ran toward the guy to stop him. There went my wheel. I repaired the gouges myself satisfactorily with some mismatched spray paint. A proper wheel repaint would run $150-175. To top it off, one set of adhesive wheel weights was not applied properly to factory specification. They were exactly 1" from the grooved location of the wheel. I sux0r3d it up anyway.
After six months, I brought the G35 with the same set of wheel/tire for their free wheel balance job (they offer free lifetime balance if you install tires there). This time I went to their Bellingham, WA location. Instead of properly removing the old weights and rebalance each wheel/tire, Discount Tire decided to add more weight to balance the wheel. I could never get a vibration free drive at the speed range between 60-70mph because of the poor balancing job. The wheel is about 90% balanced.
Soo. TODAY, after 1 year since I visited them, I decided to give them ONE MORE CHANCE to redeem themselves. This time, I requested that they REMOVE the old weights before recalibrating the wheel balance. I also asked them to repatch one of the tires that I temporarily repaired using a tire plug. This time, when they removed and reinstalled the tire, they scratched, yet again, my OEM Wheel! They fixed the tire injury, however. When I talked to them about the scratch, the manager was silent for a while. I knew he was not going to fix it for me. I could tell that business is tough for them. They are performing more free blancing services to customers than selling tires. So I said, it's okay... I'd just have it repainted when I get back to Canada. So I left. Also, this time they did NOT balance the wheel. They simply ADDED EVEN MORE weight to the wheel, instead of properly removing the old weights to recalibrate the wheels. I get LESS vibration between 60-70mph this time, but still not a vibration free ride. The wheels are NOT bent... perhaps it was just the cheap Falken tires I am using. Either way, they did not perform the job to my satisfaction and this is the second time they damaged the wheel on the G35!!!
Note that the tires on this car are extremely easy to install. They are the Falken 912 with a very flexible sidewall. The 245/45-18 tires are also not super low profile tires that require special skills or equipment to install correctly. Discount Tire has the Industry-Leading Hunter Tire Mounting and balancing machines that should be able to remove, install, and balance 18" wheels without a hassle.
2) I also have an Infiniti M45. It also runs on 245/45-18 tires. Since this is my wife's go-to car, I use only the best tires on this car. I purchased a set of Bridgestone RE960 from Discount Tire two years and they costed me an arm and a leg. I thought I'd be nice and let Discount Tire do the installation as well. This time, I went to their Bellingham location to have the tires installed. To my surprise, they did NOT scratch my wheel.
Four months later, I bought a set of 17" Micheline winter tires from Discount Tire Bellingham location. I brought a set of 350Z wheels for them to mount on the 17" winter tires I purchased. Since I was there already I decided to let them rebalance the wheel on my M45 as well, since it's been over 6000miles since the wheels were last balanced. Due to some sort of miscommunication, the technicians mounted my 17" tires onto my 18" M45 wheel!!!! The result is that they severely chipped a lot of paint off one of my 18" wheels!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Regarding the 17" tires I bought and installed with them, they simply mounted the tires onto the wheels; they did NOT balance them. I had to shell out $30 to have those wheels balanced when I got back to Canada.
Without a doubt, Discount Tire, at least both their Bellingham and Tulalip locations, is incapable of performing jobs to the public. Behind their seemingly good public-relationist sales representative is a team of unqualified, undertrained tire installers. They have the best equipment available in the world. But they simply do not know how to use them.
Bottome line is... be cautious if you decide to have Discount Tire install tires on your precious wheels. They are perfectly fine to purchase tires from, but neither their locations in Northern Washington are capable of performing simple tire mount/balance.
I have saved around $250 at most from them. The damage incurred from using their service is over $450. Since I am a perfectionist, I will have the wheels professionally repaired by a reputable machine shop this coming winter.
I feel that I must share this information to the community. This is not intended to bash Discount Tire. None of this is Discount Tire's fault... perhaps damaging customers wheels is the practice of the industry??? I guess I should be responsible for having them perform installation/balance on my wheels in the first place. Please, think twice before having them work on your car. Or else, you are going to feel very guilty for letting them do any sort of work with your wheels and tires. I feel kinda nauseous and queasy right now for having let them literally destroy my wheels three times in a row.
Soo... I was just wondering you guys' experience with Discount Tire.
Mine isn't so great. I have given them chance after chance to get the job done right, and each time they screw it up to the point where I feel the need to share my experience to the community.
I will cut down my experience short: I essentially bought all my tires from Discount Tire.
1) Last year, I bought a set of 245/45-18 tires for my G35 from them and had them installed at their Tulalip, WA. location. I watched with my own eyes severely scratch and gouged one of my $700 OEM wheels with a crow bar. The guy doing it was a beginner and when his colleagues heard a loud screeching metal sound, they ran toward the guy to stop him. There went my wheel. I repaired the gouges myself satisfactorily with some mismatched spray paint. A proper wheel repaint would run $150-175. To top it off, one set of adhesive wheel weights was not applied properly to factory specification. They were exactly 1" from the grooved location of the wheel. I sux0r3d it up anyway.
After six months, I brought the G35 with the same set of wheel/tire for their free wheel balance job (they offer free lifetime balance if you install tires there). This time I went to their Bellingham, WA location. Instead of properly removing the old weights and rebalance each wheel/tire, Discount Tire decided to add more weight to balance the wheel. I could never get a vibration free drive at the speed range between 60-70mph because of the poor balancing job. The wheel is about 90% balanced.
Soo. TODAY, after 1 year since I visited them, I decided to give them ONE MORE CHANCE to redeem themselves. This time, I requested that they REMOVE the old weights before recalibrating the wheel balance. I also asked them to repatch one of the tires that I temporarily repaired using a tire plug. This time, when they removed and reinstalled the tire, they scratched, yet again, my OEM Wheel! They fixed the tire injury, however. When I talked to them about the scratch, the manager was silent for a while. I knew he was not going to fix it for me. I could tell that business is tough for them. They are performing more free blancing services to customers than selling tires. So I said, it's okay... I'd just have it repainted when I get back to Canada. So I left. Also, this time they did NOT balance the wheel. They simply ADDED EVEN MORE weight to the wheel, instead of properly removing the old weights to recalibrate the wheels. I get LESS vibration between 60-70mph this time, but still not a vibration free ride. The wheels are NOT bent... perhaps it was just the cheap Falken tires I am using. Either way, they did not perform the job to my satisfaction and this is the second time they damaged the wheel on the G35!!!
Note that the tires on this car are extremely easy to install. They are the Falken 912 with a very flexible sidewall. The 245/45-18 tires are also not super low profile tires that require special skills or equipment to install correctly. Discount Tire has the Industry-Leading Hunter Tire Mounting and balancing machines that should be able to remove, install, and balance 18" wheels without a hassle.
2) I also have an Infiniti M45. It also runs on 245/45-18 tires. Since this is my wife's go-to car, I use only the best tires on this car. I purchased a set of Bridgestone RE960 from Discount Tire two years and they costed me an arm and a leg. I thought I'd be nice and let Discount Tire do the installation as well. This time, I went to their Bellingham location to have the tires installed. To my surprise, they did NOT scratch my wheel.
Four months later, I bought a set of 17" Micheline winter tires from Discount Tire Bellingham location. I brought a set of 350Z wheels for them to mount on the 17" winter tires I purchased. Since I was there already I decided to let them rebalance the wheel on my M45 as well, since it's been over 6000miles since the wheels were last balanced. Due to some sort of miscommunication, the technicians mounted my 17" tires onto my 18" M45 wheel!!!! The result is that they severely chipped a lot of paint off one of my 18" wheels!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Regarding the 17" tires I bought and installed with them, they simply mounted the tires onto the wheels; they did NOT balance them. I had to shell out $30 to have those wheels balanced when I got back to Canada.
Without a doubt, Discount Tire, at least both their Bellingham and Tulalip locations, is incapable of performing jobs to the public. Behind their seemingly good public-relationist sales representative is a team of unqualified, undertrained tire installers. They have the best equipment available in the world. But they simply do not know how to use them.
Bottome line is... be cautious if you decide to have Discount Tire install tires on your precious wheels. They are perfectly fine to purchase tires from, but neither their locations in Northern Washington are capable of performing simple tire mount/balance.
I have saved around $250 at most from them. The damage incurred from using their service is over $450. Since I am a perfectionist, I will have the wheels professionally repaired by a reputable machine shop this coming winter.
I feel that I must share this information to the community. This is not intended to bash Discount Tire. None of this is Discount Tire's fault... perhaps damaging customers wheels is the practice of the industry??? I guess I should be responsible for having them perform installation/balance on my wheels in the first place. Please, think twice before having them work on your car. Or else, you are going to feel very guilty for letting them do any sort of work with your wheels and tires. I feel kinda nauseous and queasy right now for having let them literally destroy my wheels three times in a row.
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