Good tire store

[Rick Potter]

Nice thing happened to me today. I have been watching a tire leaking air for a few weeks, with the low tire light coming on after air fill ups. Determined it was the left front today, and took it to America's Tire store to patch it.

The car is 7 years old, with original tires, and 35,000 miles on them, but probably over 20K left. They were busy, and I just left the car at the store. They called and said the tire was not fixable, and they wanted to put a new tire on it. I asked why a slow leak was not fixable, and was told it had been patched earlier, and the patch was leaking, and they couldn't do a do-over.

It's a plug in electric car and the tire was not in stock, but they could get it in a couple days. Turns out it was a $270 tire, and they are replacing it at no cost, admitting they were the ones who did the original patch that is failing.

I did not buy the tires there, they are the originals, but I bought the $100 warranty from them to cover all fixes, rotations, and balancing for the life of the tires. They could have skated and not told me it was their bad patch job, and I never would have known the difference.

So, kudos to America's tire store. There is a reason they are always busy.

[Ronnie Hurst]

That was a good read. Good business practice. There IS a reason they're always busy and part of it is what you've done here...... word of mouth!

[Jim Becker]

"America's Tire" is Discount Tire which is a national organization. My understanding is that the name is different in your geography just because of some naming legalities. They are a good organization, where they have brick and mortar stores and competitive online sales for folks who do not live in areas where stores are present. They are also very supportive of online vehicle forums. I use Costco here because the DT organization doesn't have stores, but wouldn't hesitate to consider them if I lived in an area where they are present.

[Jerome Stanek]

"America's Tire" is Discount Tire which is a national organization. My understanding is that the name is different in your geography just because of some naming legalities. They are a good organization, where they have brick and mortar stores and competitive online sales for folks who do not live in areas where stores are present. They are also very supportive of online vehicle forums. I use Costco here because the DT organization doesn't have stores, but wouldn't hesitate to consider them if I lived in an area where they are present.

Daughter bought a set from them and got a nail in one I took it back and they told me it could not be fixed. Wanted to sell me a new tire. I took it to a small mom and pop tire shop and they told me that they get a lot of business from DT due to this kind of stuff. They repaired it for $10 and said if I had any problems bring it back. The tire was still on the car when she traded 3 years later.

[Jim Becker]

Sometimes small shops will make fixes that the larger places will not do. It's about liability. When there's a nail, screw or other embedded object that pierces the tire within a certain distance from the edge on a radial tire, most of the larger places will not fix based on that. Yes, the patch will often be just fine as you note, but corporate policy is what it is. Road hazard coverage is the solution.

And related to this, with AWD and 4WD, when a tire is damaged, you often can't replace just one tire, either, because the specifications for tire diameter differences are pretty tight. Sometimes you can get the new tire shaved, but that's becoming a service that's harder and harder to find. So you buy four new tires...and your road hazard coverage only covers one. ;) Nature of the beast.

[fritz eng]

Good Tires on Front or Back? A very little known subject................

https://blog.tirerack.com/blog/hot-seller/two-new-tires-on-the-front-or-rear

[Dwayne Watt]

It is also possible they were deterred by the tires being 7+ years old. Six year old tires are about as old as major tire shops will work on due to tire aging. Regardless of miles or tread depth, aged out tires will be recommended for replacement and may not get repaired. Your warranty paid for itself this time for sure.

[Rick Potter]

Good point. I asked about that and was told they repair tires up to age 10 on the warranty.

Another good point on the location of the damage. They also told me years ago, they would not fix a puncture on the sidewall of the tire, where the flexing takes place....for liability reasons.

I have also seen variations on both company names. There is another version of America(something or other) Tire about a mile from my store, as well as near Discount Tire in AZ.

Anyway, it was a good day for me, and I just got an e-mail that the tire is already at the store, and I don't have to wait until Monday.

[Jerome Stanek]

Sometimes small shops will make fixes that the larger places will not do. It's about liability. When there's a nail, screw or other embedded object that pierces the tire within a certain distance from the edge on a radial tire, most of the larger places will not fix based on that. Yes, the patch will often be just fine as you note, but corporate policy is what it is. Road hazard coverage is the solution.

And related to this, with AWD and 4WD, when a tire is damaged, you often can't replace just one tire, either, because the specifications for tire diameter differences are pretty tight. Sometimes you can get the new tire shaved, but that's becoming a service that's harder and harder to find. So you buy four new tires...and your road hazard coverage only covers one. ;) Nature of the beast.

This nail was almost dead center of the tread. She did not want to pay almost as much for road hazard as she did for the tires. They wanted $360 for tires that cost $440

[Jim Becker]

This nail was almost dead center of the tread. She did not want to pay almost as much for road hazard as she did for the tires. They wanted $360 for tires that cost $440
Road hazard is included in the very low installation price I pay from Costco...as low as a penny per tire during a promotion, but typically about $16 per tire. That also includes lifetime balancing and rotation. No way that road hazard coverage should cost as much as she was facing! Relative to the nail, I suspect that there was something else going on if they refused to fixt it dead center of the tread.

[Jerome Stanek]

Road hazard is included in the very low installation price I pay from Costco...as low as a penny per tire during a promotion, but typically about $16 per tire. That also includes lifetime balancing and rotation. No way that road hazard coverage should cost as much as she was facing! Relative to the nail, I suspect that there was something else going on if they refused to fixt it dead center of the tread.

Yes they wanted to sell her a new tire.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Here in the NW, Les Schwab's Tires are a respected tire center. They fixed 2 flats, which were on tires bought from another out of state dealer, including driving to the local HS to fix one for our oldest son then a student and charged nothing. They offer good products, good service and until Covid hit the coffee and popcorn were free at their stores. We have 3 locally here in the L-C Valley alone.

[Alex Zeller]

I had a slow leak that I had a local shop try to fix but they couldn't. But they were just trying to plug it. The correct patch for a radial tire looks like a patch and plug molded together. But to install them you need to remove the tire from the wheel. Most places don't go through the extra effort.

[Lawrence Duckworth]

I've been trading with a small local shop for 30+ years. They replaced and remounted 4 golf cart tires for less thanTractorSupply could sell the tires for.

this went down in the corner headed down to the barn...468489