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Discount Tire (Bad Experience)


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What should I do CR?

 

Yesterday I noticed at Cars and Coffee that my rear passenger tire was a little low just after filling it up with air the night before because my TPMS light came on. I thought it was odd, because the tire was only 10 months old. Sometimes in the winter my tires have lost a little air here and there, but this time when I had filled it up the night before, it was down to 9 PSI...

 

I purchased the tires from Discount Tire at Easton for ~$450 in January of this year and asked them to please take a look at why the tire was flat. I fill the tire back up with air at the nearest Gas Station and drive over to the store. After a little while, they give me a call and say that not only was a nail in the tire, but it had ran on the sidewall and was not savable. I thought, "Shit happens I guess" So I told them to replace it with the same tire and that I would pick it up when it was done.

 

I get a call in about in hour and they say my car is ready to be picked up, so I drove over, paid $255 for the new tire (Tire $160, instillation and disposal $40, and warranty on both rear tires $55). I hop in my car, TPMS light is still on... I thought it was odd, but not completely uncommon in my car to see the light on even after I have pumped my own tires up. For whatever reason, it sometimes takes my car 1 or 2 key cycles to make the light go off, and the new tire "looked" fine because I could see the factory colored lines still on the tire. Something that did look odd is that the tire was covered in mud on one side and did not have that "factory new" look to it.

 

I drove over to Buckeye Go-Karts over by the Casino and started to notice that my car was almost on ice at times and would sometimes move left to right at random. In my mind i'm thinking that this could be the alignment that is off? Was not sure, so I drive home. I wake up this morning and low and behold, the tire was completely flat Z-E-R-O fucking PSI and I noticed now that a lug nut is missing from the car. My rage was soon to follow...

 

My question to CR is, what should I do here? I could have fucking died last night and it is clear that Discount Tire did NOT to the work correctly and they lost one of my lug nuts. I called and left them a "not-so-nice" message because I am legitimately upset that they could have killed me. I don't think that's much of a shock, but what should I do when I walk in on Monday? I need some advice because FULL STOP, they should fix everything for free and actually do it right this time. How in the world would any manager not fix this ASAP?

 

TL;DR: I purchased a new tire, the store fucked up and installed it incorrectly and lost one of my lug nuts almost resulting in my death. Looking for advice on how to handle the situation.

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Always look the car over after you have it at a tire shop. Always. I've found directional tires installed backwards, centercaps missing, valve stem caps missing, scratches on wheels, etc. It's a lot easier to get resolved if you catch it before you leave
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Always look the car over after you have it at a tire shop. Always. I've found directional tires installed backwards, centercaps missing, valve stem caps missing, scratches on wheels, etc. It's a lot easier to get resolved if you catch it before you leave

 

True, Once you leave with the car they are no longer responsible as you could have done it and are now blaming them.

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At this point I advise you have a respectful conversation with them and state your case and hope they help.

 

+100. Well said.

 

Your situation really does suck, Mike, but you're in a tough spot unless you can appeal to the guys there. Be prepared to calmly explain the situation, and if they seem to understand and show some admission of guilt you can say how passionate you are about your car and just want to make things right with it.

 

DO NOT make ANY sort of claim like "Maybe that was that way before"...just bring it to their attention and appeal for them to make it right.

 

You'll have plenty of time to vent afterwards.

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I’d take it back there and demand to have it fixed on their dime. Think about how many cars they service. Less than 5% of people out there are going to look the car over before they leave the shop. It just doesn’t happen. This is a car site, we are by far the minority who may or may not inspect a simple tire swap immediately. You think the shop expects every customer to inspect their work before they drive home? Nope. It’s not like you’re taking it back a week later.
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So I went back there and they decided to pay for the broken slug on my lug nut as well as replace the tire for free.

 

I have a place that I HAVE to go to according to them called "Streamline". Anyone know anything about this place? The reviews i've seen online don't really paint a complete picture.

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So I went back there and they decided to pay for the broken slug on my lug nut as well as replace the tire for free.

 

I have a place that I HAVE to go to according to them called "Streamline". Anyone know anything about this place? The reviews i've seen online don't really paint a complete picture.

 

Yes. My brother did all the bodywork there for several years, but he got out of the industry a few years back. I don't know who all is still working there, but I know Rob Judson is the name of the guy that runs the place and I know for sure he's still there. There were some good people who worked there, and they do just about everything from bodywork/paint to alignments to basic repairs to engine swaps, etc. I haven't used them in years so I can't say what they are like now, but I never had a problem.

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Did you check the remaining lug nuts to see if they are tight? You saying the car felt shifty makes it sound like a loose wheel to me (I've had it happen) and that can cause the studs to break as well.

 

Sounds to me like they probably didn't have that wheel seated properly and you got some loose nuts which sheered off a stud. Either that or someone power tooled the one on and likely over torqued it snapping it. You likely shouldn't feel anything with 4/5 lugnuts properly tightened so there may have been at least 1 other that wasn't snugged giving you a wiggly rear end.

 

As someone who's been in this exact situation I can certainly understand your anger and frustration. My wheel actually DID come off as I went around a 60mph turn, thankfully by the grace of whatever looks after me the bottom of my brake landed on the inside barrel of the tire and I was able to get it off the road safely. NOT a feeling I would ever want someone else to experience.

 

As far as what you are going over to that shop for, is that just to get the stud knocked out and a new one installed? Did you look in the lug hole to make sure there's no damage to the actual wheel? Often times you get the hole wallowed out after situations like this. Also, keep in mind you DO have a friend in the business if you want to swing it out sometime I'm happy to toss it on a rack to give it a friendly once over.

 

At the end of the day, glad you are safe!

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