Any love from your tire guy?

[MichiganMat]

I've had 3 full sets of tires put on my cars over the last year down at Wheel Works here in Sunnyvale. Today I go in to get my race wheels balanced because I effed them up out at autocross and they make the whole car jitter.

And what do I get?

Nodda. Nothing. No love. Standard prices, $65 to balance the set. So tell me, do you guy get any love from your tire people? Im tired of demanding TireRack prices from these idiots and begging them to cut me a deal. Im sure they could give a **** because of the amount of business they do, but am I wrong to expect a deal from time to time?

Im probably being petty, but for the amount of money I've dropped on these guys I think I deserve a little love from time to time. What do you think?

[vash]

i got serious love day before yesterday. took some 15's to get the tires unmounted... they did the work, removed the stems, disposed of my crap tires, removed the weights, and said, "thank you, no charge. maybe tip the kid..."

[widebody911]

I get my alignments done at the local PCA-friendly tire shop, and they've mounted last couple sets of track tires for free, and they fixed a flat on my VW bus for fee.

Have you tried showing more cleavage?

[Jims5543]

I bite the bullet and buy my street tires for my non-race cars from a local tire shop that is not a chain store. The prices are higher. Sometimes I am paying $40-70 more per set than I could get from tire rack but,..... When I need race tires mounted or balanced they hook me up. So yes I get big love from my tire guy.

There is a hook to my story as used to only do business with big chain store and the manager was very cool. Management changed and the new manager was a d-head. So I moved on to a family owned joint and should have done it from the beginning.

[MichiganMat]

Aw man, I've got "sucker" written on my forehead

[yellowline]

I think my local place charged me $15 to balance a set. They even did the weights on the inside. I did buy a set of tires from them, though.

We'll see what happens if I get track rims and buy my own tires for them to mount.

[Dantilla]

Originally posted by MichiganMat
Im tired of demanding TireRack prices from these idiots and begging them to cut me a deal.

If they have been lowering their prices from list for you already, they have been giving you a deal.

Gotta look at it through their eyes.

If you bought three sets of tires at full list price, the attitude may be different.

[cantdrv55]

Gotta sidle up to the decision maker. The front counter guys may not be empowered to give discounts. Invite the owner/manager to your party and say you've got single twenty-something girls attending. You do have single twenty-something girls going, right?

[wcc]

I bought a set of new tires for my Toyota and passed on the road hazard protection. Costs more and I've never had a flat. Passed on this protection tons of times no problem right. Wrong! About 4 weeks later I got a flat. Long nail that went diagonally through the sidewall too. A $100 tire and it's not fixable. This sucks! If I bought the warranty a replacement would be free. Well I talked to the guy and he remembered me cause I'm there all the time and he hooked me up with a new tire for free anyways. I always give them my business and have been VERY happy with their work. Big Chain, Discount Tire. They've done both my P-cars, lawn mower, rototiller, etc... NEVER had a problem.

[MichiganMat]

Originally posted by cantdrv55
Gotta sidle up to the decision maker. The front counter guys may not be empowered to give discounts. Invite the owner/manager to your party and say you've got single twenty-something girls attending. You do have single twenty-something girls going, right?

Yup, sure do. Every software engineering 20-something girl I know.

[JavaBrewer]

I've had two sets of tires purchased/mounted by my local Evans tire. They had no problem matching Tirerack prices (including shipping though). The guy (Harley) knows me by first name and they continue to balance, rotate, and for my previous truck, plug a tire (not theirs) for no $ out of pocket.

[juanbenae]

Originally posted by MichiganMat
Aw man, I've got "sucker" written on my forehead

there's room for that to be big font and capital letter!

i use that goodyear shop at murphy and el camino. the guys pretty cool, and i think it was 100 last time to have 4 mounted and balanced, with them keeping the old tires.

mat, if AG does not have me take his tires up (he just got new ra-1 so i suspect he will just road those) i can take your track rubber up in my truck for a small fee.

T$

[kjb]

Matt,

Go to Custom Alignment in Mountain View instead!

I went to Wheel Works in Mountain View for an alignment once (for my old daily driver). The treatment I received reminded me of the recent thread about Jiffy Lube. They told me they couldn't do the job without replacing the wheel bearings, which I had checked myself a week earlier. I walked out and ended up at Custom Alignment.

/ Johan

[MichiganMat]

Yeah, its time to find a better shop than these guys. They've always done good work, but I've had enough jerking around with them. I can get better service elsewhere.

I even brought them the raw wheels, they didn't even have to take them off the car. It would've been the same price if I had just left them on the car.

[pwd72s]

Is the Les Schwab tire chain in California?

http://www.lesschwab.com/

[widebody911]

Is there a reason we have back-to-back 'howz your colon' and 'any love from your tire guy' threads?

[pwd72s]

Just did a search...there are Les Schwab stores in Martinez, Livermore, and Napa. Any of those close to you? All of Oregon, especially the home town of Prineville, is wondering what's going to happen to this chain when ol' Les passes. His daughter, being groomed to take over, just passed...a tragic early illness, and a son died earlier in a car accident. It really is quite a biz model, started with one store, emphasis was always on great service and a good guarantee. Flats fixed for free, road hazard warranty part of the price, etc.

[scottmandue]

Do they have an American Tire near you? They have been good to me, free rotation, free flat fix (for anybody). I once destroyed a tire I bought without the replacement guarantee and the guy at the counter let me buy the replacement guarantee retroactively for less than the replacement cost of the tire.

[Jays72T]

I've always bought tires from Americas Tire and never unhappy. I don't get any deal though. I just put new tires on our minivan and decided to try the Wheel Works right by my house, Pearl and Capitol for those who know the area, and the guy there was an ahole. So I drove about 10 miles to Americas Tire in Campbell and the guys there were great so they got my business. If I spent as much as you I'd hope for some love and probably talk to the manager to see what could be done.

[RickM]

I used to use Costco for my "regular" cars tire change and balance but they no longer service tires that weren't purchased there.

Luckily I have a bud with a shop and he lets me do the change/balance on my own.

I find the prices around here pretty high as well.