Truck tires: Sheesh!

[bonneyman]

The Astrovan needed some front tires, so off to Discount Tire I go. Put the rear tires on the front, new tires on the rear, please inspect the spare. easy Peasy, right?

WRONG! What a PITA. Price for three tires went from $520 to $440, still wasn't satisfied so I called my mechanic and he said $350. Told that to Discount, they came back with $250. I'm like, where did $190 come from in the last hour? Different warranty. So, my free tire replacement warranty is actually almost the cost of the new tire? "Our warranty is the best in the business!" Yeah, not from me anymore!
Had a blood pressure spike for sure.

[J.A.F.E.]

Unfortunately many of these warranties are just scamolas.

But at least you put good tires on the van. My former boss who thinks Ebenezer Scrooge spent money like a drunken sailor put passenger car tires on the E150's and these are service trucks which should have been 250's to start with they carry so much weight. Then he cried about going through brakes and tires not lasting.

[slip knot]

I've been buying my truck tires from Sams. the E rated 16s are @$150 each. Its a Goodyear tire that seems to do ok for me. I get 60K out of them easy enough.

[Barks]

What tire do you get for $83?  ($250/3). No mileage warranty, but what is the stated mileage?

[mrchuck]

I hate buying tires! But the easiest and less expensive is our Local Gun Barrel City,TX Walmart.
Quicker and none of those bullshit charges added on. Our City relies on sales tax add-on for it's $.
I also get satisfactory mileage.
Sam's Club also is easy to buy tires.
Many years ago, we totally bought all tires at Costco.
However, they are not close to us anymore.

[bonneyman]

What tire do you get for $83?  ($250/3). No mileage warranty, but what is the stated mileage?

They didn't say, and at that point I realized I'd been taken advantage of for years due to my ignorance and wasn't going to go with them period.

I don't buy tires based on the mileage warranty. Got burned on that scam long ago. In the SW desert tires start drying out and cracking after about 5-6 years, and it's time to replace them. (Especially for safety's sake on the work truck). I've found that high mileage warranties are worthless in my situation as they dry out and fall out of warranty long before the mileage is reached. Heck even their end-to-end warranty expires 3 years after date of purchase.

[fatfillup]

Yeah, I won't go back to someone who has taken advantage of me regardless of how good the new deal is.

Tires are a pain to buy.  If I plan on keeping a vehicle I'll pop for Michelin X e rated.  Get 85K miles on them. 

[highland512]

We buy our tires direct from a family friend that is a distributor, he makes a $100 on 6 tires on avg and we get a great price and mount them our selves. No BS, no sales gimmicks, no up selling. He has even started distributing semi truck truck tires an we have been buying direct from him, its great.

[bonneyman]

Insult added to injury! had the mechanic look at the "spare", figuring the best of my existing tires could become the spare. Nope - all I have is a donut! Now, I'm not 100% sure, but pretty sure when I bought the truck it had a real tire under there. can't imagine getting a flat with the work truck and putting on the donut loaded down like I used to have it. So, the mechanic will start calling around for a used rim, and in about a month I'll get another tire and have it installed under there. As a "get out of Dodge" truck I want a real spare!

[muddy]

Yeah, I won't go back to someone who has taken advantage of me regardless of how good the new deal is.

Yep burn me once, I won't be back.


Luckily we have a mom and pop shop local that has been treating me, and many others I know, right for many many years.

So tires are a no brainier for me.

[Matt_T]

Insult added to injury! had the mechanic look at the "spare", figuring the best of my existing tires could become the spare. Nope - all I have is a donut! Now, I'm not 100% sure, but pretty sure when I bought the truck it had a real tire under there. can't imagine getting a flat with the work truck and putting on the donut loaded down like I used to have it. So, the mechanic will start calling around for a used rim, and in about a month I'll get another tire and have it installed under there. As a "get out of Dodge" truck I want a real spare!

What year is yours? I'm 99% sure my '02 Cargo has a donut.

[bonneyman]

Insult added to injury! had the mechanic look at the "spare", figuring the best of my existing tires could become the spare. Nope - all I have is a donut! Now, I'm not 100% sure, but pretty sure when I bought the truck it had a real tire under there. can't imagine getting a flat with the work truck and putting on the donut loaded down like I used to have it. So, the mechanic will start calling around for a used rim, and in about a month I'll get another tire and have it installed under there. As a "get out of Dodge" truck I want a real spare!

What year is yours? I'm 99% sure my '02 Cargo has a donut.

2004. Maybe it was a donut spare all along, and I just was asleep?

[Papaw]

Do you suspect shenanigans ? Unfortunately, without proof you have no recourse. Can you find the original spec sheet ?

[J.A.F.E.]

Was it made as a work van or did it have an interior and seating? If it was made for passenger use I can see the donut because of weight savings/CAFE stuff but a work van usually has a real tire.

[bonneyman]

It was a lease vehicle. After 3 years, the factory warranty expired, so the rental companies would sell them and get new ones. So I got it in 2007. It had the ladder racks and internal shelving plus cab barrier installed. I'm assuming it was a cargo/work van.

I can't with 100% certainty remember if it had a real spare. So, I'm out of luck. I will get a used rim and another tire next month to spread out the $$$ and just be done with Discount Tire. They're gonna be losing 3 vehicles. Just wondering if I should even bother sending a letter to corporate or not complaining about the most recent facts/figures.

[J.A.F.E.]

That was a work van then. Nice it was setup when you got it - those shelves, ladder racks and dividers cost stupid money.

LKQ Pick a Part here wants 16 and some change for a 16" or larger steel wheel plus a dollar core charge.

[slip knot]

Will a full size spare even fit the space?

reason I ask was many years back a sweet young lady asked me to acquire a full size spare for her ride. A stop at the junk yard and I'm set. I'm all prepared for my just rewards of helping this sweet young lady out and the sumbitch wont fit in the space allocated in the trunk. Things just went south from there. needless to say there was no just rewards for me

And that damned spare wound up going in the burn pile a few years ago.

[bonneyman]

Will a full size spare even fit the space?

reason I ask was many years back a sweet young lady asked me to acquire a full size spare for her ride. A stop at the junk yard and I'm set. I'm all prepared for my just rewards of helping this sweet young lady out and the sumbitch wont fit in the space allocated in the trunk. Things just went south from there. needless to say there was no just rewards for me

And that damned spare wound up going in the burn pile a few years ago.

I'm going to the shop tomorrow to have them installed 3 tires. While it's up on the rack I'll have them measure the space and make sure the real tire will fit.

[bonneyman]

That was a work van then. Nice it was setup when you got it - those shelves, ladder racks and dividers cost stupid money.

LKQ Pick a Part here wants 16 and some change for a 16" or larger steel wheel plus a dollar core charge.

Yep, all I had to do was stock it with parts and load my tools. Even had a commercial plate! 

[strik9]

Make space to place a real tire even if on a back door rack.

In my pacers it was behind the drivers seat or tossed in the back.  Getting caught without driving old junk was stupid.  Those things ate front tires up.  I didn't care it rattled around or ate up space.

[eborcim]

I usually just watch for a sale on truck tires.  E series on my 3/4 ton truck work okay, just have them delivered and then take to a shop for mount/balance ~$20/tire.  I don't put a lot of miles on the truck so the tires last a while.

[bonneyman]

Well, finally got the van fixed up. three new tires, along with 1 tire that's in great condition but only 2 years old. And the station found me a used rim, and installed the best of the replaced tires as my under side spare. Now I have a real spare tire! Tech said the donut that was under there was so bad it would've blown the second I tried driving on it.

And....he installed the "new" spare tire with the valve pointing down so the pressure can be checked when I come in for service and they perform a tire inspection! Dang, a young guy who's forward thinking! 

[TWX]

And....he installed the "new" spare tire with the valve pointing down so the pressure can be checked when I come in for service and they perform a tire inspection! Dang, a young guy who's forward thinking! 

Over on another forum I'm on there was a pretty heated debate on doing that on pickup trucks.  I've always installed the spare valve-side down, some were trying to argue I was opening myself up to damaging it when going off road.  Given how much sidewall and rim-lip sticks out well past the valve stem though, seems like I'd have a gouged-out sidewall and a bent or gouged rim long before I ripped the valvestem off.

Another guy tried to argue about rust and the mechanism to lower the wheel, namely that without lowering it to check it, that the mechanism would rust and break when trying to get the wheel out.  My counter was that if I have to lower it to check tire pressure, then I won't be checking tire pressure, and neither will anyone else.  Given that I bought my truck used from a mainstream dealer (sells new Subarus) and they put four new tires on and changed most of the fluids and aligned it before selling it, and it was still clear that even they didn't lower the spare (it had rocks sitting on the rubber thing on top and the tire had left marks on the crossmembers that aligned with how it was when I lowered it) I can't expect anyone else to lower it to check either.  A pressurized spare that has to be gotten out by breaking the lowering mechanism is preferable to a deflated spare that has to be gotten out by breaking the lowering mechanism.