Saga of New Tires

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I ordered my Pirelli 7C A/S+ in March this year and finally got them mounted yesterday. I still don't know what took so long or why they couldn't send a matched set.
This morning while checking pressure I notice a balance weight was missing after only 25 miles of driving.
Am I asking too much from Discount Tire to properly mount and balance a set of tires. I know they will fix it, but it delays my departure on my trip and that has SWMBO upset to no end.
Maybe I'm just getting too old!

Smoky
 
How you know it is missing? The little imprint they leave on the rim could have been from the last set of tires, they took it off. Maybe it is correctly balanced without a weight.
 
Originally Posted By: tinmanSC
How you know it is missing? The little imprint they leave on the rim could have been from the last set of tires, they took it off. Maybe it is correctly balanced without a weight.


Or there's fresh double-sided tape on the wheel with no weight on it. Not all wheels have a lip for putting weights on. Larger alloy wheels can be notorious for this.
 
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I always take pictures of my wheels to make sure I haven't lost a weight just in case. The shimmy in the wheel was my first clue. I just got back from DT and they say it's a 4hr wait before they can get too it.
I know when I was in the business ANY come back was fixed first. I guess DT's policy is "we got your money" go away.
Honestly guys, if you don't know where and how much weight you have on your wheels you don't pay much attention to your car IMO.

Smoky
 
I've had this happen at Discount Tire. I went back, but realized they have a bunch of kids who don't care. I found another two rims that weren't even pushed on all the way. I mashed them down, and will probably look elsewhere next time.
 
Originally Posted By: Smoky14
I always take pictures of my wheels to make sure I haven't lost a weight just in case. The shimmy in the wheel was my first clue. I just got back from DT and they say it's a 4hr wait before they can get too it.
I know when I was in the business ANY come back was fixed first. I guess DT's policy is "we got your money" go away.
Honestly guys, if you don't know where and how much weight you have on your wheels you don't pay much attention to your car IMO.

Smoky

It's first come first serve at AT/DT, every customer think that he/she should be served first for what ever reason.

Next time make appointment online then you will be served ahead of others without appointment.

I had the glue-on weights fall off the wheels more than once.
 
yea, Nobody would ever go to discount tire, it's always too crowded.

It's right there in the name "discount".
All the tire chains that sells tires at the lowest market price are working on volume and has tons of customers and waits in the few hours time. It only works if you can drop your car off and walk back home or to work or do something else; or they take appointments.

If you wanted to skip waits and lines, you have to pay a bit more at an independent local installer that doesn't do lifetime rotations and balancing and stuff like that.
I did this via tirerack with my favorite local shop, and yes they were done in 30min with an oil change I requested.
 
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The Discount Tire in my area is basically the most professional of all the tire shops. They've done great work for me. I've been totally sold on them after they opened here.

Weights sometimes fall off. It's happened to me at a tire shop once.

The tire ordering delay could have been a manufacturer back order. Without more info, we can't necessarily blame DT for that.

As far as the 4hr wait, today is one of only two days of their huge 4th of July sale. I'm not surprised they're busy.
 
Originally Posted By: Smoky14

Honestly guys, if you don't know where and how much weight you have on your wheels you don't pay much attention to your car IMO.

Smoky


Wow. A whole new level of BITOG OCD hubris.
 
I bought Firestones and was happy with them until i needed one replaced.(Big bolt stuck in it)I had moved 2 hours away and the local Firestone shop wouldn't cover what they said was a private shop's sale. I guess some shops are not in the loop. When it comes time for new tires?They won't be Firestones.
I think a local shop is the answer.I'm not sure if a dealer would be any better. Funny,Reading this while i was considering Discount tire.I admit that the Firestones look to last past 40.000 miles.
I was trying to figure out this Tire Rack place,The nearest one is 120 miles away. How can people buy tires without being able to get them serviced in any way?
 
Discount tire around here has always done things that impressed me. Patching a tire for free the correct way.

When I bought tires from them, they did everything correctly and torqued the wheel properly to spec.

I got in a pinch on a sunday and needed to buy tires, so ended up buying at NTB. The sunday employees did two things that ticked me off, I forget what they were but I generally wasn't happy with their service. (But was glad they were open on a sunday).

The buy 3 get one free deal at Firestone sometimes makes them a good deal, otherwise they are not cheap.
 
I avoid discount tire places at all cost. No attention to detail at all and they are always in a rush to get the most cars done as they can. It's almost guaranteed that they'll scratch your wheels or mess something else up.
 
Originally Posted By: AlienBug
Originally Posted By: Smoky14

Honestly guys, if you don't know where and how much weight you have on your wheels you don't pay much attention to your car IMO.

Smoky


Wow. A whole new level of BITOG OCD hubris.


Hubris? possibly, but after 25+ years as an aircraft mechanic you become OCD because mistakes get people killed. With pics of the wheels I can pick up a weight while on a trip and be out a few minutes time instead of waiting hours to get re-balanced.
The southwest is full of DT stores so it is the logical choice for me as travel is our vice.
At 115K miles the Acura looks and drives almost as good as when it left the show room so OCD can pay in the long term.
YMMV
Smoky
 
Originally Posted By: Smoky14

This morning while checking pressure I notice a balance weight was missing after only 25 miles of driving.
Am I asking too much from Discount Tire to properly mount and balance a set of tires. I know they will fix it, but it delays my departure on my trip and that has SWMBO upset to no end.


Originally Posted By: Smoky14
With pics of the wheels I can pick up a weight while on a trip and be out a few minutes time instead of waiting hours to get re-balanced.


Let me see if I understand. In your first quote you say you lost a weight, and waiting for it to get replaced is a huge inconvenience. In your second quote you say you know exactly how much weight you have and where it's mounted on the tire so you can immediately replace it when needed.

Why not just replace the weight yourself and be done with it rather than wait for someone else to fix it?
 
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