costo/michelin tire school

Status
Not open for further replies.
E

edwardh1

Joined
Jan 17, 2003
Messages
3,462
Location
Coastal South Carolina
Costco sends some of their tire people to a Michelin school, and shows pix of the tire people, in the lobby, stating that they have been to that school.
what is involved in the school, is it sales stuff or more about installation and balancing, and fixing flats?
anyone been themselves?

and as an aside question, do balance machine have a "balance plate" or calibration wheel, that you put on them to verify that they are balancing correctly??
 
Last edited:
edward, they don't need a balance plate. fit a balanced tyre 90° differently, and it should still be in balance. If it isn't the machine is faulty.

but that's the least of your worries. You need to know how to read the machines to get the best out of them, in my experience. They're never "dead on" with the indicated placement. The cilinder of the tyre must be divided in to segments and the machine points ot the center of the segment requiring a balance weight. That can be off by an inch or so, resulting in the machine wanting an additional smaller weight a quarter circle further...
 
I go to a place that is old school and balances the tires on the vehicle and does it all by feel. When they are done the vehicle rides as smooth as ever. No fancy machine to deal with or taking the tire off the vehicle. You get the entire rotating assembly balanced.
 
Originally Posted By: edwardh1
Costco sends some of their tire people to a Michelin school, and shows pix of the tire people, in the lobby, stating that they have been to that school.
what is involved in the school, is it sales stuff or more about installation and balancing, and fixing flats?
anyone been themselves?

and as an aside question, do balance machine have a "balance plate" or calibration wheel, that you put on them to verify that they are balancing correctly??

I love Costco and so far was trouble free place, and I bought probably 6-7 tire sets, always use them before winter to switch to winter tires and then spring to switch to summer tires.
I understand why some people do not like to visit Costco during weekend, but any place that offers healthcare, free holiday days, and has decent hourly wage has my business, and Costco is one of them.
 
Originally Posted By: edyvw
Originally Posted By: edwardh1
Costco sends some of their tire people to a Michelin school, and shows pix of the tire people, in the lobby, stating that they have been to that school.
what is involved in the school, is it sales stuff or more about installation and balancing, and fixing flats?
anyone been themselves?

and as an aside question, do balance machine have a "balance plate" or calibration wheel, that you put on them to verify that they are balancing correctly??

I love Costco and so far was trouble free place, and I bought probably 6-7 tire sets, always use them before winter to switch to winter tires and then spring to switch to summer tires.
I understand why some people do not like to visit Costco during weekend, but any place that offers healthcare, free holiday days, and has decent hourly wage has my business, and Costco is one of them.


+1. I have never seen an employee that did not seem happy at their work, at Costco. And the tire shop guys are sharp, and always overestimate the time it will take.....Never underestimate.

I schedule my times to drop off a car for tires or rotation when I have something else to do, in town. No complaints about Costco whatsoever.
 
Originally Posted By: 4wheeldog
Originally Posted By: edyvw
Originally Posted By: edwardh1
Costco sends some of their tire people to a Michelin school, and shows pix of the tire people, in the lobby, stating that they have been to that school.
what is involved in the school, is it sales stuff or more about installation and balancing, and fixing flats?
anyone been themselves?

and as an aside question, do balance machine have a "balance plate" or calibration wheel, that you put on them to verify that they are balancing correctly??

I love Costco and so far was trouble free place, and I bought probably 6-7 tire sets, always use them before winter to switch to winter tires and then spring to switch to summer tires.
I understand why some people do not like to visit Costco during weekend, but any place that offers healthcare, free holiday days, and has decent hourly wage has my business, and Costco is one of them.


+1. I have never seen an employee that did not seem happy at their work, at Costco. And the tire shop guys are sharp, and always overestimate the time it will take.....Never underestimate.

I schedule my times to drop off a car for tires or rotation when I have something else to do, in town. No complaints about Costco whatsoever.

I used to work at Costco back in my college days. Compared to other retail companies: excellent wages, great benefits, and decent environment. We received a free membership but no discounts on purchases. IMO, that's the place to be if you're in retail. I don't know if the rules have changed from about 5 years ago but the basic employees such as the cashiers, janitors, etc can top out at $19.00 an hour nation wide. They give raises based on amount of hours worked, therefore, to make it to $19 an hour, it would take about 7 years of working full-time.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: edwardh1
what about the Michelin tire school?

Most of the Costco guys I talked to went to that school.
I personally think they are bit biased to Michelin.
I know some in Colorado Costco went to Bridgestone winter testing facility here in CO.
IMHO, any kind of school is good, and compared to other usual suspects, I would say they know better.
 
My guess would be the school is a little bit from column A and a little bit from column B.

It would breakdown and explain a tire, and specifically what technologies make the Michelin tires better than competitors.

It would breakdown tire procedures, including the troubleshooting procedures-and specifically what Michelin's customer service and return processes are to get things right.
 
Last edited:
where do they learn what is the out of round tolerance or what is the rim out of true (side variation) for example.
is it the same for all brands of tires or cars?
 
I would assume at Michelin School they'd only learn the procedures and specs for Michelin tires including how Michelis warranty process works.

Specs are always different, that's why they have a spec. However once you've learned the general procedures and concept, you learn how to learn and are able to apply the concept to a different vehicle and look up the spec and procedure to see the differences.

Like they can just read the 1 page Bridgestone Reference on the topic and know what to do from there.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: edwardh1
Where do they learn what is the out of round tolerance or what is the rim out of true (side variation) for example.
Is it the same for all brands of tires or cars?


First, runout, uniformity, and balance tolerances vary by tire manufacturer and vehicle manufacturer. Even within either, the tolerances vary.

Second, I think you'll find that what is acceptable is judged based on the perception, not the tolerance of the components - that the consumer complaint is what triggers an investigation and it is up to the technician to determine what is causing it.

Further, the only tolerances I know that are published are the ones programmed into the Hunter GSP9700 Road Force machine - and not only are those adjustable, but I have issues with the levels and the way they are determined. In other words, I don't think you can rely on the machine to do the thinking.
 
Originally Posted By: edwardh1
Costco sends some of their tire people to a Michelin school, and shows pix of the tire people, in the lobby, stating that they have been to that school.
what is involved in the school, is it sales stuff or more about installation and balancing, and fixing flats?
anyone been themselves?

and as an aside question, do balance machine have a "balance plate" or calibration wheel, that you put on them to verify that they are balancing correctly??
yeah the tire balancer at work has a calibration weight. Its just a known weight to the machine that allows it to calibrate it self.. the machine is a hammerhead roadforce..balancer. also the machine points at the weight location with a laser. Its wuite accurate. I can run the machine to first determine the heavy spot in the rim mark it then de and re the tire to the rim to minmize weight usage.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: Superflop
yeah the tire balancer at work has a calibration weight. Its just a known weight to the machine that allows it to calibrate it self.. the machine is a hammerhead roadforce..balancer. also the machine points at the weight location with a laser. Its wuite accurate. I can run the machine to first determine the heavy spot in the rim mark it then de and re the tire to the rim to minmize weight usage.


Superflop,

What is a Hammerhead RoadForce Balancer? I'm not familiar with that brand, and "RoadForce" is a term used by Hunter Engineering. I did a quick internet search and I don't see any tire equipment identified as Hammerhead.

Further, if you are using a true RoadForce machine - ala Hunter Engineering - then reindexing tires to minimize balance weights is not improving things for your customer. You should be reindexing to reduce the roadforce and let the balance fall where it will.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: CapriRacer
...
What is a Hammerhead RoadForce Balancer? ...


Hammerhead is Hunter, or rather an option on Hunter equipment. Smartweight is Hunters attempt to reduce weight use. (Which is probably of little benefit to the customer, but potentially reduces the shops cost, thus improving the bottom line)

My guys have Hammerhead, while I don't pretend to know all there is to know one thing it does is link the alignment machine and road force balancer and will actually tell the technician where to place each assembly to minimize lead/pull.

Scratch that, that may be Hawkeye that allows that, but a Hammerhead is Hunter.

http://www.hunter.com/wheel-balancers/smartweight-touch
 
Last edited:
Hunter Forcematch Hd with hammerhead laser. I was saying that I can do it. I think its a neat option I never have done it but I can.
 
For those who aren't aware:

Hunter Engineering has what they call a "SmartWeight" system where they compensate for the difference in vehicle sensitivity to static and dynamic balancing.

Vehicles are more sensitive to an up and down vibration, than a side to side vibration, so to get a smooth ride, you have to reduce the up and down vibration MORE - and that's static balancing. The vehicle is not as sensitive to side to side vibration, so you don't have to be as fussy. That's why static balancing came first and why even today, many folks get away with static balancing only.

Hunter Engineering's system uses less weight without a perceptible increase in vibration.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: Superflop
Originally Posted By: edwardh1
Costco sends some of their tire people to a Michelin school, and shows pix of the tire people, in the lobby, stating that they have been to that school.
what is involved in the school, is it sales stuff or more about installation and balancing, and fixing flats?
anyone been themselves?

and as an aside question, do balance machine have a "balance plate" or calibration wheel, that you put on them to verify that they are balancing correctly??
yeah the tire balancer at work has a calibration weight. Its just a known weight to the machine that allows it to calibrate it self.. the machine is a hammerhead roadforce..balancer. also the machine points at the weight location with a laser. Its wuite accurate. I can run the machine to first determine the heavy spot in the rim mark it then de and re the tire to the rim to minmize weight usage.


is the calibration weight used every day? week? month?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

F
Can this tire be patched and other tire questions?
2
Replies
25
Views
769
dumkid
D
Michelin tires with cracks and only 7k miles on them - safe to use?
2 3 4
Replies
69
Views
7K
TimeFlies
wwillson
Tire balance bead experiment - do they work?
2
Replies
33
Views
6K
t1snwrbrdr12
P
Does this sound like a bad tire?
2
Replies
28
Views
2K
CapriRacer
Nick1994
Tire troubles on multiple vehicles
2
Replies
31
Views
2K
hrv
Back
Top