Sears and Sumitomo

[clembrewer]

Got my 1st rotation done on my Sumotomo tires from Sears.

I'm still not happy with these tires. Their wet traction is not good, they slip easy. Snow traction was better than I had anticipated. Not too noisy. Overall, I wouldn't buy these again.

Car is a Hyundai Accent.

Got the tires rotated at Sears. They actually finished them with a torque wrench!

 

[benjamming]

Did they hand start the lug nuts or impact?
What size tire & what model of Sumo?

 

[bdcardinal]

if they followed sears torquing policy, they hand started the lugnuts, then used an impact gun with a torque stick, then hand torque.

which sumis to you have, the HTRT4 or the HTRH4? i had sumitomos on my mustang when i got it and i got rid of them so fast. i always liked selling them when i was a salesman because they had a really good comission rate and they were an easy sale because of the mileage warrenties.

 

[clembrewer]

I don't remember if they are the H4 or the T4, but I think H4 sounds right.

Yep, these tires suck. I'll be replacing them this summer if I can.

And yes they started by hand, used an impact gun with torque sticks, then finished by hand.

 

[unDummy]

You get what you pay for and Sears definitely charges too much for tires. At least they finish torque 'em by hand!

I was also offended when I showed Sears the HTR+ tires and they tried pushing those H4/T4's on me. Then they said HTR+ aren't made and impossible to order. Yeah, whatever!

 

[JustinH]

Sears deffinitely is expensive on tires, but so many people have the sears charge and will just go there to use their charge.

How sad.

I was walking around sears the other day, someone had given my girlfriend and I a 50 dollar giftcard.

We walked around this gigantic store, and decided that everything was way overpriced.

We ended up spending 54 dollars on one set of sheets, and a pair of track pants for her.

The sheets were the same quality you would find at walmart for 14 dollars.

 

[bdcardinal]

about the sumitomos being hard to order i agree. most companies, michelin/bfg, goodyear, bridgestone have automated phone ordering. you call, talk to a computer, put in the part number and the tires show up 5 days later. with sumitomo you have to track down some guy who never answers. then you leave a message and he never calls back for days. you call back and he says that he cant get those tires and we have to go through our district manager. call the district manager and he says that we have to call sumitomo. by this time the customer goes somewhere else and you dont have to worry about it anymore.

 

[clembrewer]

I think I got a good price on these tires. 175/70-13. I paid $207 for four tires installed w/ the $10/tire warranty. I was in a crunch and had to get the tires replaced in order to pass the state inspection. Cheap WalMart tires would have been about $201.

I thought these would be better than the WalMart brand. They're not!

I had Hankook 835s on before. They were much better tires, and a bit more $.

Live and learn!

 

[bdcardinal]

i like sears for tires mostly because of the nationwide warrenty. the tires on my mustang are from tirerack, however i got tires for my moms car from sears. they are actually really good about honoring any of the warrenties needed, assuming you keep up your end of the deal and rotate/balance and align.

 

[Racerjk]

I purchased Sumitomo HTR T4's from Sears back in January for my beater/work car Sunbird. The tires have a 75k warranty and I really like them. They ride quiet and perform pretty well in the rain IMO.

I had sworn off Sears for tires,but I had a $150 gift card. I got 4 195/70/R14 tires mounted,balanced,with road harzand and an alignment for 260 bucks. They actually balanced the tires right and did a good job on the alignment. I was really surprised. The nationwide warranty is a plus also.

 

[benjamming]

Quote:

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They actually balanced the tires right and did a good job on the alignment.

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How do you know they balanced the tires right? What max speed do you travel?

 

[ewetho]

Quote:

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Quote:

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They actually balanced the tires right and did a good job on the alignment.

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How do you know they balanced the tires right? What max speed do you travel?

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When I worked at one not to long ago we did a fine job (with the equipment we had-no Road Force Balance equipment) and the rest of the guys rarely had an issue either. When we had problems (we not let each other counter balance, 2 weights on opposites side of say the outer rim flange) it was generally customer would not buy a new rim that they bent or tire run-out issue(roadforce variation). Solved some by match-mounting but other were just no good.

 

[bdcardinal]

ya, we make really good use of the equipment we have.

 

[98LSC32V]

I like the Sumitomo HTR Z II's, very sticky summer tires.