Scored a free set of snow's today

[14Accent]

A customer came in today requesting his summer tires be put on his wheels, and the currently mounted snow tires be discarded. No problem.

Towards the end of the day, I'm off doing an alignment and my tire tech yells "Hey, what size tires are on your Volt?" I tell him 215/55R17's. He yells for me to come take a look.

Low and behold, the tires are almost new Firestone Winterforce's, P215/55R17. There's some very minor cupping on the shoulders, it almost looks like they were used year-round for one season and that's it. The DOT code on them is 3313, so late in the year 2013. I'm not worried about the age, they look like whoever had them stored them properly and they show no sign of degradation or rot. The bead surfaces are mint, as well.

I'm probably just going to get a set of steels for next winter, I thought about buying nicer summer wheels but I really like the stock wheels. I'd rather keep them nice and rock steels in the winter.

Anyways, decent way to end my work day!

 

[skyactiv]

I would personally refund any tire disposal fee if he was charged for it. Nice score!

 

[supton]

Nice!

Keep an eye on CL. I scored all my steelies there. $60 for one Camry, $200 for the other (with a good set of unmounted snows that I got two winters out of!), and $100 for my Tundra. Each time they came up I quickly arranged pickup.

 

[14Accent]

Originally Posted By: skyactiv
I would personally refund any tire disposal fee if he was charged for it. Nice score!


That's the first thing I said to my manager. Well, the second. The first was MAKE SURE HE UNDERSTANDS! Some people just say things because they're told something, and I have no intention on robbing someone to get some tires. The second was make sure you take the disposal fee off the ticket, and I plan on checking up on that tomorrow.

 

[14Accent]

Originally Posted By: supton
Nice!

Keep an eye on CL. I scored all my steelies there. $60 for one Camry, $200 for the other (with a good set of unmounted snows that I got two winters out of!), and $100 for my Tundra. Each time they came up I quickly arranged pickup.


I'm keeping an eye, for sure. It's a 5x115 pattern so it's fairly easy to match. I don't really care what rims I find on CL as long as they fit properly and the price is right.

 

[Snagglefoot]

Originally Posted By: 14Accent
Originally Posted By: skyactiv
I would personally refund any tire disposal fee if he was charged for it. Nice score!


That's the first thing I said to my manager. Well, the second. The first was MAKE SURE HE UNDERSTANDS! Some people just say things because they're told something, and I have no intention on robbing someone to get some tires. The second was make sure you take the disposal fee off the ticket, and I plan on checking up on that tomorrow.


Just give the equivalent amount to your favorite charity. If the customer finds out someone got his tires, he’ll get jealous. Not worth it.

 

[Kira]

1) Good catch!
2) Wouldn't the instruction to dispose of the snows be written on the shop's work order or bill of sale?....ergo covering the customer's possible change of mind?
3) Best of luck finding your wheels. Steelies (or a set of any affordable wheels) have always been elusive.....lots of those "$500 each" wheels though.

 

[14Accent]

I'll bag them up and take them home tonight for storage. Still can't believe the guy didn't want these.

 

[supton]

Well, they are winterforce. Never used them, but all my reading of the reviews are that they are ok in deep snow, and not much else. Those certainly look like they have good siping, and no feathering, but perhaps the owner didn't like the roar, didn't feel that they were needed after all, or plans to get rid of the car soon.

 

[14Accent]

Originally Posted By: supton
Well, they are winterforce. Never used them, but all my reading of the reviews are that they are ok in deep snow, and not much else. Those certainly look like they have good siping, and no feathering, but perhaps the owner didn't like the roar, didn't feel that they were needed after all, or plans to get rid of the car soon.


Who knows? I have heard that they're better in snow than ice but here in MN we see plenty of snow. Deep snow. Slippery snow. Just lots of... you guessed it. SNOW. I'm actually excited to try these out next season, the FR710's that are on the car did amazingly well in the last storm we had here, these are going to be even better!

 

[Kira]

They probably will be better.

The customer mightn't have had a place to store them. As you said, "Who knows?"