New Tire Experience

[SubaSteevo]

Not much is happening so I thought I'd tell you all about my experience getting my new tires from Sears. First I decided to go with Yokohama Avid V4's. I brought in an add from onlinetires.com and Sears matched the price (+$12). I then decided to get a road hazard warant. Grand total $395. Two weeks went by without any word so I called them, they said they had no record of the order. I had them REorder the tires for me, they came in last wednesday. I sent my mom to bring the car because I've been really busy lately. Turns out I needed an alignment too, so the total was $450. My mom gets the car home and I realized the wheels were on backward (the front right and back left were switched) so I had wheels pointed in all different directions (it was quite funny looking). So I call them and tell them they screwed up, they say to bring it in and they'll fix it (I couldn't cause they're directional tires). I brought the car in 2:30 on Sunday, told them which two needed to be changed they said it would be ready by 5. The girl made a diagram to show the mechanics which to change. I did some shopping and came back at 5, they said it was just coming down. I went to the waiting room and realized that my front left wheel was now backwards too. It turns out the mechanic didn't read the directions and just put them on the way he THOUGHT they went. I went back inside and complained so they said they'd fix them. I showed the mechanic what to do and he goes, "wait, you want them on backwards?". I responded, "no, I want them on right, the way you put them is backwards." He said he was quitting and walked away until another guy offered to help him. So now they had 4 more tires and wheels to change on top of the 2 they already messed up. I left at 5:45 with my new tires and correctly facing wheels. A happy end (for me anyway) to a long and stupid story.

P.S. They probably weren't happy since the store closed at 6 and they still had 2 cars to do, plus I didn't pay a penny. Goes to show everyone, always follow directions

P.P.S. I managed to fix my scratch after about 2 hrs of rubbing and polishing

[ensteele]

The car I just bought had the wheels on backwards. The woman who had the car had not noticed that when they put them back on after installing new tires. Luckily the tires were not directional. I put them back on the right way after getting the car home. The wheels are also marked which side they go on. At least I think that "L" means Left and "R" means Right. At least this week.

[SVXRide]

As I was kindly educated about when I first joined this site (my wheels were backwards when I bought my '92) the side of the car is always in reference to where the driver is sitting. Thus, the wheels with the "L" near the valve stem go on the driver's side of the car (his/her left). I've been told that with the spokes oriented this way, they pull air from outside the car to help cool the disc rotors.
-Bill

[vzSvx]

I also had Sears change my tires when I bought the Yokohamas...and YES! sure enough, they did the wheels backwards, too. The funny thing was, I didn't realize it right away until a week later when I took a picture of my car and sent them to a few friends of mine online. One of them sent me an email and told me my wheels looked funny. I went to my desktop display and there it was. I was so upset...I felt so stupid for not catching it myself. I took it back to Sears and I had to be there to direct them on how the wheels should look. They argued with me at first because they said that the way I wanted it was the wrong way. I had to show them some computer print outs of an SVX pics, to prove them wrong.

[Seraph]

Originally posted by vzSvx
I also had Sears change my tires when I bought the Yokohamas...and YES! sure enough, they did the wheels backwards, too. The funny thing was, I didn't realize it right away until a week later when I took a picture of my car and sent them to a few friends of mine online. One of them sent me an email and told me my wheels looked funny. I went to my desktop display and there it was. I was so upset...I felt so stupid for not catching it myself. I took it back to Sears and I had to be there to direct them on how the wheels should look. They argued with me at first because they said that the way I wanted it was the wrong way. I had to show them some computer print outs of an SVX pics, to prove them wrong.

Sears did that to me too whe I balanced my tires. I had to wait and go into the work area and tell the guy which tire goes where.

Lwin

When I first bought my 92 (5 years ago) it needed 2 tires, the owner of the tire shop pointed out that someone installed two of the wheels/tires backwards. He corrected the problem when he installed the new tires. The following year I bought two more AVID V4's and low and behold his mechanic screwed up. Fortunately, I saw it before he did the 2nd tire and they corrected it on the spot.

[SubaSteevo]

You have the V4's also. How do you like them?

[Subafreak]

How do you put the wheels on in different directions on the same side? How do you not notice that? Its amazing they they manage to get the tires going the right direction. Dont these guys pay attention when there working? Im glad I work at a garage, I don't trust anyone else to work on my baby.

[svx_commuter]

I am glad I didn't have any of those problems. I just told the guy that there are left side and right side rims. Put them back where they came off.

Dude, I have almost the exact same story. I bought a set of Yoko A550Vs from sears, total was 550+ dollars with balancing and everything. Anyway, I realized once I got home that they screwed up the wheels, so I took it back the next day. I got there at 1pm. They said they could have it done at 5.

WHAT THE HELL.

I mean, if THEY f*ck up, THEY should fix it AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, not take care of everyone else first. PLUS, it wouldn't have even taken that long. All they'd need to do would be jack the car up, take off 2 wheels, dismount the tires, remount them correctly, and put the wheels back on. 15 minutes TOPS. But nOOOOOo.

Assholes.

- Ca$h

[LarryIII]

Ca$h,

That's why I go to NTB (owned by Sears) for tires and go to Sears ONLY for batteries.

Tires are too important an item (the only things connecting you & your car to the ground) to allow the Sears type technicians to put them on your car.

I also stand over them when they put a battery in.

[Paisan]

Yup. Same thing here. They put my Asymetric Directional tires on incorrectly for me. Then my guys put them on the car on the wrong side.

So in the end I took em to Pep Boys and had them dismount them and re-mount them properly. Luckily it only cost me $40 to get it fixed. It was kinda my fault in the first place cause we rushed the original install.

-mike

[SVXphile]

Our local Sears at the Crossroads Mall has always done a good job mounting, balancing, and rotating my tires. They are familiar with the SVX and know about the directional wheels. They even hand-tighten my lug nuts rather than use a air gun. Don

[MNYPNNY]

Guess I'm glad that I have custom rims and non-directional tires now!

~~Michelle

[LarryIII]

I only voted once but I have 2 SVXi (I want to use SVXi as the plural of SVX rather than use SVXes).
Both of the cars have the wheels on correctly.

Should I vote again ?