I am steamed! These guys are blithering idiots. Letter going to corp HQ, certified mail tomorrow AM

Last weekend, I took my vette up and got some new GS-D3's from them. They also did a swap out to get sensors off mag wheels for the chromes I brought with me. ($40 extra to pull sensors remount/swap old tires to wheels again.)

No problem. They did not drive up on those padded lifts, and seemed to do fine with proper jacking technique for the vette. Then brought that one home and took the wife's Grand Cherokee up for new tires on that car too! Coughed up nearly $1800 for tires on two cars.

Two days ago driving down the highway and I hear something in the rear that sounded like I took a 45 cal round on the rear wheel. Pulled over took a look and nothing obvious in the dark. TPS Sensors still showing good pressure. Figured I must have just hit something in the road?

Next day, I discover one of the locking lug nuts missing - GONE! Figuring 2+2, I drop by DT today to quiz them about it. Admission comes that they only torque down locking lugs 'snug' with air gun only. Then torque to 100 ft/lbs the rest. My face takes on a look of an 800 pound hungry grissly bear, and said, "you wanna run that one by me again....just to make sure I heard you right the first time?" "Yep - SOP around here sir, never a problem"

"We'll get you right in and were' going to give you 4 new locking nuts (Chrome/ SS), no charge" - Wow , that is generous, but they don't match the others look or style. OK, checked with the "manager" and agreed to replace all 16 + 4 locking, no charge.

Granted was busy - around noon time... but I expected some farily quick service - 45 min later I see this bozo pulling my car on one of their standard "padded lifts". Before I could say S*it, it was up. I ran out, yelled - GET THE CAR DOWN NOW! The manager comes out and tells me to leave the shop area. Me and 'a da boss' had a toe to toe convo.

20 minutes later, now they got some kid that just have just started jacking it up correctly with padding so it is done right. Then, as the nuts come off and the new go on, he had 16 of the wrong size and was using Air Gun trying to 'force' them on the studs. - STOP... Mr. manager? Can you PLEASE get someone competent to accomplish this no-brainer task. Another 15 min pass, when a veteran (had to have been - really dirty hands, which he used to get his fat *** up and down while touching the side of my car checking out the nuts that didnt fit.

Finally, they get them all done - total elapsed time 1 hour 25 minutes to take of 19 nuts (remember - one went flying off no telling where at 80 MPH). I leave and had to drive around 20 minutes to cool my jets over the experience.

**GEESH** you would think they were working on some Frickin Yugo.

Don't know what a letter would do to corp HQ, but they will get a piece of my mind, that's for SURE!

Anyone else had similar experience with these idiots?

 

I would have just made them buy the 16, and replaced them myself, with a torque wrench, maybe 20-30 minutes tops. I am very wary of any place changing tires these days, they hire the Sears, Tuffies, etc. rejects at these places.

 

Nope, and hope I never will. I always take the wheels off the car and take them somewhere.

I did get hit by a flying lugnut once though... fortunately it was a rental car. I don't think it buffs out.

 

If you want something torqued right you have to do it your self.

 

Just make sure you send the message to management by never buying anything there again!

 

What is wrong with using the padded lift?

 

I stopped going to Discount Tire years ago because of similar problems with my own small fleet of cars.

I have also had wheel studs busted off and lugs cross threaded at Big-O and Ramona tire. They try to act like rookie Nascar pit crews. They put the lug nut in the air gun socket and then stuff the gun over the stud and try to ram it on (idiots) . I made the manager buy replacement studs and nuts on two of my vehicles and I installed them myself to avoid further damage to the vehicle.

Out of the three local tire stores I cannot find a competent one. I have written complaint letters to all of them. All you will receive is a coupon inviting you to bring your car back for more damage (no thanks).

I dread the day that I will need new tires on my vette. My general rule is to remove all of the wheels and load them in the back of the wagon and drop them off at the tire store. This is not even fool proof as they have even bent my rims with their tire mounting machine by failing to lube the new tire bead before trying to force it on the rim dry.

I once had a set of very nice polished aluminum rims on one of my cars. On the service ticket I requested tape weights just like I had before. After the bozo mounted the tires he begins hammering lead weights on the outer edge of the rim with a pair of huge channel lock pliers and banged the heck out of the rim. I went out in the shop and yelled at him to stop, but the damage was done. I had to replace the rim.

I also find that brake rotors stay straight a lot longer if you hand torque all of the lug nuts yourself instead of allowing the dumb gorilla with the air gun in his hand to do it.

I could go on forever, but I think I will save the other stories for the book I intend to write titled The Idiots Guide to Running a Tire Store.

 

That sucks, but I must say, the locking lug nuts are not supposed to be TQ to 100 ft. pds. They obviously did not tighten them down enough, for that they are idiots. But full TQ is a great way to get stranded trying to get them off in the middle of nowhere when the "key" strips.

 

I hear ya guys. It sucks that getting some work done right has to be this way. My sister has a newer Honda Prelude. For some reason the morons never put her directional rims on the right way. Seriously, they do this everyday how can they not know that some cars have directions rims.

 

Sorry to hear of your less than satisfactory experience, but what do you expect from "Discount" tire?? I would have thought you would have taken your ride to a more reputable establishment or perhaps even done it yourself "Diyguy".

 

Well I am very surprised!!! Last spring just before putting the car away for the winter I had D3's put on at Discount Tire. They did and exceptional job for me. One man did the whole job. Asked me if there were any special requirements before he started. I told him the lugs were to be removed by hand and watch for the TPS sensors. They did a great job and we chatted for over a 1/2 hour afterwords about cars and racing. Which Discount Tires now is a sponsor for a NASCAR. So I had a very positive experience at Discount Tire.

So I guess not all Discount Tire stores are created equal. Sorry to hear you had a bad experience. Better luck next time.

 

Sorry to hear about that fiasco. I recently changed out my runflats and stock rims for new tires and GM chrome thin spokes. I called a few different shops before I found someone who was familiar with Vettes and knew what he was talking about. I told them exactly what I needed and asked if I could watch, worked out well but I watched every step like a hawk. The owner wound up balancing the tires so the stick on weights don't show. You can't take anything for granted when someone is working on your ride these days.

 

Hard to find competent help these days. Hope the lug that came loose did not do any damage to the wheel's finish. May want to look that over very carefully.

 

Wow, that's fk'd up. That's why I either do it myself or luckily for me, being in the bodyshop business, I have had the opportunity of finding the right people to do the right job. On the bright side, be glad when the lugnut went flying off your car that it didn't hit the car and chip the paint... ouch.

Good luck getting it fixed.

Mark

 

Generally, places like Discount Tire employ nimrods. Good mechanics have good jobs at more reputable shops. At places like this, don't expect to be treated any better than anyone else - your Vette is just another vehicle to them. Find a shop that caters to car fanatics like us - you'll find one by asking other car guys where they go.

 

"Discount Tire" Name says to say it all.

 

I had a set of new powder coated rims installed there and they had to buy me a new one from the damage that was caused while mounting the new tires. I guess the person mounting them didn't know how to run the machine cause he chewed the lip up around almost the whole rim. The manager was cool about it but said that they don't usually like to mount powder coated rims for that reason. They had a bunch of painted and powdered coated rims in the showroom for sale. Go figure.

 

Yes, as the DIY-guy implies, I DO quite a bit of work myself and under normal circumstances i would have done just that. Take them home and DIY' it.

Since I figured it would be a quick in and out to swap lugnuts, time caught up with me when I saw the clock ticking away. I was not dressed properly to work on my car....and since they didn't screw up the install/re-mounts when the D3's were put on, I assumed this would be a professional 'work me in' sort of deal.

By the time they did put it on the rack, THAT's when things started to go wrong. A comedy of errors just followed. Under different circumstances, YES, I would have walked out with 16 nuts and 4 locking nuts and said - Thanks

I do not recall having seen anywhere in the owners manual or on this forum that ALL nuts are NOT to be torqued to 100 ft/lbs. Unless I am missing something, would the locking nut be the weak link in the chain? What torque should it be? If I'm on the speedway running 130+, I don't want 80% of the nuts torqued - ALL of them.

And, finally to answer another query, "why not on a padded body lift?" That clearly is in the owners manual. You don't want the entire weight of the car resting on the rocker panels. If one cracked or broke, something would have to get replaced!

 

Man, what an ordeal! Think I would have (as others have said) opted for the give me lug nuts, I will do it myself routine as well. Oh well, never bought from them, and probably won't. Last set of tires I bought from Tirerack, and had a local (Westerville, OH) "performance" shop put them on.

 

go here and get set of the rocker rails..lowers blood pressure significantly..
https://www.aandacorvette.com/cart/s...sp?MainCatID=5