trip to Wal-Mart always an adventure (OT)

[_shel_ny]

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Edited September 13, 2011 by shel_bizzy_48

[50PlymouthSled]

Yeah. Sounds 'bout right. I've seen places out here that keep your car for half an hour and don't do even change the oil like you paid for. Makes me remember why I work on my own things, and joined this place to ask question.

[greg g]

My belief is that the only reason for rotating tires is to balance the distribution of brake dust on the wheels. Seems to me front tires wear faster than backs by about 1/3. So when the front tires wear out and need replacing, the rears are still about half good and go to the front. New tires go on the rear. Then I buy 2 instead of 4. Just my theory.

[50PlymouthSled]

Not a bad theory, I'll have to keep that in mind.

[Plymouthy Adams]

I usually do all my own tire work..however on the one van the wheel centers were so small they would not allow me to fit my equipment here at the house...I found that..it is best to remove all signs of weights before getting a balance...reason is, and Ihave seen this in a number of shops, they will take the tire off the car..spin it up..tack on the tad of weight that may be needed...now my friend..you are balancing a balance..flat out not right and will lead to flat spots on your tires..you paying for a blance..get it done right...I tend to watch them close..if they spin it up and place an inboard and outboard weight..spin again and go to place a weight..NEVER..pull the first two off and do it again..

I would not be a bit surprised to learn some shops idea of an oil change is to take it from one car and place it in another...

[50PlymouthSled]

Yeah, that's if they even take the oil out. Half the time they don't even bother to do that. It's pretty ridiculous these days.

[Norm's Coupe]

My belief is that the only reason for rotating tires is to balance the distribution of brake dust on the wheels. Seems to me front tires wear faster than backs by about 1/3. So when the front tires wear out and need replacing, the rears are still about half good and go to the front. New tires go on the rear. Then I buy 2 instead of 4. Just my theory.

I've always done about the same, especially since front wheel drive came out. Only difference is, I never move the rears to the front. Just keep replacing the fronts when needed. I've had the rears last as long as 80,000 to 90,000 miles on front wheel drive cars. If and when I replace the rear tires, I move the front tires to the rear and put the new ones on the front. Don't remember the last time I bought a complete set of 4 tires at once for a front wheel drive car.

[50PlymouthSled]

That's another way to do it I s'pose. But I don't any new autos. So nothing I have will ever be front wheel drive.

[Mr. Belvedere]

On my last set of continental suv tires, I just rotated every other time I gave the wifes Escape an oil change and got 89,000+ out of the set that came from the factory, and never once did I rebalance them. Already have 40k on the second set of exactly the same tire which btw wally world had the best deal on. I like to buy four tires new all at once so they all look the same and wear togather, if I was diving and old truck or something I suppose I wouldn't care if any two looked the same.

[50PlymouthSled]

Yeah, I guess I've never been one on looks. I mean hell, if you saw me or what I drove, you'd see why. Hahahahahaha.

[BobT-47P15]

I have in the past purchased tires at wally world, but nowadays I prefer to

go to local tire stores....one in particular. Their price is good and they know

what they're doing. And I can pretty much be a spectator while they work.

[Norm's Coupe]

I have in the past purchased tires at wally world, but nowadays I prefer to

go to local tire stores....one in particular. Their price is good and they know

what they're doing. And I can pretty much be a spectator while they work.

I agree. I buy all my tires at a Firestone store for my everyday cars. You don't always get such a good deal at the discount store auto shops. For example: About 2 months ago I needed a new battery for my van. A local Big Box store had their batteries on sale at the time. When I called them to see about them installing it, they wanted extra for that. The battery was on sale for about $46 but installed it was $73. The I called Remy Battery to check their prices. Their batteries were not on sale, so the price was about $57. When I ask about installation they said; "Bring the car and we'll install it while you wait, installation is included in the price". I drove over to the Remy store and was on my way back home within 30 minutes. So.............who had the better deal, the battery shop or the big box so called discount store?

Yes, I could have bought the battery at the discount store, then install it my self and save about $10 or $15. Why should I for that price though. This way I got the new battery installed and an electrical check. In a big box store it would have taken me 30 minutes just to buy the battery.

[Brad Lustig]

As for the more expensive oil in the larger quantity, I've noticed that in several places around the store. I think they expect most people don't compare the unit price and figure that if it's a larger size, it's probably a better deal. The first time I noticed it was with toothpaste. Most of the time, it's cheaper to buy two of the smaller tubes than the one big tube.

[Young Ed]

I'd be more likely to install my own battery not so much to save 10 bucks but because I distrust them working on my car. The last 2 sets of tires I bought I dropped just the wheels and old tires off and picked up the new ones. I am currently shopping for a new set right now but this time I will probably let them have the whole truck as it needs an alignment too. Any good tire recomendations? Probably will go to either the local farm equip place or discount tire

[Captain Neon]

I like Cooper tyres. I have a set on my Neon and the wife's Acclaim. I am planning on getting a set of Discoverer S/Ts for my Jeep. The wife's been hounding me. Two bald front tyres won't do me much good in the snow even with 4x4. Cooper's the only all-American tyre company left, if I'm not mistaken, with factories in Arkansas and Ohio. I'm surprised that Goodyear continues to advertise that they supply the tyres for NASCAR. With the problems NASCAR teams have had with tyres the past few seasons, I'd never brag about being the supplier for NASCAR.

[Plymouthy Adams]

more than not with Goodyear being the supplier for NASCAR...is very much the same as it being factory tires for a lot of vehicles..they are cheap..you're safer having sex without a condom than riding on Goodyear...

[RHDSP15C]

The Cooper advertisement I saw stated they were guaranteed to do 80,000 kilometers, they were the most expensive brand I found for 265.75.16 on my F250. Also for the guarantee to be good I had to take the truck back for alignment and balancing every 20,000 K - even more expense.

My cousin is a tire salesman for an Asian brand and when I called him he told me that he put a set of Coopers on two weeks before but the truck rode so bad he had to change them for a set of Goodyears. My truck now has 200,000 on the clock, never had a balance or alignment - the first set did better than 130,000.

The spare wheel never been used. Who needs Coopers when you can buy a Goodyear.

[Captain Neon]

Well, here in the uS of A, the price for Coopers is much more competitive than in Australia (import duties, transportation, etc.), and often competitive with Asian products. I can't speak of your experience w/ Cooper tyres. I've been much happier w/ the Cooper tyres on my Neon than the two sets of Goodyears previously. The Coopers on the wife's Acclaim are superiour to the BF Goodrich's that came off, and again, much cheaper. I don't know which Cooper tyres you put on your truck, but the specs for the Discoverer S/Ts are just what I am looking for, and have only heard good things from other Jeep owners w/ Cooper tyres. I'm sorry that you prefer Goodyear tyres to Coopers. Maybe the Australian Goodyear plants do a better job than here in the uS of A. I just don't know.

[Young Ed]

Wow the cooper STTs are on sale right now starting at 140 each. DANG that adds up to quite a bit. They have cooper light truck tires with other initials(anyone care to learn me about all the initials?). No prices are listed for the other types so I'll have to call or stop over

[Mr. Belvedere]

Gotta say, I was not too impressed with goodyear eagle rsa's on my escort zx2 from the factory, not to mention they were 200.00 ea. to replace. Don't know why the factory puts such pricey tires on such a cheapo car. Bought a set of Dunlaps to repace em so far so good.

[Captain Neon]

I have a set of 80,000 mi. tyres from Indonesia on the '92 LeBaron convertible. And yes, they are hard tyres, but the convertible is basically a summer touring car. If I'm not careful, I can easily squeal the tyres from a stoplight.

[greg g]

Well ya gotta recognize the factory certainly doesn't pay retail for its tires from Goodyear. They put those tires on for one purpose, so you get to replace them after about 20K miles, if you can get that much out of them, then Goodyear gets to reap the profits after you shell out the 200 bucks for their 60 dollar tires. Went through this with the wife's Subaru, came with Bridgestone Potenza High performance tires in a 215 50 16. They lasted 22K. I did a bunch of looking at stuff from tire rack, discount tire, and a couple local sources. The price on the BS replacement tires was 168.00 each. Found some off shore stuff (Kumo, Sumitomo, yokahama) in the 70 to 100 range. Then stopped at Wally World, and looked at their Douglas brand. American made ( I think by Cooper ) and at 57 bucks a piece couldn't be beat.

Traction temp and tread wear all rated higher than many of the others I checked into. These tires have 60K on them, and are still at about half tread.

They replaced one because of a sidewall deformation, I didn't care for, no questions asked after about 15k. They are quieter and handle as well or better than the High performance bridgestones.

This summer when we had the tour a Petty enterprises, the comments regarding Goodyear's were very negative. We were told that most of the teams do their chassis tests and lots of practice laps on Hoosiers, and wish that they could race on them as they are superior in everyway to the Goodyear they must run by contract. Advertising dollars do have a lot of power don't they.

[Plymouthy Adams]

Sorry to say big guy but Douglas is Goodyear..brand...Cooper make tires for about 8 house brands...sounds like the one you were looking for is the Diversity 600 or something along that like...225/60/16 here local at Poop-boys is 72 apeice...these are what I run..on 4 of vehicles..they also have the casing marked for mounting orientation..I get excellent service and super smooth ride from these tires..

[Captain Neon]

My Douglas tyres were made in Indonesia. Def. not by blue collar Americans in the Heartland working for Cooper.

[Frank Blackstone]

I have good service from my Coopers on my Firebird and 72 Pontiac. I sleep better having bought American so that is important to me. I don't know why they did not perform well in Australia. Maybe for the same reason drains empty opposite from the way they do in upper hemisphere. From the heartland, Frank