Discount Tire ******!!!...Over

[C-Fish]

I have been a loyal customer of Discount for the better part of my driving life, ~30 years. I've used them whilst living in three different states.



Today, I'm in for rotation prior to my trip to California to attend my Daughters HS graduation...

All is well, Jeep is in the bay, then all heel breaks loose!...Um...Umm...WE CAN"T WORK ON YOUR JEEP!...You've got WHEEL SPACERS!!!...:yikes: :yikes:

The tech...er...tire changer guy starts in on me in the waiting room (packed with people)...it's totally UNSAFE for you to be using spacers on your vehicle to compensate for INCORRECT wheels (stock Grand Cherokee mind you).

Him-"Discount can no longer work on your vehicle Sir", "until you get aftermarket wheels and or remove the spacers"...

Me-You have got to be kidding me??? I have had this thing in dozens of times over the past few years and just recently spent $1100 on new tires at DISCOUNT.

Him-"Well, someone must have missed that fact in the past, but we can't work on your vehicle any longer". "I'll refund your $60 for lifetime mounting and balancing".

Me-WOW...

Then the Manager proceeds to tell me about the horrors of spacers...and how I should buy a set of CORRECT wheels for the vehicle, heck he'd even HELP ME OUT on the cost...

So, I got $60 bones back (BFD) and wasted 90 minutes of my life only to have to come home and rotate my tires in 104 heat...

Has this ever happened to any of you?
Is this store making up their own rules?

Oh, and if I need a tire repaired, I have to bring it in loose as they can't reinstall for me after they work on it!!!

 

[goodtimes]

I've never used wheel spacers, so obviously I haven't had that problem. Then again, I've never heard of anyone else having that issue with Discount Tire (I've been a loyal customer for 20 years or so -- ever since I bought my first set of tires).

I wonder if something happened at the corporate level to make them start giving people a hard time about them . . .

 

[baca327]

Read the contract if there is nothing about wheel spacers then give the customer service rep a call. Was it the acting store manager you spoke to?
It needs to be in black and white for them to deny you a service you pre-purchased. Most people think you won't continue with things, and giving your 60 dollars back will make you think you got a deal. Most likely they were busy the tire tech is lazy and found something minor to get you out of there. They get paid hourly usually so a turned away vehicle is no problem of theirs just one less vehicle to work on. If you ***** enough you will get what you want. File a complaint through discount and explain you've been a customer, they should have you on their database. Don't go back to the store and complain and argue its good that you kept your cool. At a discount in El Paso they cracked my fiberglass rockers on my c6 corvette and tried to tell me they didn't do it. Even though they had my vehicle on the wrong type of lift and I audibly heard the crack when the ************** tech reversed with the lift not fully down. The manager argued with me for about thirty minutes about how I'm some young kid driving a corvette and my dad probably bought for me and I don't how to drive..etc.. Needless to say they ended up paying for the body work, new paint job, 50% off my next set of tires and I got a 100 dollar gift certificate to a local steak house there.

 

[Scott Brady]

We had wheel spacers on the OVJK. Discount wouldn't touch it.

I am sure there was some significant lawsuit associated at some time in the past.

 

[modelbuilder]

America's Tire....same as Discount Tire...never said anything about mine.

 

[baca327]

We had wheel spacers on the OVJK. Discount wouldn't touch it.

I am sure there was some significant lawsuit associated at some time in the past.

Did not know that.

 

[1speed]

In this litigious society it seems everyone is afraid of their own shadow. Common sense and personal responsibility are going out of style.

 

[misterquad]

In San Antonio, neither Discount nor NTB will touch a set spacers for the reason stated above. NTB will tell you it is because of the lawsuits.

I had used Discount for 15 years, in both Texas and as American in SoCal. Lately, they started being really prickish about stuff.

1. They wanted $192 to mount a set of TRD wheels on my truck. I went somewhere else.

2. Last trip, I wanted my tires mounted without the TPMS sensors. They refused to mount tires without the TPMS sensors.

At that point, I just quit going to them.

 

[computeruser]

Then the Manager proceeds to tell me about the horrors of spacers...and how I should buy a set of CORRECT wheels for the vehicle, heck he'd even HELP ME OUT on the cost...

That would have really frosted me, worse than the other stuff, actually. There's something entirely wrong about a guy who works at a tire shop trying to tell me what's up...on any subject.


Out of curiosity, what sort of spacers were these?

 

[YJake]

Lawsuits and Lawyers brought about that policy.

I would go ahead and get a set of cheap steel rims with the correct backspacing anyway, at $50 a piece it really isn't that bad of an investment.

On the other hand, I've had freinds wheel Jeeps with 36" tires on 1" spacers for years without problems... It's either luck or responsible driving practices.:smiley_drive:

-Jake

 

[jon.allison]

As stated above, they are just trying to cover their asses.. mostly from bad parts that have been install improperly. It's not worth the risk of ending up in court.

I have a set of Spidertrax spacers on my Jeep and as soon as they saw the spacers they didn't want to touch it. I was disappointed, but kept my cool. Even as a long time customer I was ready to walk away, but decided to at least get some reasoning behind their decision. It only took a few minutes of me explaining that they were of high quality construction that I had personally installed to the proper torque specs. About that time the tech came inside and told the counter guy the same thing. At that point they agreed to work on it.

I can't say that will always be the outcome, but take it easy on those guys and they will usually help you out if they can. Remember that most decisions like that are coming from above and they don't always have the ability to make the call. If I was in that situation I can't necessarily say that I would risk my paycheck..

 

[ntsqd]

Personally, I'm glad to see this. Aluminum wheel spacers are dangerous. The longer they're in use, the more likely they are to fail. It's called Fatigue Life, and aluminum doesn't have very much of it.

Those who haven't had or seen a failure think I'm on crack. Those who have had or seen a failure won't use them.

If you think they're so safe ask the mfg if they are DOT compliant and legal for road use. I'm betting that I know the answer....

 

[C-Fish]

...Out of curiosity, what sort of spacers were these?...

Spidertrax.

 

[Yuccahead]

I used to be happy customer of Discount, then I took my girlfriend in there to get a new tire for her BMW X-3. They insisted that because of her drivetrain, they would only sell her 4 new tires, not one because BMW said doing otherwise would ruin the AWD. A quick call to BMW confirmed that they were trying to rip us off. As we were leaving forever, I heard them try to sell this story to another customer.

 

[C-Fish]

Personally, I'm glad to see this. Aluminum wheel spacers are dangerous. The longer they're in use, the more likely they are to fail. It's called Fatigue Life, and aluminum doesn't have very much of it.

Those who haven't had or seen a failure think I'm on crack. Those who have had or seen a failure won't use them.

If you think they're so safe ask the mfg if they are DOT compliant and legal for road use. I'm betting that I know the answer....

If spacers are SO bad, why do Porsche and BMW (and a host of others) use them on their race cars? Heck, Porsche used them on street cars.

What makes the aluminum of the spacer more prone to failure than the aluminum of the wheel?

ETA: do you have any facts to back up your claim that spacers are in fact dangerous?