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

[modelbuilder]

There is no luck with wheel spacers...they don't need luck...as soon as someone gives me a firsthand account of them failing I'll give it a second thought. But it's always a friend of a friend of a friend had problems with them....blah blah blah.



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[Martyn]

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.

It's standard practice to replace all 4 tires on AWD vehicles. If you are replacing just one it has to be shaved to the same diameter as the used ones on the vehicle. That is of course unless there is something unique about BMW's All Wheel Drive system that allows tires of different diameters to be run.

 

[Beachboyy]

I had a similar thing happen at Les Schwab up here in Oregon. Lifted wifes KJ and put spidertrax spacers on it. Drove it down to schwab, bought $800 worth of new tires and ended up having to drive back home and put them on myself. They didnt lecture me nor say much at all about it except that it was against their policy to install the tires on a vehicle that has spacers. I know tons of people that run spacers and dont know any of them having any trouble. Hell my front diff is aluminum!

 

[Ironwagon]

My local Discount spotted my Spidertrax spacers and mentioned to me that 'at least you have the good spacers' and they had no problems working on it.
I can't see how a quality aluminum spacer(installed correctly) runs a greater risk of failure than a quality aluminum wheel or any other type of wheel either. It's not a new argument, and yet proof never seems to have surfaced.
Edit: I'd bet most of the issues with spacers are directed at the older style that simply acted as a washer behind the wheel, shortening the effective length of the wheel stud.

 

[Schattenjager]

No problems with my 2" Slee spacers. They even have to use three lug nuts to get the wheel lined up properly (centricity) then add the stock three to hold it, remove the three, add the last stock units and repeat 3 more times - so they know they are there.

 

[winkosmosis]

Why do you have spacers on a stock Grand Cherokee?

 

[dockrat14]

There is alot of training at discount tire. I would know it took me 2 months to get threw the tech training. Wheel spacers is clear we can not work on them unless they are OE spacers. If anybody at discount/americas tires works on a car with wheel spacers they arent doing there job right. If you put a different size and even brand and style of tire on an all wheel drive it can very easily mess up the transfercase I have seen it happen. A shop that puts one on there for you either doesnt have the knowledge of just doesnt care. With close to 800 stores and 50 years in the buisness they know what they are doing. We dont want to lose the buisness of a loyal customer talk to the manager its his job to make sure that you are happy with you visit and to fix any problems.

 

[modelbuilder]

There is alot of training at discount tire. I would know it took me 2 months to get threw the tech training. Wheel spacers is clear we can not work on them unless they are OE spacers. If anybody at discount/americas tires works on a car with wheel spacers they arent doing there job right. If you put a different size and even brand and style of tire on an all wheel drive it can very easily mess up the transfercase I have seen it happen. A shop that puts one on there for you either doesnt have the knowledge of just doesnt care. With close to 800 stores and 50 years in the buisness they know what they are doing. We dont want to lose the buisness of a loyal customer talk to the manager its his job to make sure that you are happy with you visit and to fix any problems.

I highly doubt that...as I see AWD rigs with oversized tires and spacers all the time. And most people don't go to the shop to put spacers on...easily you can do it at home.

The guys that rotate my tires work on it and I always give them a nice tip. Wheel spacers are incredibly safe.

 

[modelbuilder]

Why do you have spacers on a stock Grand Cherokee?

Me? It's not stock.

 

[alexrex20]

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

no he doesn't. but he knows everything.

as is the case with most product complaints, failures are most often caused by user error. in the case of wheel spacers, they're usually installed incorrectly or improperly torqued or used on the wrong vehicle.

and for the record, what we in this thread have been calling wheel spacers are in fact wheel adapters; though we use them to space the wheel.

true wheel spacers are thin shims that fit between the hub and the wheel. they're only meant to offset the wheel by millimeters. these are arguably unsafe, but again it's usually a direct result of improper use/installation.

 

[DrMoab]

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....

This post is worthless without proof.

 

[modelbuilder]

This post is worthless without proof.

No one can ever provide proof not matter how much they say spacers are dangerous.

They are about as dangerous as any mod you make on a rig...but with proper installation and maintained they are perfectly safe.

It's just an assumption people make based on tales they have heard over a campfire or from the shop...but no one can point to a failure or provide any evidence. It's usually just an emotional response based on an assumption.



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[Purple People Eater]

Stay docile, guys.

A definite answer could show up eventually, with proof. And I'm interested, so I don't want this thread locked or nuked.

 

[CJCA]

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.

I’m betting that’s the case. It only takes one sizeable lawsuit to influence company policy. Just a guess, but I’d say DT put rubber on at least one vehicle with poorly designed and manufactured spacers and the worst case scenario occurred, possibly with deadly results.

After that, rather than have low level employees make individual judgment calls on the myriad of wheel spacers and applications involved, it only made sense to discontinue servicing vehicles with wheel spacers.

It all boils down to the bottom line. A company will do what is necessary to maintain their reputation, stay profitable and avoid needless losses.

 

[inked33]

ive had wheel spacers on my ram for over 2 yrs and have always gone to discount tire. i havent had them give me any problems about running the spacers. maybe ive just been lucky...knock on wood. if theres another store in the area id try going there and see if they say anything to you about it