Just another tire shop rant....

[DanDombrowski]

Since I'm so absolutely steaming mad, I thought I would vent at my usual frustration with discount tire places. In this case....its Sears.

Some of you may remember the pics I posted of my falken ziexs that wore through on the inside edge. Well, I took it in, and tried to be cool with the guy. No dice. He says the tire is fine. The tire is okay, it has tread on it. The inside doesn't matter.

Do you not see THIS?



So, I'm usually good at dealing with people, especially idiots. I explain to him that I really don't think the inside of the tire is safe. I paid for the warranty, and I understand I'll have to pay for the difference. I'll buy a new warranty, valve stems, and mabye even let you align it for some easy profit. No dice. He then switches his story to say that its a misalignment and not their fault, but that the tire is definitey damaged.

So I tell him that BMW says that there is no rear alignment on the car, and thats the way that they're supposed to wear. So he says he will check the alignment, it will be $95. I asked him if he's going to do it correctly (with no real intention of getting it done). I reminded him that there was no rear correction, but he said he had to check it. So I asked:

"If you check the alignment, and its in spec (rear negative camber), then the tire is covered under warranty, right?" He says, "no, definitely not, thats an alignment problem". Talk about a broken record. So I tried really, really hard to keep my cool. I asked him if there was anyone more experienced I could talk with. Up until this point, I was actually in a very normal tone, trying to get the guy to side with me, rather than insiting I'm right. I've done this before.

He told me to leave, that they didn't want me there. Thats when I absolutely lost it. I thought I would have some fun with him, insist he was gonna have to push me out or something to get him riled up, hoping he would do something stupid. No dice there either (darn). He did get pretty pissed though. I told him I would be back tomorrow to talk to his manager. I'm not, but I thought I would worry him about it.

Man, I hate those guys......

Ok, done venting.

[SharkmanBMW]

touchy situation... but it is clearly worn, but whose fault is that? the tire? the car?
you should have sent a woman in with it, it may have helped!
Realistically, the manufacturer, will not refund the dealer for that tire. A friend owns a tire shop, and they can't just warranty everything people bring them, but everyone tries!

are all 4 like that?!?

[Lennyz525i]

Understand your frustration. Tire and alignment shops can be a nightmare. I've got horrible experiences with Wheelworks (damn them!! hopefully their incompetence doesn't stretch beyond CA) and some local money grabbing alignment shop that told I HAD to come back for a rear wheel alignment, right... And that would be 4 hours of labor at $95/hour, animals.

[Alexlind123]

Find a new tire shop. You probably knew that though...

[DanDombrowski]

Oh, I know full well that it was not their fault to begin with. Obviously, there is something that is causing the tire to wear improperly.

It was his "Its not my fault no matter what" attitude and the fact that he was willing to perform an alignment for $95 that he knew would be wrong that pissed me off. He insisted on performing an alignment, even though he admitted that he didn't know the proper way, and even then if it came out right (which it shouldnt), he wouldnt warranty it anyway. So whats the point of the alignment?

So basically, all over nothing, because I had no intention of letting them align the car, because I knew they wouldn't know how (they admitted they didnt use weights after awhile).

[DanDombrowski]

And no, all 4 are not like that, just the rears.

[DanDombrowski]

Yeah, no kidding. As much as I hate tire shops, I often have to take less technically inclined cars (like my Volvo and Jeep) to them from time to time. I've had good and bad experiences, but over time, the overall best service I've had is from Goodyear places. They usually do a pretty good job of listening when I explain why I think their answer is wrong or right. The front two tires are the same brand, but goodyear put them on. I think I'll go back to them for the rear two.

Of course, that is after a little bit of "testing" the remaning tread.

[Tiger]

How often did you rotate the tires? How many miles on them?

[Johntee540]

e34's normally wear on the inside on the rears. How many miles have traveled on those tires?

Because of the negative camber (spec for the e34) it is normal wear and tear for inside wear. This is part of the reason why the car handles so well in corners. There is negative camber on the rear so that When turning - the weight of the car shifts to the outside - the tire then moves to a neutral camber putting all of the tread on the road for grip. Once through the turn the wheel returns to negative camber.

The Fronts will normally wear on the outside edges - by - design as well. There is nothing wrong with the car.

I am getting around 32k miles out of a set of Toyo Proxies (soft tire) as normal course of use.

Therefore - while I dont disagree you were dealing with an idiot - you need to be aware of the normal wear patterns for these cars - JT

[Russell]

I have 35,000 on set of bridgestones with about 1/2 tread left and seem to be worn even. I do this because the rear tires will wear on the inside and front tires will wear on the outside.

BTW, my tire shop uses a torque wrench on the lug bolts. But they will not use weights for an alignment. Not sure the dealer even does here in Lexington, KY.

How often did you rotate the tires? How many miles on them?