Just had to share my Costco experience today. I noticed last week I had a slow leak on the right rear tire but didn't have the time to get it looked at until today. I went to the Costco near SFO (San Francsico International airport). They wrote it up and pulled it in while I went shopping. About 45 minutes later I came out and they were done. Turns out I had picked up a nail somewhere. They removed the tire, patched it, remounted and balanced it and put it back on. I expected it to be $15 - $20. They handed me the keys and I said I still had to pay for it. The guy told me it was no charge. That it was a brand new car and not to worry about it. I was shocked, LOL. I thanked him and was on my way. I dont know if this is company policy or just this Costco but it was great customer service !!!!

 

Many places do that sort of thing now to try and get you to use them next time you need to make a tire purchase.

Last week after rotating the tires at home, Smoke developed a vibration in the steering wheel. I called the store where we take our 6 work vehicles for their tires and asked if they were busy. Explained what the problem was, guy said sound like you need them rebalanced...bring it on in and they would take care of me.

Took Smoke up there, waited as they rebalanced all the tires...and when they pulled it out of the bay, they handed me my paperwork and said "no charge". I also believe that they repair flats for free regardless...and the store I'm talking about is Discount Tires. I had called another Discount which was closer to home and they wanted $30...so I figured if anyone was going to get my money I may as well use the one I am familiar with which was a little farther away...which obviously paid off.

 

Deb.....

If you had no vibration before the rotation, and then had it after the rotation, generally something was wrong with the wheel re-mount. This problem is particularly prevalent in aftermarket wheels, if not careful. Also, if the vibration was noticeable in the steering wheel it usually is the front end. Vibration in the car....the passenger seat, for example, is usually the rear wheels.

But you didn't pay for the balance, so it really doesn't matter. I thought I would mention this for future reference.

 

I've had Discount Tire do the same to me after only buying 1 set of tires from them ! I even told them they were the daughters and they said don't worry about it . Great p/r .--o6designs-KATZUP

 

Blackie likes Costco's gas and the prices too!
(and they make a darn good pizza!)

@ngelita

 

Discount is pretty good about this and more... they fix flats for free, regardless of where the tire came from. They'll also check your air and top them off... I just moved from the Boulder, CO area... during winter time, my wife's Xterra would sometimes read out a low tire because the sensor was frozen stuck. I'd take it to DT and ask them to check the pressure... bone stock tires that came from Nissan on the thing. No problem.

 

A word on balancing..i took a class on a new balancer ( heh-heh circa 1985 ) and the repfor the machine had use lay a 1 dollar bill between the wheel and balancer hub....that GW threw the tire way out!...what he explained is..everytime you balance,take the time and CLEAN off the back side as this will allow a 'flat' mounting surface,,otherwise it cause an unseen wobble and completeyl throw off the balance..a lot of rims get build up at the mounting surface and it never gets cleaned off...same goes for your rotors! Clean them before mounting the wheel

 

Sounds familiar, familiar, familiar.....

 

Yeah, and politely ask the highly trained technician doing your balancing to take his hand off the hood while the machine is spinning. I had to drag a DT manager out to the floor to show him a "with hand" and "without hand" comparison of the same wheel/tire combo (not removed between spins), to show him that the extra _1_ ounce of weight wasn't appropriate.