Tire shop hillarity

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mdbuilder

Well-known member
Joined
May 18, 2016
Messages
231
Location
Great Mills, Md.
So, my 2012 which bought 2 years ago with 11K miles on it has now reached 25K and the OEM set of tires is worn out. The stock tires are ridiculously priced @ >$150 per tire. Tire Rack had the Yokohamas at a decent price so I bought them and head them shipped to the local MR. Tire for installation, and there the adventure began :eek: .

I arrived @ 5:15 and the car went in the bay after 10 minutes or so. Seemed to take quite a while but I got the key back around 6:25 and walked out to the car. Hmmm, that looks a little odd, front tires look really large!!! I bent down and looked at the rear tire sidewalls - 145, front - 175 :x . Walked back inside and held up the key "you've got the wrong tires on the wrong axles". "So sorry sir, we'll take care of that right away".

Another 10 minutes to get back in the bay, 10 or 15 minutes later I had a thought. "Now, did they put the correct tires on the correct rims?" Phone is picked up and the loudspeaker in the shop is activated, "MIKE, MEASURE THE RIM WIDTHS!" NO, of course not, the small tires were on the wide rims and the wide tires on the narrow rims :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Pulled out of the shop @ almost 8:00 pm, course the TPS light was on. Pressures as low as 19 pounds when I checked this morning...
 
The mechanics at these places are not the sharpest to say the least. It is not worth the savings to go to any of them. This kind of thing happens all of the time. I worked at Sears auto in high school in the parts room getting parts for mechanics and sharing the break room with them. I learned quickly never to take my car to any chain kind of place. They would put 10 quarts of oil into cars, break off lug nuts constantly and put shocks on the wrong car from the wrong numbered spot.

I suggest finding a local small mechanic with good reviews and going there. Why fund some CEO and corporation anyway?
 
I know someone that bought an I-MiEV recently and was complaining about really bad range. When I first saw it, I checked battery capacity, and while it was on the lower end, it wasn't bad enough to cause such a low range (struggling to get 50 miles in the city). Chalking it up to being stiff from not being driven, I never thought to look at the tires. Last September, they asked me to look at the A/C compressor because it was rattling. Sure enough, the rubber bushings were gone, but the front tires seemed big to me.

Turns out they had rear tires on all the way around. This was causing some rubbing on the inner fenders as well as disabling regen, resulting in the short range. I told them that putting the proper tires on the front would fix regen, range, and the rub. How they ever squeezed 175 tires on the skinny front rims still baffles me.

Personally, that still doesn't beat the argument with one tire shop when shopping for winter tires. We asked for two rear tires only, and they wouldn't sell them because "we need fronts, not rears". After telling them the I-MiEV is rear wheel drive, they insisted that if I brought it in, they were going to prove it's front wheel drive. Too bad I can't remember which shop it is, Koorz needs all new tires. :lol:
 
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