<VV> 5th Degree over new tires at Costco (long)

Western Canada CORSA westerncanadacorsa@shaw.ca
Mon, 03 Jan 2005 21:54:14 -0800


I've heard similar stories from Costcos up here in the Great White North, so it's probably a corporate thing.

Although, when I took my '66cpe in to have two tires I supplied mounted on my 15" wheels (they were also a different width than the already mounted front tires) there was nary a whisper from them.

Regards,
Joel

-----Original Message-----
From: virtualvairs-admin@corvair.org
[mailto:virtualvairs-admin@corvair.org]On Behalf Of Dan & Synde
Sent: Monday, January 03, 2005 9:48 PM
To: Virtual Vairs Submission
Subject: <VV> 5th Degree over new tires at Costco (long)


A few weeks ago it became apparent it was time to get some new tires for the
Greenbrier.  When I say "apparent" I actually mean critical.  My van had sat
for about 5 years and even though the tires had lots of tread left, they
started separating on a trip back from LA to the Bay Area.  I knew the to
watch the tires but after 3,000 miles since getting it back on the road, I
figured they were okay for a while.  The sustained high speed and load from
the trip took its toll and I started noticing a vibration which turned out
to be a bubble. I ended up limping it home on a spare but the other tires
were not far behind.  I figured getting tires would be no big deal so I
limped it over to Costco to get some new treads.  

I knew what I wanted and so when the salesman came over I told him how many
tires I wanted and how long would it take.  He wanted to know what year,
make, model etc.  I told him and he said he would have to go look at it.  I
began walking with him out to the van when I said that those were the tires
I wanted on it.  He said that it was policy that Costco could only install
on it the tires the manufacturer of the vehicle recommended.  He proceeded
to open the drivers side door and look around for a plate that gave him the
tire size, torque and inflation specs.  I told him that all he would find
would be a VIN number and a Gross Vehicle Weight number.  I told him they
didn't used to put that info on cars.  We went back into the salesroom and
he tried to look it up in his books; none of which went back further than
1972.  I told him that if he put a smaller or larger tire on it that the
speedometer would be off.  I also told him that Costco had installed the
tires that were currently on the vehicle so they must have been right at
some time.  I think I finally convinced him of the correct tire size and
load rating but he couldn't find a torque spec for the lug nuts.  I told him
to just torque them to around 60 Ft Lbs.  He said he couldn't do that.  He
had to have a factory recommended spec.  I asked him if he would install the
tires if I just brought in the loose rims and he said he would.  I then told
him to just install the tires and that I would retorque the lug nuts in the
parking lot right in front of him and sign on the receipt that I had done
so.  He said he couldn't do it.  I ended up leaving, pissed off on tires
that were separating because of some new policy that Costco has regarding
tire installations.  Apparently it is statewide and possibly corporate wide
because I went to another Costco and got the same run around.  This time I
was prepared and brought the shop manual.  They cross-referenced the tire
size and obtained the factory torque spec which is 45-65 Ft Lbs.

I now have new tires on the Greenbrier but what a pain in the butt.
According to one of the tire guys at Costco, the industry is moving toward
such strict standards with regards to replacement tire installations and
that currently Costco is following these standards to the letter.  Probably
driven by law suits from people insisting on having tires that are way too
big or to small  be installed on their cars and then sueing when they have
problems.

[demime 0.98e removed an attachment of type application/ms-tnef which had a name of winmail.dat]
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