<VV> Big Brother Reality

[Louis C. Armer, Jr.]

Hey if it's happening in California it will be nationwide soon if not already.
Big Brother is more worried about "safety" now that a select few Darwin
Award winners drove 6000# SUV's with underinflated tires at 80mph and
wondered why the tires blew out and they turned over in the vehicle. Duh!!!

Of course the irony is all the resale shops in a hole in the wall 
store-front who
are putting tires like your old ones on a heap that's unsafe to begin with and
telling the owner "Man, look at the tread left on these beauties, that guy must
have been a moron for replacing these.<GGG>

Chuck Armer
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At 09:48 PM 1/3/05 -0800, you wrote:
>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.
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Corvair Atlanta, BOD
CORSA MEMBER
CORSA Tri-Membership Chairman
http://carmerjr.home.mindspring.com/