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Comments
Oops, that doesn't account for left/right movement. I guess I better number them.
Oh hell, I'll just do them myself...lol.
We did everything by hand. In fact, there was only one air line in the shop, and that was to the tire machine. I disconnected it to use my air tools on my car on the weekends.
After we lovingly hand torqued his wheels after performing his service he came back and knelt down to look under his car. When he came in the store, I asked if something was wrong. He said "No, but I marked my tires and i wanted to make sure you rotated them". I told him of course we did, it's part of the free policy with our store and those tires. He said he was just checking.
I told him not to come back. Some people, especially me, are really offended when you insinuate they are lying.
We have two cars - an RSX-S and a Maxima. My intention is to get the Pilot Sport A/S for the RSX-S when the original tires wear out. Actually the original Michelin Pilot HX MXM4 are holding up pretty well so far after more than a year and 26K miles. I know they are not really performance tires but I am quite happy with them - they never get out of balance and handle reasonably well.
For the Maxima I'll probably get the Michelin Energy MXV4 Plus. Not sure if I should get the H of V speed rated ones. (I stopped rotating the original Toyo Proxies, because one of them is defective, and when put up front the car pulls to one side. Can't wait to dump them!)
Maybe I am biased but I prefer Michelin. I few years ago I leased an M3 and was very happy with the original Pilot Sport tires. Switched to Brigestone Potenza (can't remember the exact kind - they were directional, with a very distinctive V shape) and other than the wet handling I was disappointed. They never handled as well in the dry (even though they seemed more progressive at the limit). Plus had to keep balancing the tires every 2-3K miles. Very disappointing.
We didn't "rush through" anything.
On the Maxima, the MXV4s are a great choice - H or V is your choice - the treadwear ratings are very close - it just depends on how you drive as the Vs will be a little stiffer, offering a little better cornering, but will ride a little rougher.
I didn't consider that. So I'll ammend my recommendation to follow that of the tire maker. If the tire maker approves of a five tire rotation, I would do that. Otherwise do what is recommended.
For example, Goodyear here is recommending the modified X for non-directional tires
http://www.goodyeartires.com/faqs/Rotation.html
Ditto for Michelin, check out the cute little animation here: http://michelinman.com/care/tire_saving_tips/reg_care/rotation.html
I didn't think I was nuts thinking you can cross the tires in non-directional tire applications.
FWIW,
TB
FWIW,
TB
But I bet my 4yo daughter can keep track of the ABCD's now
TB
For the RSX-S, I'll look up the tires that you mentioned. The only thing is - I live in the city and have no way of storing another set of tires for the winter. So I need to compromise with all season tires. (I suffered for three winters with a RWD M3 with summer tires, so I know!)
By the way, do you recommend any place for alignment, tire mounting, balancing, etc in the NYC/Long Island area? Thanks!
TB
If there is a mistake, I'll form a controlled explosion, of course.
My reference was about the high performance specialty shop where I was a regional manager. We treated out customers, and their cars, like gold and took affront when compared to the monkeys at Jiffy Lube or midas.
I have a '97 Ranger that (other than for changing tires) has never seen a mechanic. I've followed a combination of the owner's manual and the Haynes manual for maintenance, with excellent results so far.
As my Benz is a more complex vehicle, I'm naturally a little more worried. Again, nothing major has gone wrong since I bought the car, so it didn't have to spend any time at the shop.
In PA, the inspection is radical - they pull the wheels, check the brakes and bearings, check the engine for leaks, etc.
In Texas (my home), the inspection is just a glanceover for the most part, but for a half-hour's labor, I'm sure they would look it over.
I've always called it a "pre-vacation" inspection where we look at hoses, belts, tires, brakes, other maintenance items, etc.
As a shop manager, you should be pleased when a person checks your work and has nothing to say. For you to take offense to someone checking your work is petty.
You know what? Whether it is Jiffy Lube or the most high class place around, people are still human, and that means they occasionally make mistakes, and they occasionally have bad days, and both of those detract from the quality of the work they perform on my car. It is perfectly understandable, and I fault no-one for it, but I can't tell you how many lug nuts it has saved me over the years (left off during tire rotation) and once the drain cock for the radiator was left open - it would have been great to get on the freeway with that situation, eh?! ;-)
I have also found my dipstick missing.
The best one was leaving my car for a standard 15K service, and someone's lines got crossed, and instead of rotating the tires, they replaced them! Well of course, they realized their error, then went back to find my tires, then put them back on the rims, crossed them across the car, all sorts of bogus stuff. When I discovered that, I insisted that they comp me a new set of tires - I was not going to drive around on tires that had been dismounted, remounted, and crossed across the car, just because of their gaffe!
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
Of the 11 stores I supervised, I am (and certainly was then) please to say I had minimal instances of customer dissatisfaction.
It was a fun place to work and my folks respected the thought that there are no second chances when you're dealing with someone's custom $75,000 rod, a new Corvette, Porsche, etc.
the dealer may or may not be going for extra maintenance. depends on how you drive. if you are an over-the-road salesman with lots of miles and few stops, not going over trash roads, and in temperate weather, the factory recommendations are great.
if you are doing stop-and-go, driving Pothole Alley, and you experience temperature extremes like starting up in 20 below and running the engine hard, the factory recommendations are bunk. you are a "severe service" driver, and you will put extra unburned gas into the oil, have lots of condensation into the oil, and thus generate a lot of acid and gunk in the oil. other extra abuse factors like crappy roads and heavy salt, foggy all the time, and the like also mean you need to have the car inspected and serviced more often. that's the point at which 3000 miles or 3 months, whichever comes first, is a minimum maintenance interval... and if you do rally driving, you should change oil and filters, check around the system, and do tranny and differential service more often as well.
find your conditions and act accordingly.
if your dealer recommends that everybody get their car fully changed, lubed, painted, and Teflon-coated every 3000 miles, he's a greedhead pure and simple.
Do what feels right, like SW said. Oil changes at 1,500 miles are unnecessary, unless you drive 1,500 a year. I do mine around 3-4K and always have and always will until "super motors" come out.
and my directionals from front to back on the same interval.
TB
Say what you want about Michelin, but my experience is they rarely need rebalancing once done correctly. They do need better wet traction and noise reduction on broken roads though.
And happy Veterans Day to those of you who had what it takes to stand up for your country!(:o]
Here's a tire idea for you. I've been a life-long Wal-Mart customer and I've bought 10-12 sets of tires from the Tire Rack, but I've never combined the deal. I just put a set of Yokohama AVS tires on my Mustang GT. I got them, CHEAP, from the Tire Rack and paid $10 per tire for shipping. This was $40-50 cheaper, per tire, than anywhere local. I took them to Wal-Mart for mounting, paid $7.50 a tire plus a valve stem, and got their free rotation and rebalancing plan along with it. I thought this was a neat idea!
Some years ago, I bought a set of Monroe truck shocks for a Dodge Ramcharger, and got them installed at a nearby Walmart. I watched the entire operation (probably would not have "bought" the service otherwise) and was impressed by the work done-- pleased that I wasn't doing it myself using only garage floor jacks. The price for that was also very good. I do believe it was the same $7.50 per!
Ray T.
I would think the prices would be the same.
Was doing a little math to see how my deal at a Ken Towery compared to Tire Rack.
Got all 4 for @$131 ea.(That's before taxes, fees, road hazard, valve stems, mounting and balance.) Tire rack's would have been @ $117 to my door(or installer's door). Then include the costs of everything above except for taxes and the difference is minimal(if any). Maybe tire rack does have good deals on certain tires but in the case of the Turanza LS V I don't think so. Looks like the only savings IS the taxes.
I just have to lay off those late night _________(fill in the blank).
TIRE RACK customers:
What do you do if you discover a tire they send you needs to be replaced (out of round, unbalanceable, or...)?