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Car Forum / Driving, Maintenance, Tuning / Maintenance and Repair / October 2004Costco will no longer rotate tires for free!!
ARRGG!! One of the only reasons I shopped at costco was to save on my three car tire rotations twice a year. I regular Tire rotation costs almost $30 . So for three cars, I was saving 6 x 30 every year. This is rediculous, and I am leaving costco because of it. Have a nice life cost-crap! F. flamaest@gmail.com (flamaest) wrote in news:68dafd28.0410232218.2f03f563 @posting.google.com: > I regular Tire rotation costs almost $30 . So for three cars, I was > saving 6 x 30 every year. Hmm...a tire rotation takes me about half an hour by the time I've inspected the tread on all four tires, checked the brakes, looked over the CV boots, tie rods, checked/adjusted the parking brake, and made sure all the lugs are torqued to spec. You mean I can trust all that to some guy I don't even know and who isn't likely to give half a sh.t about my safety for only $30? Where do I not sign up? Last time I did my rotation, I caught an uneven treadwear from an alignment problem, got a pretty good estimate of how much longer my brakes are good for, and was able to make sure I'll be able to change a tire on the side of the road without hiring a gorilla. Granted, every time I go to a place that also does alignments for a rotation, they miraculously find alignment problems on both ends, but this way I got it from someone I trust. >Hmm...a tire rotation takes me about half an hour by the time I've >inspected the tread on all four tires, checked the brakes, looked over the >CV boots, tie rods, checked/adjusted the parking brake, and made sure all >the lugs are torqued to spec. You mean I can trust all that to some guy I >don't even know and who isn't likely to give half a sh.t about my safety >for only $30? Where do I not sign up? You must have a lift and power tools if you can do all that in a half an hour. When I do it, with a manual tools and one jack, it takes me at least an hour. >Last time I did my rotation, I caught an uneven treadwear from an alignment >problem, got a pretty good estimate of how much longer my brakes are good >for, and was able to make sure I'll be able to change a tire on the side of >the road without hiring a gorilla. Granted, every time I go to a place >that also does alignments for a rotation, they miraculously find alignment >problems on both ends, but this way I got it from someone I trust. Doing it yourself is usually a good idea. If something goes wrong, you can usually rule out all the things you inspected. Or, if you something questionable, you should know what to inspect first. ------------- Alex >>Hmm...a tire rotation takes me about half an hour by the time I've >>inspected the tread on all four tires, checked the brakes, looked over [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > an hour. When I do it, with a manual tools and one jack, it takes me > at least an hour. Nope; two quick-lift floor jacks, cordless drill with socket attachment for the lug nuts, heavy-duty torque wrench, four-way, and a spot with enough clearance on all sides to work comfortably. Jack up one side, loosen the nuts with the four-way, spin them off with the drill, yank the tires, look things over, and put everything back on. Drop the car and repeat on the other side. It helps that one car is FWD, and the other is AWD. (i.e. in Park, with the parking brake set, neither set of wheels is free to turn.) > Doing it yourself is usually a good idea. If something goes wrong, > you can usually rule out all the things you inspected. Or, if you > something questionable, you should know what to inspect first. Yup. About four out of five times, I know what the problem is before I get the car stopped. Unfortunately, the Subaru loves to be really weird when it gets to that fifth time :( > ARRGG!! > [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > Have a nice life cost-crap! > F. So you only used them because they did paid work for free? I am sure you will be a great loss to Costco. Not. Huw > ARRGG!! > [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > > Have a nice life cost-crap! If there's a Tire Discounters near you they offer free rotations. http://www.tirediscounters.com/ Brian >ARRGG!! > [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] >Have a nice life cost-crap! >F. I have a set of Michelins that I bought from Costco. Every time I went for rotation, it took 3-4 hours of my time to get a "free" job done. Since time to rotate tires cost me both in time and money, I bought my last couple of sets from an independent dealer where the same tires cost me about $100 a set more with lifetime rotate, balance and road hazard. The difference is that he picked up the maintenance on the Michelins I bought from Costco and guarantees me that I will be out of there in 30 minutes on routine rotation including rebalance if I will call at least one hour ahead. All wheels are hand torqued and I can watch if I want. So far, the only time they missed is when they stripped a stud and had to get one from across town. They gave me a loaner vehicle to use overnite. > ARRGG!! > [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > Have a nice life cost-crap! > F. I buy my Michelin tires from Sam's Club and never get their maintenance agreement if it is extra cost. Two reasons, I never rotate tires routinely, and if I did, it would be quicker and better to do it myself. I do routinely examine my front tires for uneven wear though. Rarely find a problem due to misalignment; sometimes to a wear item like loose tie rod ends. Then, fix problem and rotate front to rear. I've been doing all my own alignments for 40 years now; ever since I got screwed by a pro. Stan K. They never did anything for "free" in the first place. Businesses do not stay in business long by doing things for free! The idea behind whole "Free Tire Rotation" scam - or "Free Alignment Checks" or "Free Brake Inspections" - is to get your car on their lift where they might find additional undercar service work that they can sell you. They make an investment in time towards developing business....not unlike paying for advertising, but much more lucrative. Not sure I'm following this post the right way. By rotating do you mean just moving tires from say front to back? If so $30 is simply too much. However I've never seen any shop just rotate tires, they almost always rotate-and-balance. Most places even Sears and Wal-Mart offer lifetime free rotation and balance for $9.95 per tire. In some cases this price would also include a tread warranty and road hazard (sharp objects, glass, ... etc), and a new valve stem. Considering I'm spending $45 to $80 per tire, the additional $10 would be worth it just for free rebalancing every 5000 miles. On a 50,000 mile tire set, it would be 10 trips. So $10 for 10 trips is about $4 per car per visit for rotation and high-speed balance. I think that's a good deal. Good deal for you or for Costco? > On a 50,000 mile tire set, it would be 10 trips. So > $10 for 10 trips is about $4 per car per visit for rotation and > high-speed balance. I think that's a good deal. I'm sorry Brian, I guess I was not very clear. It is a "good deal for me" to have all my 4 tires rotated and balanced for $1 per tire. It costs me more than that in $2.19 per Gal. gas to get there and allow them to have at it with my car for 45 min. on the lift and 2 guys. Fred > Good deal for you or for Costco? > > > On a 50,000 mile tire set, it would be 10 trips. So > > $10 for 10 trips is about $4 per car per visit for rotation and > > high-speed balance. I think that's a good deal. Since when did Costco stop rotating tires? I just had a set of four put on my van about three weks ago and they told me I get free tire rotation every 6000 miles. Did all of them stop rotating tires? Fwed I wonder if that is something particular to your local Costco. I stopped by one at lunch today, and the guy said they still offer lifetime rotation and balancing on tires purchased there, as did a very large sign dangling from the rafters. I *have* seen notices at some Costcos recently informing people that they no longer rotate and balance tires not purchased from the company (previously they would do that for a fee). I think they just got too busy taking care of their own customers to go on doing this. > They never did anything for "free" in the first place. Businesses do not > stay in business long by doing things for free! True; but they might either bury the average cost of doing something in the purchase price or choose to offer it as an incentive to go there instead of to a competitor. > The idea behind whole "Free Tire Rotation" scam - or "Free Alignment > Checks" or "Free Brake Inspections" - is to get your car on their lift > where they might find additional undercar service work that they can sell Costco, to my knowledge, didn't do any repairs not immediately connected with the tire -- not even alignment. Speaking more generally, though, having an ethical and knowledgeable person nose around under your car once or twice a year is a good thing, if you can't or don't want to do it yourself. That's one of the reasons I do my own oil changes and chassis lubes at home: as long as the car is on the ramps and I'm underneath, I can not only get grease in my hair, and watch bits of sand and rust bounce off my safety glasses, and get sniffed in unaccustomed places by the cat, but also I can look for potential maintenance issues you can't spot from above. Several times over the years I've caught a problem before it either blew up into something larger and more expensive or interrupted a trip. Cheers, --Joe >I wonder if that is something particular to your local Costco. I >stopped by one at lunch today, and the guy said they still offer >lifetime rotation and balancing on tires purchased there, as did a >very large sign dangling from the rafters. >I *have* seen notices at some Costcos recently informing people that >they no longer rotate and balance tires not purchased from the company >(previously they would do that for a fee). I think they just got too >busy taking care of their own customers to go on doing this. >> They never did anything for "free" in the first place. Businesses do not >> stay in business long by doing things for free! One thing I neglected to mention is that the Costco around here ust opened up about thre months ago, and I know for a fact that their tire area has not been busy. Fwed |
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