I’ve had a slow leak in the right-rear on my truck for about a year now. Recently, I had been noticing a vibration over 60mph, which felt like it was coming from one of the rear tires because I feel it in the seat and not the steering wheel. I figured I’d kill two birds with one stone and take it into Discount Tire. I’ve always been happy with Discount Tire, because they seem honest and don’t try to upsell you. I now take back all the nice things I’ve ever said about Discount Tire. I don’t know if my Discount Tire just hired a bunch of people from Belle Tire, or if they recently trained their employees to be scum, but it sure seems that way.
The guy that came outside to check the tires was confident the vibration was coming from the front, based on how the tread looked. The front tires were also down to about 30% treadlife, while the rears still had about 60% life left in them. Initially, I said I just wanted all the tires rebalanced and the slow leak fixed. But a few minutes later I figured I should just replace the front tires since they were so worn anyway. So, I asked them to replace the fronts and rebalance the rears (free) in case the vibration was coming from the rear. They determined the slow leak was coming from the valve stem and they finished the job in less than a half hour. $900 later (tires for 22″ wheels are expensive!), I am out the door.
When I get in my truck, I immediately notice the tire pressure isn’t reading for the right-rear tire. I’ve had this happen before, right after changing tires, and the sensor always comes back after 5-10 miles. I drive it about 15 miles and it still isn’t reading. About mid-way through that drive, I also got a “Service Tire Pressure Monitoring System” warning on the dashboard. Oh, and the vibration is still there. So, I drive it back to the tire store.
The guy that helped me initially must be hiding in the back, because he’s nowhere to be found. The manager asks me what’s wrong, and I explain that I was just here and not only did they not fix the problem that I spent $900 to fix, but now the TPMS is throwing errors. He explains that I probably didn’t drive the truck far enough for the TPMS to relearn, even though he told me on the phone that it wouldn’t take longer than 15 miles for it to relearn. He pulls my truck in and immediately says that the left rear tire is the cause of the vibration becauase the tread is clearly feathered. I saw the feathering/cupping on the rear tire before I brought it in initially, and that was one of the reasons I thought the vibration was coming from the rear. I explain to the manager that I told the guy who helped me that the vibration was coming from the rear, but he was confident that the rear tires were fine and convinced me the problem was with the fronts. He rolls the suspected tire into the showroom and I agree that the tread doesn’t look good, but I explain that I was talked out of investigating the rear tires by the first guy, and now I’ve spent $900 that I didn’t need to, on a problem that isn’t fixed. At this point in the discussion, another tech comes in and says he tested the TPMS and the sensor in that wheel is dead.
I spent the next 5-10 minutes arguing with the manager on how the situation was going to be handled. He offered to give me two more tires for the price of one, and cover the replacement of the TPMS sensor which coincidentally died immediately after they replaced the valve stem on that wheel. I explain to the manager that I only need to buy one tire, because I have a full size spare on an OEM wheel in my bed, which I bought after destroying a wheel on a pothole about 4 years ago. I wanted them to mount that wheel/tire and give me a discount on purchasing a single tire for the other corner. I don’t know if this guy genuinely couldn’t comprehend what I was asking for, or if he was only willing to give me a discount if I got two new tires, but after a few minutes of trying to explain the situation I had backed him into a corner to the point where I felt like I was going to lose the offer for the free tire if I got two. So, I finally just gave in and got two new tires for the price of one. That way I still had a new full-size spare, in case I needed it.
He also went on some ranting explanation about why the TPMS failed, stating that if the battery was very low, the relearning process could’ve killed what was left of it. Something about the relearning process consuming more battery power than the standard tire pressure reporting. It sounded like a bunch of horseshit, but I didn’t really care because he was covering the cost of replacing the TPMS.
This is the only time I’ve ever felt like Discount Tire was actively trying to scam me into purchasing tires or doing work that didn’t need to be done. It sucks, because I’ve been going only to discount tire for about the last 30 years, and now I feel like they can’t be trusted anymore.
Update: After all this, the truck still shakes above 60mph. Time and money well spent!