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Thread: Opinions on Walmart's Tire Installation & Lifetime balancing and rotation?

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    Opinions on Walmart's Tire Installation & Lifetime balancing and rotation?

    I'm wondering if Walmart's basic or value tire installation packages are worth purchasing, I'm driving about 3,000 miles a year but the new tires I'm getting from them requires 5 to 6,000 mile rotations for warranty purposes ... would Walmart rotate every 5-6,000 miles under their lifetime balancing & rotation?

    The basic/value packages seem to include only rotations at 7,500 miles?



  2. #2
    I wouldn't put too much thought into it but that's what we do here...You don't need to be a rocket scientician to rotate tires but if I had time to kill I'd pay someone else to do it. I swap tires out(now) twice a year anyways so that's my rotation schedule.

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    Quote Originally Posted by cookiemonster View Post
    I'm wondering if Walmart's basic or value tire installation packages are worth purchasing, I'm driving about 3,000 miles a year but the new tires I'm getting from them requires 5 to 6,000 mile rotations for warranty purposes ... would Walmart rotate every 5-6,000 miles under their lifetime balancing & rotation?

    The basic/value packages seem to include only rotations at 7,500 miles?
    If you only drive 3,000 miles/year, your tires will be done in by age verses wearing out. I would do a once per year oil/filter change & tire rotation every other year. How you decide to have that done is up to you.

    I received a pair of tires from Walmart this past Friday. I was told mounting is free & lifetime balance is $14/tire ($12/tire for one time balance). If they add on extra charges, I will not be buying tires from them in the future. It's been decades since I have bought tires from Walmart. My Federal pair are from simpletire.com. My Nexen pair are from tires-easy.com, and my new Kumho pair are from walmart.com.

    I had my local mechanic do the following last summer & $30 cash (no slip made out) took care of it -
    - He mounted a new pair of Nexen tires to the extra pair of steel rims I bought from Dirk.
    - He added 4 new cloned sensors to those two wheels and my pair of Nokian snow tires.
    - He balanced all 4 wheels afterwards.

    If Walmart can't mount a pair of tires & balance them for under $30 bucks, I won't be using them in the future. When I have new tires mounted/balanced, they aren't even on my car. I take care of rotations myself when I change out tires in the spring & fall.

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  6. #4
    Holy crap, I don't know anyone who'd change a light bulb for $30(other than myself) let alone all that stuff! But $30 here is like $5 there so there is that.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Fummins View Post
    Holy crap, I don't know anyone who'd change a light bulb for $30(other than myself) let alone all that stuff! But $30 here is like $5 there so there is that.
    The other tire shop I used in town pulled the old useless sensors (not cloned) from my Subaru Forester winter tires, replaced them with my new cloned sensors, & balanced all four wheel afterwards. He also asked for $30 cash (no slip made out). I gave both guys $40, however. It's also a small town. I have known these guys for decades, coached/taught their kids, & we are on a first name basis.

    $30 USD is $36.92 Canadian (today's exchange rate). Tirerack has tire installers located all over the place. I've seen $25/tire for installation/balance from them. I will see how Walmart does? They aren't getting my Mirage to work on. I'm just giving them the wheels & tires to replace.

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    I used to get all of my tires at the Walmart 20 miles south of me. Never had a problem. But one time they were out of the tires I needed, so I went to the Walmart 15 miles northwest of me instead.

    Long story short, they stripped a couple of the lug bolts on my Jetta and couldn't find a fcuk to give about it. I never went to Walmart for tires again...north or south. This was 15 years ago.

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    IF Walmart is your only tire shop around, go for it. Walmart could potentially 'update' their warranty according to the manufacturer too. I use to work at Sam's Club Tires and warranty for certain tires would always change but that's the kicker, they could purchase our 'life time warranty' if anything happened to the tire. I haven't worked there since 2008 so I'm assuming A LOT has changed since then, maybe.

    Anyways, I would highly recommend Discount Tires if there is a Discount Tires near you. I went from working at Sam's Club Tires to Discount Tires and they're HEAVY on customer service. Discount Tires will do basically anything to keep their customers and keep them happy. Lots of 'positive' stories at Discount Tires compared to Sam's Club/Walmart from my experience.

    It's worth the extra $$$ at Discount Tires. Especially if you let them know your driving situation.

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        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2015 Mirage DE 1.2 manual: 43.4 mpg (US) ... 18.5 km/L ... 5.4 L/100 km ... 52.2 mpg (Imp)


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    Quote Originally Posted by 2of9 View Post
    IF Walmart is your only tire shop around, go for it. Walmart could potentially 'update' their warranty according to the manufacturer too. I use to work at Sam's Club Tires and warranty for certain tires would always change but that's the kicker, they could purchase our 'life time warranty' if anything happened to the tire. I haven't worked there since 2008 so I'm assuming A LOT has changed since then, maybe.

    Anyways, I would highly recommend Discount Tires if there is a Discount Tires near you. I went from working at Sam's Club Tires to Discount Tires and they're HEAVY on customer service. Discount Tires will do basically anything to keep their customers and keep them happy. Lots of 'positive' stories at Discount Tires compared to Sam's Club/Walmart from my experience.

    It's worth the extra $$$ at Discount Tires. Especially if you let them know your driving situation.
    I don't have one near me, but several forum members have shared positive things about Discount Tire.

    The main hang up with DT is their lack of 165/65r14 tire options. Walmart typically offers more.

    When I checked today, Discount Tire offers the $151 Dunlop Enasave, $81 Nokian Nordman 7 snow tire, & a $78 Falken tire.

    Discount Tire is listing their $78 Falken tire as a Sincera SN250 A/S, which is typically a 75,000-80,000 mile tire. Sadly, this tire doesn't exist, & I have contacted Discount Tire a number of times about this. I've asked them to produce a picture of the actually tire for me, because the only 165/65r14 Falken tire we have in the United States is the Sincera SN250A A/S, which is an inferior tire to the other. Tires with an "A" added to the name are used as OEM tires for different cars, and the 2021 Mirage is currently one of them.

    Falken Sincera SN250 A/S has a 720AB rating. The 175/65r14 size of that tire has a 80,000 mile warranty.

    Falken Sincera SN250A A/S has a 320BB rating, & no one lists a warranty for this tire except Discount Tire is claiming these are 75,000-80,000 in their tire description.

    In my mind, DT is falsely advertising a crap tire. I have emailed them at least 5 times, and they have responded back. Yet, they refuse to change their listing or produce a pic of a tire that really doesn't exist.

    You will not find a 165/65r14 Sincera SN250 A/S on the Falken website, because they start @ 175/65r14 with that particular tire. I have sent Discount Tires that information, too!

    If Discount Tire was near me, I would actually order a tire just to look at it in their store. Then I would tell them where they can stick it.

    I ordered a pair of the 165/65r14 Kumho tires a couple weeks ago from Walmart. These are a legit 500AA tire that comes with a 60,000 mile warranty, & they were approximately $10 less per tire than the misrepresented Falken tires @ Discount Tire. Delivery date of July 17th was given, but the pair of Kumho tires came on June 18th. They actually came with onlinetire.com stickers on them.

    If Walmart mounts them on my steel rims for free & only charges $14/tire for lifetime balancing, I will be happy. I don't have the concern Cobrajet shared, because my old tires/rims won't be mounted on my Mirage. I will take the old pair in with the new Kumho tires I just got last week.

    My plan is to take another trip or two to my parents (about 4 hours one way), & then start switching out tires. I already have a new pair of the Nexen N'Priz AH5 tires I got for $50/tire last summer mounted/balanced on rims ready to go. I used those this past winter on the rear of my Mirage & my Nokian snow tires up front.

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    Quote Originally Posted by cookiemonster View Post
    but the new tires I'm getting from them requires 5 to 6,000 mile rotations for warranty purposes ...
    Care to expound on this? Curious what manufacturer is so ballsy to require proof of 5-6k rotations for warranty measures...
    Resident Tire Engineer

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        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 44.4 mpg (US) ... 18.9 km/L ... 5.3 L/100 km ... 53.3 mpg (Imp)


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    Quote Originally Posted by Basic View Post
    Care to expound on this? Curious what manufacturer is so ballsy to require proof of 5-6k rotations for warranty measures...
    COOKIE COOKIE COOKIE STARTS WITH C.......

    Inquiring minds want to know!


    Resident Tire Engineer

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 44.4 mpg (US) ... 18.9 km/L ... 5.3 L/100 km ... 53.3 mpg (Imp)


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