Town Fair Tire??? Kind of disappointed...then upset!

[smelt240]

So we went to town fair tire today to buy new sneakers for my wife's wagon. She had a price on some Kuhmos that she liked. Just so happens there were none in stock to price match. BUT they had some Nankangs,not what we wanted,but they were $99 each.She doesn't drive the car all that hard,so we figured,hey,$400 is great! Free mounting,free front end alignment...all that crap that they advertise. So when the sales guy gave us the final price,it was $590! We walked out. Then really got thinking. Went back in. Asked about the $200 difference. Turns out they charge $15 A TIRE FOR BALANCING!!!! What a CROC!!!! Plus a bunch of other hidden fees ($3 a pop for valve stems,plus somewhere else they were getting another $128). So we walked out again. If I cant find a set of like new tires this weekend,we will get some at the garage beside her work. I thought that place was a good deal. Ill never set foot in there again. Im all done supporting these damn national chains. There was an old woman in there,questioning on why her tires cost $175 more than she was told,they explained her fees and she just nodded and agreed,and sat down to wait again. Im going to buy a rim clamp machine,and a spin balancer soon. The way I see it,I should make my first million by next February.........

 

[IBratmanI]

I have never been there, but when I sold a set of wheels I had, I asked the buyer if he would mind just taking them with the tires they had on them. He got a price there to have the tires dismounted. Just simple removal of tires, and they told him something like $40-$50! That's ridiculous! My local garage charges $40 for removal of old tires, and then mounting and balancing of the new ones. even the tire store down the road only charges $50 for that process. And they were telling him that much just to take tires off! I would definitely never go there.

 

[i-wagon]

our vip charges 15 a tire to mount and balance. you're almost better off buying the tires and having a local guy you can trust mount and balance. I used to do my own at work until they shut us down, so now I need a local guy to avoid the same situation

 

[brighton]

They gave me the same run around. That place it the biggest pile of dog S there is. My wife's tire that we did buy there had a pucture in It an they said we can't patch it. So I

Said well you state that if you can't patch it you rePlace it. They said that does not apply to this hole. Do f'n stupid. I will

Never go there again.

 

[smelt240]

Yeah,I am actually going to buy a nice rim clamp tire machine and a spin balancer. I run old school SSR reverse deep dish mesh wheels on my 240sx(well-used to,til the car sold)...anyway,I dont trust ANYONE with those wheels. They are on my Datsun 510 now. With the rear camber being so far off from a 4" drop,Ill be changing tires 3 times a summer. I plan on doing an "under the radar" tire changing business once my garage is built.I dont want to do 20 sets of tires a week,just enough to help justify the cost of a nice setup. My loan just went thru,so with building permits..etc..etc-it will be a couple months now. I used to do a LOT of custom wheels years ago,and all I had was a Coats 20/20,but I knew how to adjust it,and spent the money on the plastic shields,and replaced them when they wore thin. There is NO EXCUSE for a tire place to scratch,chip,or in any way damage a customer's wheels.(even if they are spray painted!) Especially with the new "touchless" machines. I (in most cases) dont blame the employee,I blame the business owner for making these guys rush to get more done in a day,or giving a small $$$ bonus for the amount of work done. It sucks,but customer service isn't even in the toilet anymore,its in the septic tank......

 

[Apollyon12]

I have had great luck going to Tire Warehouse in Arundle. They have always been real careful with my rims and my fathers BMW rims. I always purchase from either TireRack.com or DiscountTire.com and have them install them. They never give me any greef or hassles. The only issue I had was when I wanted my AX tires reversed on the rims after they had gotten to the wear bars. They said they couldn't do that on tires that where on a vehicle (must be inspectable) but because they weren't going back onto the car it ended up not being a problem. There is also a guy who has a mobile unit that has come to a few AX events and a bunch of guys have sourced tires thru him.

Smelt, good luck with the next indever. I'd use you, but you are a little far away.

 

[cwiggin]

Ive gone to townfair tire for quotes and found theyre real overpriced, they quoted me $510, for sone tires and went and got the same from a lical garage in Oxford for $100 less. Iwagon, I use impirts plus on 26 in Oxford, great guy, gives goid deals, check him out if u need work done!!

 

[Jamey]

hah we bring tires to him

 

[apkarian100]

Town Fair hasn't impressed me as of late either. While I did get tires swapped over to my new wheels, all mounted and balanced, new valve stems, and a 4 wheel alignment for $89 (pretty decent deal), they still managed to chip the paint on 3 or 4 wheels I had...

 

[2point5RS_Dan]

Smelt. If you get the equipment, I would love to go through a local guy. I will be needing to have lots of tires here soon..... Do the tires for free and I will give you money to view your datsuns. Completely separate transactions of course

 

[smelt240]

My kind of deal....anyway,Im still going thru the whole process. Once I have a building permit,its go time. I should have enough left from the $$$ to get the machines as soon as the garage is up. I was going to convert my current 16x16 shop into the "tire garage",but taking tires off in the rain isn't any good.And running up and down stairs to blast/paint sucks too. So it will all go in my tool room in the big garage. Plus the Datsuns get to stop being second class citizens,and live inside.

Also,just wondering what kind of luck people have had with their alignments from TFT? I heard they werent that great at it.....

 

[Legwagon]

Never been to a Town Fair Tire....after this thread never will either.

 

[Matt]

im just going to add to this....so my friend, happens to be a female , bought some snow tires there. they advertise free snow tire chageover and when she called to make an appt they ask are they on rims or not. which apparently if there not they charge you 50 bucks to swap the 4. I explain to her that there not on wheels and will need to be swapped but theres only two so it shouldnt be 50....she calls back and they tell her 21.....how does it go from 50 for 4 or 21 for 2...... I told her that they advertise free m&b and she shouldnt be charged and if they try id just do it for her for free.........

 

[Carter]

A buddy of mine went there for truck tires and car tires. He wanted a 4 wheel alignment on both vehicles and they didn't really want to do it. His car went back 3 times due to poor balancing.

 

[saabaru]

We bought tires for the wife's Xterra last summer. Car has been back 2 times for slow leaks. Also, they broke the plastic hub that covers the lug bolts. I told them they are the only ones that have taken it off, but claimed it was old and they broke. I will not go back. Next set of ties will be bought through Sterling Auto, a friend owns it and will get me great pricing on tires. (Through Tirewarehouse on riverside street)

 

[Maxxguy25RS]

I shouldnt knock town fair, we use them for alignments. the shop I work at doesn't have an alignment rack (boo). I wanted them to align my car more for autocross, you know, zero front toe, slight toe out for the rear and a slight bit of camber in for the fronts. they did the toe adjustments just fine, but when I asked the guy to do the camber too, he kinda brushed me off. I cant complain because it was a great price, but I would expect them to at least tell me something bs or not on why they didnt want to do it. even though the dealers are a lot more expensive, maybe have it done there. if I had easy access to a machine, id be doing them myself like 4 or more times a year.

 

[Jamey]

Toe and go is there motto I did alighnments for them 2 years they don't want you spending time on one car

 

[smelt240]

I think that's the biggest problem with most of the chain garages these days. Like I said,its hard to blame a guy (or girl) who really cant afford to lose their job,but is forced to rush it,or just plain do a poor job,per company "rules". It will all come back to bite these places when the money really dries up,and even the "richy riches" have to think about their budget.....

 

[blmpkn]

Theres no winning with those tire places seriously. Tire warehouse is just as bad. Never going back there, and after reading all this ill never go to tft either..