Les Schwab
Aren't new tires supposed to be round?

Maybe I'm all wrong here but this kinda bugs me. I bought a new set of tires at Les Schwab for our minivan in my town. This is the 3rd set I've bought in the last 12 months on various vehicles. I haven't had any trouble before.

After I got the tires they seemed out of balance. I jacked the van up at home and spun the rear wheels and checked to make sure the bearings were OK. The tires looked wobbly. We were going on a trip so I took it back in and had them check the balance. My wife picked it up, I did not talk to them, and we left in the morning. It was better but still a very noticable vibration in the rear.

When we were in Tillamook, OR I took it in to the Les Schwab there. They changed one of the rear tires because it was out of round. We went for a ride and it was still thumping and they heard it too so said they would change both tires. I said great and they said they had them in stock. He comes out a little later and says they put the new tires on and it was the same and they didn't have any that would balance. He says "i can get you into a new set of tires that will give you a better ride and be quieter"."Oh, it will only be $150 more". I wasn't very happy since these tires are new just 5 days ago. So he does a little more "calculating" and comes up with another different brand of tire and it will only cost me $49 more. Well, I'm 600 miles from home and I'm eating up vacation time (2.5 hours) at Les Schwab so I say OK.

The new set worked fine. No thumping so it wasn't the van which I was starting to wonder. So everything is fine and we get home but this is bugging me. I tell my local Les Schwab what happened. I'm wondering why the guys in Oregon saw the tires were out of round but not them. I'm wondering why I have to pay any extra for new tires when they couldn't make the new ones I had just bought from them roll smooth. I said if I had been home and they couln't make them right then I would have said fine give me my money back and I will get tires somewhere else. Kinda hard to do when you're on the road. They are nice folks there and have offered a free alignment. That's nice but I don't need an alignment right now. I would like my $49 bucks back. Not because it's alot. Just because. You would think for $49 they would like to keep me a happy come back customer. I guess I'll start going out of town again to SAMS Club. Always have good luck there it's just 30 miles away.

You know, the tires I originally got weren't expensive ($47 ea.) and maybe they might make a little more road noise or not wear as long as a more expensive tire but would'nt you expect them to be ROUND? I asked them this and they said Oh, unfortunately we get tires like this all the time. I tried going on their web site and contacting them but they don't have email that I could see. That's when I found this web site. Thanks for letting me vent. Let me know what you all think. Maybe I'm just wrong.

Company: Les Schwab
Country: USA
State: California
City: Colusa
Address: Market St

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