Just paid almost $900 for a new set of 4 performance tires. The receipt contained the following line items as part of the "tire installation package": tire mounting, tire handling, wheel balance, road hazard warranty, and four 1 1/4 rubber valve stems ($3.49 each).
I had the foresight to mark the old, original valve stems before I handed over my keys just to see if they would try to sneak this one by. They did... It's not even about the installer trying to save the company money. It boils down to 30 seconds more per tire to do the right thing, but after all, who actually checks their valve stems after buying tires?
When they initially told me the car was "done" I checked and verified that they in fact did not change the valve stems. I verified that all the original stems were still on the wheels (with my pen marks and the obviously dry rot on the rubber) which had been balanced and an alignment performed. I went back in and told the service manager and he told me that he couldn't believe that "Juan" installed a new set of tires and didn't change the stems. I think "Juan" may have *never* installed a new valve stem in his career. Needless to say, I had to hand the keys back so they could burn another hour of my precious time in addition to another unproductive hour of garage labor time removing the wheels (for a second time), removing the tires, removing the old stems, installing new ones and remounting the tires and wheels.
Since they removed and reinstalled the tires on the rims, they should have subsequently balanced each tire a second time. Did they rebalance the tires? I sure hope so... They told me they did, so I should take their word for it.:-S
I wonder how fast they would get sued the first time someone in a minivan with a baby in a car seat has a blowout and gets in an accident after getting a new set of tires where "Juan" didn't put in new valve stems because it was too much work?
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