Author Topic: Costco or Discount Tire?  (Read 49770 times)

I'm a red panda

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Costco or Discount Tire?
« on: October 23, 2017, 06:48:07 AM »
So my car has a flat.
The tire had ridiculously low pressure yesterday when I filled it, and this morning the indicator was on again.

We've always used Discount Tire in the past to patch them, they often do it for free, but now have a Costco membership.

Who should I use?

Jenny1974

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Re: Costco or Discount Tire?
« Reply #1 on: October 23, 2017, 06:49:37 AM »
I prefer the customer service at Discount Tire.  Prices haves always been reasonable as well.  The location is more convenient for times when I need a quick fix.

savenowspendnever

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Re: Costco or Discount Tire?
« Reply #2 on: October 23, 2017, 08:59:03 AM »
If you buy from Discount Tire, you don't pay full price to replace it when buying a new one in the future. I'm not sure about Costco's deals, but I'm happy with the service from DT.

Dave1442397

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Re: Costco or Discount Tire?
« Reply #3 on: October 23, 2017, 11:12:24 AM »
Both companies are good. I bought my tires at Costco, and recently found a roofing nail in one tire. Rather than spend time going to get it fixed, I ordered a DIY kit from Amazon and fixed it myself in ten minutes.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000ET525K/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I'm a red panda

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Re: Costco or Discount Tire?
« Reply #4 on: October 23, 2017, 11:14:28 AM »
Both companies are good. I bought my tires at Costco, and recently found a roofing nail in one tire. Rather than spend time going to get it fixed, I ordered a DIY kit from Amazon and fixed it myself in ten minutes.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000ET525K/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

We couldn't find anything that would be the source of the leak :(
Thanks for the link, I saved it for the future.

JLee

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Re: Costco or Discount Tire?
« Reply #5 on: October 23, 2017, 11:15:15 AM »
Discount does flat repair for free, whether or not you buy tires from them. I love Discount Tire.

Bourbon

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Re: Costco or Discount Tire?
« Reply #6 on: October 23, 2017, 11:18:40 AM »
Both companies are good. I bought my tires at Costco, and recently found a roofing nail in one tire. Rather than spend time going to get it fixed, I ordered a DIY kit from Amazon and fixed it myself in ten minutes.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000ET525K/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

We couldn't find anything that would be the source of the leak :(
Thanks for the link, I saved it for the future.

These are also available at most gas stations.

ketchup

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Re: Costco or Discount Tire?
« Reply #7 on: October 23, 2017, 11:35:59 AM »
My experience is that Costco's tires are more expensive but the customer experience at Discount Tire is like a root canal except less fun.

clarkfan1979

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Re: Costco or Discount Tire?
« Reply #8 on: October 23, 2017, 12:18:52 PM »
Discount Tire has great policies, but their execution is sometimes off.

I believe that Costco employees are of a higher standard and I typically get better customer service.

Costco is pretty much all across the U.S. Discount Tire is not. If you think you might move to a different state in the next 5 years, I would go with Costco.

We have done both in the past and have been happy with both. Some small errors with Discount Tire, but they are usually pretty good about making it right in the long run. 

Bourbon

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Re: Costco or Discount Tire?
« Reply #9 on: October 23, 2017, 12:22:59 PM »
I used to order online and then find a shop to install.  Last few rounds have been with Discount Tire/DTD. 

I did try to use Costco recently, but was in a rush and when I got to the store I was told that the prices/sales online are not the same as the in store prices/deals.  So would have to order and have them installed.  Wound up with Discount Tire again.

JLee

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Re: Costco or Discount Tire?
« Reply #10 on: October 23, 2017, 05:13:45 PM »
My experience is that Costco's tires are more expensive but the customer experience at Discount Tire is like a root canal except less fun.

That must vary wildly by region or store -- the Discount Tire in Tempe AZ is fantastic.

sisto

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Re: Costco or Discount Tire?
« Reply #11 on: October 23, 2017, 05:16:47 PM »
We used to have a good America's Tire (Discount brand in CA) by me, but it's gotten really bad. What I used to do is find out how much the tires I wanted were from Costco and then they would beat that price. I've also realized lately that we drive so little that the tires get sun damage before the tread is worn so I will likely start buying cheap tires in the future.

catccc

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Re: Costco or Discount Tire?
« Reply #12 on: October 23, 2017, 08:44:10 PM »
We had a flat in the spring and went to Costco, mostly for convenience.  They were open and we wanted to get the flat taken care of ASAP.  The guy at Costco told us it wasn’t repairable and we needed to get a new tire.  Actually, two new tires because 2 sets of 2 tires are okay to use together, but not 1 and a set of 3.  We ended up deciding to hold off on the purchase, and got our trusted local mechanic to fix it for us the next day.  Not sure why Costco could repair it, but that was 7 months ago and the tire is still fine.

JLee

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Re: Costco or Discount Tire?
« Reply #13 on: October 23, 2017, 09:54:28 PM »
We had a flat in the spring and went to Costco, mostly for convenience.  They were open and we wanted to get the flat taken care of ASAP.  The guy at Costco told us it wasn’t repairable and we needed to get a new tire.  Actually, two new tires because 2 sets of 2 tires are okay to use together, but not 1 and a set of 3.  We ended up deciding to hold off on the purchase, and got our trusted local mechanic to fix it for us the next day.  Not sure why Costco could repair it, but that was 7 months ago and the tire is still fine.
Large/reputable tire shops will deny repairs that are not up to industry standard:

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=187

simplified

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Re: Costco or Discount Tire?
« Reply #14 on: October 23, 2017, 11:10:46 PM »
In my personal experience, Discount tire offers better customer service than Costco Tire center. The generally great costco customer service doesn't carry over to their tire center. They are overly cautious about liability issues, like not selling you 1 tire, not installing your own tires, not selling you tire sizes or tires of a specific spec. They go by the book and won't use brains.

Toyota decided to equip my car with z rated tires out of factory, even though my car is not a sports car. Costco refuses to install anything that is below z rating. Most shops where the reps are allowed to use their brains will laugh at installing z rated tires on my car.

When costco had michelins on sale, I printed out the online prices and took it to discount tire. They gladly matched the price and installed the tires I wanted. Little did they know that I had no option of getting these tires for my car from costco in the first place.

 

I'm a red panda

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Re: Costco or Discount Tire?
« Reply #15 on: October 24, 2017, 01:08:39 AM »
Thanks all.
We went to discount tire, they patched it for free, despite it not being their tire.

Dr.Jeckyl

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Re: Costco or Discount Tire?
« Reply #16 on: October 24, 2017, 10:43:58 AM »
Thanks all.
We went to discount tire, they patched it for free, despite it not being their tire.

I've had the same experience with Discount. Not only have they patched tires that I didn't buy from them they pro-rated a tire I needed replaced even though I didn't buy from them. I went to them after Sears treated me poorly about the hole in my tire and tried to give me a different tire and stated I HAD to buy the warranty from them.

I called Discount towards the end of the day. I needed a tire so I didn't have to drive 150 miles on my temp spare the next day. They told me get there before they close and they'll get me in even if they have to stay. With their prices and service I don't bother going anywhere else.

ketchup

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Re: Costco or Discount Tire?
« Reply #17 on: October 24, 2017, 10:47:51 AM »
My experience is that Costco's tires are more expensive but the customer experience at Discount Tire is like a root canal except less fun.

That must vary wildly by region or store -- the Discount Tire in Tempe AZ is fantastic.
It does vary.  Two of the three I've been to were in the Chicago area and they sucked.  One put the wrong tires on a car so they wore out quickly, and one gave me the run-around about pricing and availability.  The one I went to (in an "emergency tire event" 8 hours from home) near Minneapolis was great though.

Dr.Jeckyl

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Re: Costco or Discount Tire?
« Reply #18 on: October 24, 2017, 10:52:40 AM »
It does vary.  Two of the three I've been to were in the Chicago area and they sucked.  One put the wrong tires on a car so they wore out quickly, and one gave me the run-around about pricing and availability.  The one I went to (in an "emergency tire event" 8 hours from home) near Minneapolis was great though.
[/quote]

I had a few really good experiences with the Naperville location. Might not be local to you though.

ketchup

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Re: Costco or Discount Tire?
« Reply #19 on: October 24, 2017, 11:02:05 AM »
Quote
It does vary.  Two of the three I've been to were in the Chicago area and they sucked.  One put the wrong tires on a car so they wore out quickly, and one gave me the run-around about pricing and availability.  The one I went to (in an "emergency tire event" 8 hours from home) near Minneapolis was great though.

I had a few really good experiences with the Naperville location. Might not be local to you though.
The one that put the wrong tires on my buddy's car was in Naperville.  The location by the Petsmart at 111th and IL-59.

Anon in Alaska

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Re: Costco or Discount Tire?
« Reply #20 on: October 24, 2017, 12:18:48 PM »
Costco, at least in my area, does not make appointments for tire service. This means much more waiting and, possibly, multiple trips. I'm a big fan of Costco in general but dealing with them for tires is much more hassle.

Rosy

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Re: Costco or Discount Tire?
« Reply #21 on: October 24, 2017, 06:52:50 PM »
Both companies are good. I bought my tires at Costco, and recently found a roofing nail in one tire. Rather than spend time going to get it fixed, I ordered a DIY kit from Amazon and fixed it myself in ten minutes.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000ET525K/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The exact same thing happened to my son yesterday. He got a kit from Walmart, he called it a plug kit ($10) and said this only works if the damage is more centered, but it would not work if the damage was on the sides.

Dr.Jeckyl

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Re: Costco or Discount Tire?
« Reply #22 on: October 26, 2017, 11:15:41 AM »


I had a few really good experiences with the Naperville location. Might not be local to you though.
[/quote]The one that put the wrong tires on my buddy's car was in Naperville.  The location by the Petsmart at 111th and IL-59.
[/quote]

Wow, I never realized there are 3 Discount Tires in Naperville. I went to the one on Fort Hill Dr. over by all the dealerships. It makes sense there are so many out in Naperville one of the warehouses is on Quincy just a couple blocks away from the Fort Hill location.

catccc

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Re: Costco or Discount Tire?
« Reply #23 on: October 26, 2017, 01:54:32 PM »
We had a flat in the spring and went to Costco, mostly for convenience.  They were open and we wanted to get the flat taken care of ASAP.  The guy at Costco told us it wasn’t repairable and we needed to get a new tire.  Actually, two new tires because 2 sets of 2 tires are okay to use together, but not 1 and a set of 3.  We ended up deciding to hold off on the purchase, and got our trusted local mechanic to fix it for us the next day.  Not sure why Costco could repair it, but that was 7 months ago and the tire is still fine.
Large/reputable tire shops will deny repairs that are not up to industry standard:

https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech/techpage.jsp?techid=187

Oh, that last sentence was supposed to say "not sure why costco COULDN'T repair it..."  And I remember why now- it was because they said there were two spots that needed repairs and they were too close together.  We wanted to shop around for tires and not feel forced into buying on the spot, so we told costco we'd come back.  The car was having CEL issues at the same time.  We went to our local mechanic for a smoke test to diagnose the CEL problem.  The tire was in the back of the car, and we were using the spare.  After he did the smoke test for the CEL, he looked at the two spots that needed repair on the tire and determined that one of the "spots" was a stuck piece of gravel, not a puncture.  Seriously.  So he patched the one puncture and we moved on.

So IDK if the costco guys really wanted us to buy tires or just made a bad call on a piece of stuck gravel.  They are always really nice to us there, but they've also sold us tires that fit our car (right size) but were a very wrong tire for our car.  I can't remember what the characteristic was, but they were tires meant for a sports car, not a family wagon.  They made for a noisy and rough ride and may have contributed to the premature wear of some suspension components.
« Last Edit: October 26, 2017, 01:59:09 PM by catccc »