I went ballistic------almost..

This does not directly relate to my 09 tacoma but it could.has anyone out there ever heard this one....
Today i took my other truck in for 2 front tires. I paid for them went out for a soda and after 30 minutes i was paged. Went back to service area and saw that right front tire was off and new one next to fender.
This is an f 350 with dual rear wheels and it is 4 wheel drive.
So here it is, they refused to install the new fronts unless i bought 6 tires, new all around.
Reason, its a 4 wheel drive and they have to do all 4 or 6. Corporate policy.
They could not show me a copy of the policy or explain the logic.
So has anyone else out there in tacoma land ever been refused front tires on their 4 wheel drive unless they did all 4 wheels.
Would appreciate your input....

 

im calling BS to that.. ive never heard of that before.. sounds like they wanted to make a few more bucks

 

That statement was given by employees and a manager. I will post the store NAME later.
Thanks

 

Can't say that we have had that happen either...

 

Always bought sets of four...but have never heard this before?

 

If the overall diameter of the tires is severelly different per axle then it may affect the way the ABS acts or engages.

 

Never had it happen to me since I usually need all four however I have heard of that policy before. The claim it's to protect them for liability reasons since the two that were replaced will have better tread and subsequently more grip than the two not replaced. On 4wd they don't want you to be in 4wd and have a situation with different grip between the front and rear which would lead to an accident and subsequenly they would be sued.

If you've ever had just two wheels replaced on an 2WD vehicle you'll notice that they will almost always put them on the drive wheels no matter which two you asked to be replaced. Same reason though.. drive wheels need the grip.

 

My best friend owns a tire shop this is bullshit! Not true at all !

 

It sounds like you might have been to wal-mart, I ordered a set of 285s from them a few years ago and they wouldnt install them on the truck because they werent the exact factory size.

 

one guess on where this was....walmart? if so then yes i have heard of obsurd things like this come from them. they are full of shit and just tell them to put your tires on and take it to a regular tire shop. they did this to me with a boat trailer. they refused to put a reglular vehicle tire on it because it was not specifically a "trailor tire". it was just a regular 6 ply tire like the ones that were already on the trailer. took it back home put it up on jack stands and took the wheels back to the same person that told me all this and not another word. the kind of people that work there are not "technicians". they have very minimal knowlege, or skill, of the things they are doing.

another story about them and the main reason i dont take any vehicle i own to them. buddy of mine took his truck up to them to get an oil change. just a 1/2 chevy 4x4. seems pretty routine and simple right? i guess not. they did the oil change as he browsed the shelves near by. 20 minutes goes by he gets paged, pays for it and goes on. couple mile down the road the motor seizes and overheats. we got it towed home and went to check it out and its bone dry! not a drop of oil in it!

 

Oregon law requires studded tires sold as 4 due to front whl drives spinning around when they bought just 2. I'm thinking it could be a liability issue so they implement it, and oh btw now they get more $$ per sale.

 

Sounds like some horse shit to me. I would make them refund me 100% and drive to the next tire shop. Tires shops are more common than used car lots and the markup is about the same. There is a huge profit margin in tires so always research between different stores vs. online you will be surprised.

 

well, its not so much coperate..Its a well known fact that if you buy 2 tires, on a 4x4 or AWD, it can screw up the differential if they are not within i think 2MM of the rest of the tire tread. AWD and 4x4's are funny like that

 

2MM is so small that theat cannot be true. at least not to a diff. maybe the half shafts in the front but not the rear. on my honda s2000 its rear drive and has half shafts in the rear and this is possible but its not a 2MM difference by far. also AWD is totally different than 4wd so the same things should not apply to 4wd. 4wd is selectable and awd is constant. the diffs in the awd systems are so different than in 4wd. thats the reason you arent supposed to put your truck in 4wd while on pavement.

 

That should really only apply to All Wheel Drive vehicles. Not 4WD

AWD vehicles have a viscous center diff. The different rolling diameter between front and rear wheels could mess the center diff up.

 

No...Shit no man...I beleive you'd get your ass kicked saying somethin' like that man (Office Space)

 

Why go ballistic? Just go elsewhere.

 

my guess would be Costco

In British Columbia, it is a law that all 4 tires must be the same brand/model/size on a 4x4. A 2x4 has the same restrictions only on a per axle basis

 

A few shops have tried this to me (discount tire for one) with my G35. They even tried to refuse me being alowed to drive away. I told them let me ask Chandler PD what they say... they gave me the keys. Another time they said I needed 4. I said replace the rear 2 I can still run the fronts longer. They refused... I told them I'd do another shop willing to do buisness. Long story short, they gave me $30 off a tire and one free one (paid 3) and I got all 4. I was ok with that...

 

easy solution, take your wheels off yourself at home or wherever, and have the tires replaced off the vehicle at the shop. since they are not installing the wheels on your truck, they are no longer liable.