Is the dealership trying to screw me over?

You'd be better off with an idiot light.

 

Now now no need to argue over air....its everywhere its everywhere.....

 

Firestone managed to break all 4 of my TPMS and tried to play it off that they all happened to die on their own accord. Long story short after confronting them about it they fessed up and made it right. I'd take it back to the first place and have them fix it.

 

There are Discount Tire locations all over Austin.

 

They should!
This is the best resolution too! I wouldn't trust the first shop to work on my truck again, and you shouldn't have had to go yet another half day without your truck.

 

Excellent point! I would def give that a shot.

The thing with the dealer is, they are always going to take the path of least resistance. They are for the most part a “remove and replace” shop. Not going to spend a lot time doing actual trouble shooting and will more likely just want to replace parts.

I had my 2002 TRD in for a recall about 6-8 months ago. The service writing asks me, “is there anything else you want us to look at while you are here”. I tell him, sometimes the dash brake light comes on and I have to push the E-brake in to make it go off. They came back later and tell me the brake cable is stretched out and to replace it and the brackets blah blah blah ... $750.00. I said thanks and left. Went home and put a carburetor spring on the cable and hooked it to the frame ... no more light!

 

Discount Tire does it for free. They have a drive trough lane with a full time attendant. Sometimes there's a bit of a line, but not so much on week days. I could do it myself at home, but it's much easier to just sit in my truck and sip my large coffee and have the friendly tech do it for me. They also hand you a tire score card showing thread dept left on your tires and any unusual wear. Great service. And yeah, 32 to 35 psi can have a noticeable affect on mileage and is where I keep mine unless I'm driving on the beach.

 

Moving TPMS from one wheel to another is a crap shoot. When I purchased new wheels from Discount Tire, I asked them if they would reuse the TMPS from my old wheels which only had about 4000 miles on them. They said they could try if I wanted but couldn't guarantee all four would make it without issue. Instead they sold me new ones for $20 each which included programming and came with a full warranty. That's the direction I and when I sold my OEM wheels, the addition of the OEM TPMS made they a quick sale.

Your tire shop should have know that and at least gave you a heads up before starting the job. As far as the dealership, TPMS from them run around $80 each plus whatever they charge for labor. I'd guess out the door would be around $500. Hope the tire shop will pony up.

 

Sheeeeeit. Free? Discount prob. would if you bought your tires from them but I guarantee here you would be waiting 3 hours for them to do it.

 

It's not, your discount tire sucks and was trying to upsell you. Discount tire swapped my oem tpms to new wheels and tires no problem.

 

I don't know where you've been going for tire services but this a free, quick (10 minute or less) process at Discount Tire.

 

Guarantee? I guess they don’t like you.

I rotated and balanced the tires on my Q60, bought new Michelins for my 4Runner, and rotated and balanced the tires on my Tacoma this week. The longest wait time was yesterday and I was only there an hour.

You can make an appointment.

 

I don't think they laughed their way to the bank with a sack full of money they made off of me @ $20 per wheel with programming. I had the option to let them go ahead and swap them out. It was nice of them to tell me up front that it "could" be an issue. I went with the new option as I figured selling the old wheels with TMPS installed would command at least $20 more.

 

Can't get through the line here within 10 minutes. I s'pose we just have a busy one. Appointments don't get you through faster here either, you drop off a car or you wait hours.

 

I have four locations within six miles of my house. They stay busy but not like you are describing, thankfully.

 

And at most tire shops it's free

 

Very true. I just got this bad boy so that I can do my own reprogramming for my summer/winter tire swap. While I can't see the data in my truck (base model) the sensors still report a specific pressure, and temperature too!

 

Discount Tire doesnt care where you bought your tires for free air.

 

Pricey little gadget.

 

I guess it is the area. In my area, if you tool in on a mid week day there's no line. As I mentioned, I did mine on Friday at about 1 pm and I drove right up. By the time I was done, another car just pulled in behind me. Saturdays yeah there's a line. When the weather finally gave us -32 temps around Christmas time, all the soccer moms started freaking-out because their tires where low. 20-30 cars in line that day.