February 01, 2009
New Tires
Wendy and the girls have their two Beetles, both with a few miles. Hogarth had an accident a while back, and ended up with two brands of tires with three different date codes. Tread not gone, but you lose a LOT of wet traction with shallow grooves, not to mention that 5+ year old tires are more likely to fail than new tires. So we got a new set.
Wendy was rather pleased with the Michelins that came on her car, so we went for Michelins for Hogarth -- the Primacy MXV4 in 205/55R16. They carry a DOT rating of 640AA, guaranteed 60,000 miles treadlife with "A" traction; rather impressive.
At Discount Tires in L.A. they wanted $860+. Costco quoted $578.83 -- on the road.
So we order, I drive the car in, go to the tire desk. "waddaya want?" "Four tires, installed, free." "in your dreams!" Show the printout where we had ordered and prepaid and our four tires were shipped to them, specifically for out car. "Oh.... OKay. Gimme keys, see ya in about two hours." (The bays were filled, not a problem.)
I wander away, come back in about a hour, Hogarth has been moved into a service bay. The Tech lays on the ground so as to position the lift pads perfectly. Lifts the car, pops the right front (the newest tire, an '06) and dubs it the spare. They, two guys working together, pull the tires, mount the new, inflate with nitrogen, speed balance, replace wheels on car, use a torque wrench to verify lug tightness. Quick, clean, friendly. Go to the desk, get the paperwork, the car is now outside the door and they hand me an envelop and the keys. The envelop has the purchace paper, with serial numbers, a note that we have free rotations, inflations, rebalancing, and flat fixing for the next several years.
I am suitable impressed.
The blue Beetle is getting it's tires ordered tonight, should be on by next weekend.