Can't believe Sams Club did me this.

[Jstpssng]

Did you know the Veldmans sold Discount Tire to The Tire Rack back in 2021?

Don't you have that backwards? From your same post...

In 1979, automotive parts and service business owner Peter "Pete" Veldman came up with his business idea for the Tire Rack... ...On December 4, 2021, Discount Tire acquired Tire Rack for an undisclosed amount.

 

[MossRoad]

Don't you have that backwards? From your same post...

OUCH! Yes I do.

Tire Rack was sold to Discount Tire. I'll correct that. Thanks.

 

[tallyho8]

To the OP....can we see a picture of the damaged wheel? Does it look like impact damage from driving or damage from mounting? What diameter wheel was it?

The front tires are 225/45R18. The rears are 245/45R18. There are no dents visible in the rim. It looks like maybe the center section of the rim may be bent out of alignment, but it is hard to tell. Except when you mount it on the car and spin it, you can see it wobble.

 

[ruffdog]

Wow...an 18" wheel should be plenty strong to handle a tire machine. Sometimes larger wheels can have an issue.

 

[ddbackhoe]

That's me too. Buy my tires online, delivered to the farm and usually mount and balance them myself. If I don't for some reason I use the local tire shop (that also does my tractor tires). Good professional folks. I know when they mount tires for me, they have you drive around the block and come back and they retorque the rims to factory specs. They do my TPMS sensors to which will fail after so many years. They replace and reprogram them.

I would never use Wally World or Sams or any of those places, just like the 10 minute oil change places, never, never. Monkey like employees making minimum wage that don't give a hoot, don't even know what a torque wrench or torque stick even is.

Have a gal friend with a Subaru WRX that fell into the tire trap. Got tires done at Wally World and they broke of a stud on the front and she had to take it to the dealer. 600 bucks later she was whole again and WW refused to pay for their mistake. Tire jockeys are a dime a dozen. Good tire people aren't. Same with the 10 minute oil change places. Low pay equals low quality.

Moral of the story is, never get tires at a box store discount place. Deal with competent tire shops or do it yourself. A tire machine isn't that expensive and HF sells a dandy static balancer and stick on weights too. What I use and have for years now.

The tire place I deal with is always busy, you have to make an appointment ahead of time.

I havent had good success with stick-ons. We use balance beads in all of our stuff.

Counteract Balancing Beads | The only tire balancing product proven to improve fuel economy.

counteractbalancing.com

 

[two_bit_score]

The front tires are 225/45R18. The rears are 245/45R18. There are no dents visible in the rim. It looks like maybe the center section of the rim may be bent out of alignment, but it is hard to tell. Except when you mount it on the car and spin it, you can see it wobble.View attachment 788303

Wrapped from impact wrench?

 

[tallyho8]

Just a follow-up: Walmart claims phoned me Friday evening and left a message on my phone to call them. It was too late to phone them Friday when I got the message and they were closed Saturday and Sunday. I phoned Monday, Tuesday and today and just got their voicemail and left a message but they have not returned my call yet. Maybe that employee is on vacation this week. I will keep trying.

 

[Dwellonroof]

Just a follow-up: Walmart claims phoned me Friday evening and left a message on my phone to call them. It was too late to phone them Friday when I got the message and they were closed Saturday and Sunday. I phoned Monday, Tuesday and today and just got their voicemail and left a message but they have not returned my call yet. Maybe that employee is on vacation this week. I will keep trying.

You sure it's the wheel and not the axle/hub that is bent? Maybe swap another wheel and see what it does.

 

[LD1]

You sure it's the wheel and not the axle/hub that is bent? Maybe swap another wheel and see what it does.

ITs already been fixed. In post #1......He said he got the new wheel, and installed it.

The only dispute and discussion of the thread is about gettting reimbursed from walmart/sams.....

 

[Grumpycat]

Yes I had a client that worked there. So I have seen the South Bend warehouse. Pretty interesting all tires are picked by robots.

I had a tire fail when I was visiting in Indiana. 255/45-19, not your average Walmart tire size. South Bend was 65 miles away so I ordered (4) new tires to be installed at the warehouse.

Found the production line for mounting tires to be interesting. They had people lift the vehicle using (4) common floor jacks. The wheels were placed on a conveyor belt. One guy dismounted tires. Another inspected the rims. Yet another mounted the new tires. Another did nothing but balance tires. Then the vehicle crew put the wheels back on.

 

[MossRoad]

I had a tire fail when I was visiting in Indiana. 255/45-19, not your average Walmart tire size. South Bend was 65 miles away so I ordered (4) new tires to be installed at the warehouse.

Found the production line for mounting tires to be interesting. They had people lift the vehicle using (4) common floor jacks. The wheels were placed on a conveyor belt. One guy dismounted tires. Another inspected the rims. Yet another mounted the new tires. Another did nothing but balance tires. Then the vehicle crew put the wheels back on.

Interesting observation about the Tire Rack and people that work there.

If you drive on the roads anywhere near that warehouse in South Bend, and you encounter an aggressive driver around 7:30am, 9 out of 10 times you can follow them to Tire Rack.

Similarly, 9 out of 10 cars that come out of the street that their entrance is on around 5-6pm leaves aggressively and at a high rate of speed.

There are also a lot of burnout marks on the road in front of their warehouse.

Driving enthusiasts, I guess.

 

[sd455dan]

I had a tire fail when I was visiting in Indiana. 255/45-19, not your average Walmart tire size. South Bend was 65 miles away so I ordered (4) new tires to be installed at the warehouse.

Found the production line for mounting tires to be interesting. They had people lift the vehicle using (4) common floor jacks. The wheels were placed on a conveyor belt. One guy dismounted tires. Another inspected the rims. Yet another mounted the new tires. Another did nothing but balance tires. Then the vehicle crew put the wheels back on.

edit
Oops I posted the response without checking.. wrong thread

Carry on.

 

[tallyho8]

The amount of tire sidewall is the second set of digits. example: 275/35R21. A larger sidewall would be 275/45R21

 

[dstig1]

Interesting observation about the Tire Rack and people that work there.

If you drive on the roads anywhere near that warehouse in South Bend, and you encounter an aggressive driver around 7:30am, 9 out of 10 times you can follow them to Tire Rack.

Similarly, 9 out of 10 cars that come out of the street that their entrance is on around 5-6pm leaves aggressively and at a high rate of speed.

There are also a lot of burnout marks on the road in front of their warehouse.

Driving enthusiasts, I guess.

Free tires for life a company perk, perhaps?

 

[sd455dan]

The amount of tire sidewall is the second set of digits. example: 275/35R21. A larger sidewall would be 275/45R21

Right
actually the second number is the aspect ratio
dividing a tire's height off the rim by its width.


a higher aspect ratio would be welcome as well.

 

[tradosaurus]

Right
actually the second number is the aspect ratio
dividing a tire's height off the rim by its width.


a higher aspect ratio would be welcome as well.

I usually downsize the tire when I buy a new vehicle.

2014 F250 went from 20" to 18". Overall diameter stays the same.
2018 Mazda 3 went from 18" to 16". Overall diameter stays the same.

 

[sd455dan]

I usually downsize the tire when I buy a new vehicle.

2014 F250 went from 20" to 18". Overall diameter stays the same.
2018 Mazda 3 went from 18" to 16". Overall diameter stays the same.

Yes Exactly. The tire wheel combo on the car I am buying needs to go from 21" wheels to either an 18 or 19 inch diameter wheel and could lose around an inch in width of the wheel and increasing the aspect ratio from 35 to 40 or even 45 and then checking overall tire diameter to fit, picking that diameter to cause the MPH reading to display just slightly low if error is introduced.
With pot holed roads the factory choice of tire wheel combo could be better. Same goes for ride quality and an effective tire wheel for snow/winter use.

 

[tallyho8]

On a nice family car, I would prefer to have high sidewalls due to the smoother, quieter ride, but on a sports car like mine, the low profile tires are necessary in competition for better handling in curves and the thicker, lower sidewalls make it much safer if you have a blowout at high speeds.

I tried calling Walmart claims services again today and got no answer again. I will phone back Monday and if my adjuster doesn't answer, I will escalate matters.

 

[sd455dan]

On a nice family car, I would prefer to have high sidewalls due to the smoother, quieter ride, but on a sports car like mine, the low profile tires are necessary in competition for better handling in curves and the thicker, lower sidewalls make it much safer if you have a blowout at high speeds.

I tried calling Walmart claims services again today and got no answer again. I will phone back Monday and if my adjuster doesn't answer, I will escalate matters.

I have never been able to completely buy that short side wall to make a car handle explanation, because of Indy car tires and wheels which are close to a 60 series aspect ratio and run on 15" wheels.

 

[RustyA]

Open wheel racing cars don't have to contend with fitting the tire and wheel inside the fenders. Only way with fenders to widen the contact patch on the ground is lower the aspect ratio. That's where the Z45 and Z35's come into play. You end up with same circumference but wider contact area, larger wheel, lower sidewall for stiffness. Also Indy car tires are super soft compound that is disposed of every 250-500 miles.