Can't believe Sams Club did me this.

[Dftodd]

That actually happened to me. Mine was the drivers side on my dads early 70's Chevy truck going to school.

Here, I thought that could only happen to me.

I had a pretty dumbfounded look when I was wondering where in the heck did that tire come from passing me (3 speed on the column aka "3 on the tree", coming into school, just turned onto the school road and was shifting to second gear when that tire passed me).

I was stuck following a portable construction office trailer coming from Melbourne Florida to Yeehaw junction.

Pontiac fiero was coming the other direction. Just as the fiero was passing that trailer one of the r8ms and tires came off one of the axles.

That rim and tire hit dead center in the grill of the fiero. Rim and tire shot about 30ft straight up in the air.

I was trying to keep an eye on the tire since it looked like it was coming right down at me.

Tire came down about 5ft off the edge of the road right next to me. I was cringing once I lost site of it hoping I didn't eat it through the windshield or have it cave in the roof.

Driver of the semi pulling the office trailer just kept on going. Ended up reporting him to highway patrol, and they caught him in yeehaw junction.

 

[Username Taken]

Most Tire Shops these days, including Sam's, use an impact but with a Torque Stick on it.

If your wheels call for 150 lb-ft of torque, Sam's will use a 140 lb torque stick then put a Torque Wrench on it to finish it.

The 2 Sam's I use, here and in Grand Rapids, do that. Seen it. They also put Never Seize on each lug.

I'm kind of a dikk when it comes to my tires and, so far, they've done right by me. But, you just never know. Everybody has a bad day now and then.

Everybody has heard of 'Economies of Scale' but there is also an 'Economy of Volume' that is closely related. Specific costs decline when doing large volumes. Sam's doesn't pay that much less for tires. Maybe 10% I'd say. That would be economy of scale because Michelin (as an example) can set up a production line and run it continuously, making literally, millions of tires for one retailer -- Sam's.

Sam's can sell them cheaper because the volume is so high they save money.

Plus, the warranty is good over-the-road. I bought a set in Grand Rapids that the Sam's down here will back up if necessary. And verse-vice-a.

I prefer doing business with smaller local types, and do when I can, but my first obligation is to my family. And me. If I can save a substantial amount of money, guess what? I'm gonna do it.

Our Boy swears by CostCo. YMMV

 

[MossRoad]

... He loved driving that thing with both windows down, sun roof open, and him blasting his polka's.

...

Had to laugh. My late father in-law had his polka CDs in their van all the time.

 

[5030]

In all my years, I've never had a tire failure from defective manufacture. Had flats but my own fault.

Only thing I like from CostCo is the Kirkland Butter microwave popcorn. In fact I'm eating a bag presently. My SIL gets it for me, I won't go there.

 

[Dftodd]

In all my years, I've never had a tire failure from defective manufacture. Had flats but my own fault.

Only thing I like from CostCo is the Kirkland Butter microwave popcorn. In fact I'm eating a bag presently. My SIL gets it for me, I won't go there.

Remember the Firestone recall??

Personally I thought they got the shaft on that one. They were blaming 10yo spare tires that someone slapped on their SUV.

They got the rap for Jonny homeowner not checking their tire pressures and running under inflated tires.

The big cause though was big tire warehouses not rotating their stock. Buying in such bulk that the tires were starting to go bad when finally sold.

I had some tires installed on a service truck shortly after all the Firestone recall. Tires weren't Firestone. But the tire shop sold and installed tires as brand new that were sitting in a warehouse for 8 years.

Tread started separating within a couple weeks. Found out how to read the dates on the tires and proceeded to raise holy he!! with the tire shop.

 

[jjeff]

Not many folks can understand or bother to read the 4 digit date code on tires imo. If I'm spending about 1k on load range E or better tires I do.

 

[aczlan]

Remember the Firestone recall??

Personally I thought they got the shaft on that one. They were blaming 10yo spare tires that someone slapped on their SUV.

They got the rap for Jonny homeowner not checking their tire pressures and running under inflated tires.

The big cause though was big tire warehouses not rotating their stock. Buying in such bulk that the tires were starting to go bad when finally sold.

I had some tires installed on a service truck shortly after all the Firestone recall. Tires weren't Firestone. But the tire shop sold and installed tires as brand new that were sitting in a warehouse for 8 years.

Tread started separating within a couple weeks. Found out how to read the dates on the tires and proceeded to raise holy he!! with the tire shop.

The Explorer related Firestone recall? That was a mess.
Ford built the Explorer on the Ranger chassis, so it was heavier and more top heavy than a Ranger, but they specified a lower tire pressure than the Ranger did (only 26PSI) to improve ride quality.
At the same time Firestone was in the process of being bought out by Bridgestone, the tires in question were made cheaper than normal and the majority of the tires that blew were made at one plant right before they went on strike as the union members didn't want to accept the terms that Bridgestone wanted.

Aaron Z

 

[RustyA]

As a Ford dealer we got to deal with the Firestone/Explorer deal. The Firestone ATX that was standard equipment had an unreal tread life. Several customers made them last 100k miles. So you've got a 6-10 year old tire that's been under inflated if it was aired to factory spec. This was the reason all light vehicles have tpms systems now. The tread basically outlasted the carcass of the tire. Add in nobody checking inflation and it's a recipe for disaster, especially for the older explorers, and a lot worse for the 2 door short wheelbase ones.

 

[jjeff]

As a Ford dealer we got to deal with the Firestone/Explorer deal. The Firestone ATX that was standard equipment had an unreal tread life. Several customers made them last 100k miles. So you've got a 6-10 year old tire that's been under inflated if it was aired to factory spec. This was the reason all light vehicles have tpms systems now. The tread basically outlasted the carcass of the tire. Add in nobody checking inflation and it's a recipe for disaster, especially for the older explorers, and a lot worse for the 2 door short wheelbase ones.

So that's who I blame for the darn constant tpms light always Illuminated on my winter beater.

 

[RustyA]

Blame the TREAD act Congress passed to monitor tire pressures on all light duty vehicles. It's a good system until the batteries in the valve stem sensors start wearing out. Or the gorillas at cheap tire mart tear them off mounting tires.