My wife's car has a set of Michelins bought at Costco. Somehow, one tire now has its 3rd puncture. DT repaired the other 2 (convenience, other issues). Wife went to Costco to get rotation done while shopping and get the 3rd puncture repaired. The puncture is small enough that she only has had to add air 2x in 1.5 months.
Costco would not repair the puncture because "it was closer than 16 inches to another repair". I called DT and asked if they had a policy about "distance between repairs". Their answer - "As long as the patches don't overlap".
Costco, with their included Road Hazzard, was only going to give a $81 prorate on the tire ($245 new) to replace it. Tread on the tire when new - according to Costco - was 8.5/32nds. Currently has 5/32nds. I asked tire guy if he thought a 65,000 mile tire with only about 30K on it and down to 5/32nds already would get to the warranty mileage - "Absolutely, I'm fully confident".
I am rethinking buying tires at Costco.

Daughter home from A&M for Spring Break. Take her car to NTB for an oil change and rotation - tires only have 20K miles on them. NTB would not rotate the tires because of tread issues. Wanted to sell new tires and struts. Of course they didn't realize I had replaced the struts less than 30K miles ago.
Took the car back to Firestone (wife and daughter often use them because they can walk to their gym while car is serviced) where the 80K mile Bridgestones were bought. Get the manager to come look and explain that my daughter is going back to CS the next day. First he says, "There is no reason for them to not rotate these tires".
Then he looks and sees these tires only have 20K miles on them and the car has "Lifetime Alignment" from their shop and we have service records for rotations and replaces them for just the cost of their Road Hazzard Warranty(which we didn't buy with the tires). I was not happy that the Bridgestone Tourenzas with a 80K warranty were so bad already, but was relatively happy that he replaced all 4, with no negotiating, for $140.

Who can you trust now days?

I only go to DT or Costco and do my own plugging at home to save time.

Only issue with Costco was them refusing to install new tires as I was missing a lug, but they didn't sell lugs. I went to AutoZone, bought a new one and hand tightened in the lot.

NTB has been scamming people for decades. Stay away.

I have been let down every time I decide on a whim to stray from DT for anything tire-related. New purchase, patches, balancing, doesn't matter. Either shoddy work or scammy behavior or both.

Every. Single. Time.

Your experiences matches mine (but I use sams club, which will use for tires but has to be an exceptional deal now vs discounts locations and expertise).
Discount, tires is all they do and generally great reviews/trust on TA. Costco has to account for low experience techs overall and larger non-tire corporate oversight, so not surprised, but us what it is right.

As much as skeptical of chains in general, Firestone has been solid over the years personally. NTB is sketch from what I hear and all around when walked into a couple of times. So never gave a chance to be honest.

There will always be a couple of people that have bad experiences, but the overwhelming majority of folks have a positive experience with DT. There's a reason there are so many.

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Who can you trust now days?

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That's the million dollar question and unfortunately, in my experience, it depends on the staffing at whichever store you go to.

The Costco I used to go to was great to work with. I'd make an appointment for rotate/balance and usually didn't have to wait very long and they got my truck in quickly.

The one closer to me after I moved hasn't been as prompt.

My last several sets have come from Costco when they run the special on Bridgestone tires. RIght now they have $150 off Bridgestone and $110 off Firestone tires. Next month it will be Michelins then they'll go back to Bridgestone/Firestone.




1Ags used to have a contact at one of the places in Houston but I can't think of the name.

I apologize, my question was more rhetorical and just pointing out how different the policies are at different shops.

I love Costco for pretty much everything except tires. DT was always good to me but I moved to an area without one and use local places now. Fortunately for me a couple years ago my friend started a mobile tire business and he takes care of all our stuff. I order new tires off tire track and have them delivered.

Super convenient for me because we have 4 cars we do winter tires on and he just comes to the house and switches them all out for us so I don't have to do anything at all.

DT will match the Costco price.

I just got a set of Michelins from DT. All I did was walk up, and show them the price and they matched without question or complaint.

AgLiving06 said:

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DT will match the Costco price.

I just got a set of Michelins from DT. All I did was walk up, and show them the price and they matched without question or complaint.

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Costco includes road hazard in the price. Will DT throw that in on the price match as well?

Jack Cheese said:

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AgLiving06 said:

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DT will match the Costco price.

I just got a set of Michelins from DT. All I did was walk up, and show them the price and they matched without question or complaint.

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Costco includes road hazard in the price. Will DT throw that in on the price match as well?

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They will. I price matched them to Tire Rack who includes free road hazard. DT matched the price and added in the certificates at no charge

I have been a big Discount tire fan for the past five or six years now.

I love Costco, and I go there weekly, but their tire department is a train wreck. Their employees in the tire center. Talk to you all crazy, and anything after the purchase of four tires, such as flat repairs and maintenance, like rotations, takes hours upon hours. Don't even think about going there unless you have an appointment.

The main thing about Discount tire I like, is, they don't care where you bought the tires from, they will take care of you, whether you need air, flat repair or a rotation. Even though this is a loser for them, the long-term customer retention/earning your business in the future Has paid off for them.

I now have several people that I know that are managers a discount tires mainly on the west side of town. In fact, one of the managers has told me that there is a big push right now in March for them to sell. So if anybody is looking for tires, go see Taylor at the Katy Mills discount and tell him Wes sent you.

Edited to add, most tire places will not repair a tire after the third patch/plug.

I'm a big DT fan. Been a customer for over 20 years. They've always taken care of me and my family regardless of location. It's the only place I go for tires.

I recently purchased tires from DT and they told me they purchased Tire Rack back in 2020, so makes sense that they would match pricing. However, great information about matching the road hazzard as well. Also, they will do better than just match pricing but you have to be willing to negotiate and at times you can get a better deal when dealing with a few different DT locations, not sure why b/c they're not franchised but I found that to be the case.

Jack Cheese said:

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AgLiving06 said:

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DT will match the Costco price.

I just got a set of Michelins from DT. All I did was walk up, and show them the price and they matched without question or complaint.

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Costco includes road hazard in the price. Will DT throw that in on the price match as well?

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I don't think the Costco road hazard is the same as DTs

'03ag said:

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Jack Cheese said:

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AgLiving06 said:

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DT will match the Costco price.

I just got a set of Michelins from DT. All I did was walk up, and show them the price and they matched without question or complaint.

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Costco includes road hazard in the price. Will DT throw that in on the price match as well?

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I don't think the Costco road hazard is the same as DTs

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Not sure how it compares and if they force you to buy a new certificate if they replace a tire for free.

https://tires.costcotireshosting.com/RoadHazardWarranty

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All passenger, performance and light truck tires sold through Costco Wholesale are covered by a 5-year Road Hazard Warranty*Footnote One protecting customers against tread wear damage and tire failure. Costco Wholesale will repair or replace**Footnote Twotires damaged during standard legal vehicle operation.

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I will only use Discount Tire for Tires.

Costco is such a beatdown in general, I can't imagine willingly going there for tires. I go to DT or the local tire shop.

Costco is great but they only have the high-end stuff. Generally I drive about 10-12k miles a year and so it rarely makes sense to go with a top-tier like Michelin instead of a good alternative like Yokos or Pirellis.

I do get stressed out pushing the cart around all the huge families and unaware people that stop in the middle of the aisle, but walking around a few times grabbing free samples, then a $1.50 hot dog & coke, pizza, or chicken bake while waiting for tires isn't too bad.

I usually met a friend for a beer while waiting for my CostCo tires or I walk home from Discount.

I've bought all my sets from Costco for about 10 years but I've never had to use the road hazard, so not sure how it works. Last time I asked them about it, I thought they said it was prorated coverage, and I thought DT was 100% replacement(as long as the tire still has minimum tread).

Recently only needed 2 tires for something and Costco didn't have matching brand/model so I went to DT. Much better service end to end. They had to go get the tires from another store, but did it quickly. They have better hours and track appointments better.

I do love Costco and their prices are good. Never had any issues with install. Although they did use the wrong tire pressure when switching me from P to LT tires. Their checkout process is bad but not a big deal.

But since finding out DT will match them, I'll probably go with DT from now on.

Random, but +1 for DT. Driving home on the interstate last weekend and a piece of metal flew off a semi and slashed my front left Nitto Ridge Grappler. Called the local DT the next morning and they confirmed that they didn't have my size in stock but could get it delivered. They called me same day that afternoon and said I could swing by because they got them in. Pretty stellar service for what I was expecting.

Durkin Nowitzki said:

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I will only use Discount Tire for Tires.

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I tried buying a 5 gallon jug of mouthwash from Discount Tire, but it turns out only Costco has that.

AgLiving06 said:

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DT will match the Costco price.

I just got a set of Michelins from DT. All I did was walk up, and show them the price and they matched without question or complaint.

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They're even price matching for me for a set of KO2s to what the last remaining AAFES branded tire shop sells them for (275 vs 325/tire). They don't even have a website but I gave DT (America Tire out here) their phone number to call and confirm. After calling they called me back and told me they'd match.
This'll be my first time using DT as I have previously pretty much just used Firestone due to convenient locations.

There aren't many things west Texas does better than the rest of the state, but tire stores are one of the few.

We have Forrest Brothers Tire which probably has 14 service bays compared to DT's 5 or 6. they've always been super fast and helpful and have always given me a discount when I walk in and ask for a price. When I've called to compare pricing, they're slightly higher than DT, but slightly cheaper in person. They also seem to keep a good stock of Michelin and BFG tires, because I've never had to wait for them to order the tires I want. Discount rarely has a full set of whatever tire I'm shopping for and the wait times are always many hours. Unfortunately, Forrest doesn't have any locations outside of Midland and Odessa.

I'm happy using DT. Don't try to be happier than happy.

Sams - good prices-fast installation!