So I am asking for anyones experience on this. The parts manager at my local dealership is trying to tell me that Wal-Mart sells "watered down" or "rip off" versions of tires which makes them cheaper. Is there any truth to this at all? I am considering Wal-Mart since the P265/70R17 AT3W's are on Rollback for $114.29 a piece. Plus I get 5% cash back so there is another perk but thats irrelevant. The dealership is selling them for Buy 3 get 1 Free for a total for $703 plus mount and balance vs $457.16 at the mart. Has anyone bought AT3W's from Wal-Mart and seen any differences? The part numbers match up with Falken's website so I feel like he's loading me with a bunch of BS to get a sale. Any help is appreciated!
Falken Tires from Wal-Mart
- Thread starter Jessalec
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apohl17
New member
The first set I ever bought, I got through Wally world because they were by far the cheapest price. No visible difference in the details, however I did have some balancing issues with them, so mayyyybe they were factory seconds? Complete speculation though. I would find that hard to believe they could sell anything but the same tire that DT or any other shop would get!
Syr4RinNC
New member
I recently bought ones from Amazon, that were sold directly from Falken at $120 per tire. They were brand new with a manufactured date within 2 months of my purchase.
Youll have a warranty either way. I wouldnt listen to a pushy tire salesman. If they can match the price great, if not, go elsewhere.
Youll have a warranty either way. I wouldnt listen to a pushy tire salesman. If they can match the price great, if not, go elsewhere.
spartacus
Senior Member
The parts guy at the dealer is using classic pressure sales technique. Walmart sells the same tires. The problem I've faced at Walmart is they have a ton of roll over when it comes to employees so there are a lot of rookies doing the balancing and installation which sometimes leads to less then stellar workmanship. You can order the tires there and get em installed where you want or keep going back and get it done right.
firebirdguy
Member
tell the guy at the dealer hes full of CRAP & telll him to back up his claim with some proof... walmart sells the exact same tires as anyone, they just sell so many more than almost any other place that they get better deals & can sell for less. & their mount & balance is a lot cheaper than most other places & included lifetime rotation & re-balance!
same for anything they carry, they sell a box of cheerios for almost half the price of local grocery stores... its the same cheerios!
mesooohoppy
New member
if you do get your tires from walmart take them to a reputable tire shop and have them mount/balance.
tires are one of the most important things on a vehicle. do you trust some random walmart worker to mount and balance them correctly? post #4 hits the nail on the head.
tires are one of the most important things on a vehicle. do you trust some random walmart worker to mount and balance them correctly? post #4 hits the nail on the head.
firebirdguy
Member
i agree with that to a point. all depends on the store you go to, my local walmart has had the same employees for 5+ years & their tire guy is as good or better than local tire shops. also, most local tire shops are small businesses & dont pay as well as walmarts auto center, plenty of turn over for small shops too & ive seen some yahoos at even reputable shops as well as young kids that are new hires.
walmart may have a reputation for questionable work, but it all depends on the store & can vary greatly. but the lower cost & lifetime rotation & balance is well worth it & if by chance you get a out of balance tire, you can bring it back & rebalance for free... & the biggest advantage is that if you travel somewhere, you can go to any walmart in the country for the service.
i'm all for supporting your local shops, but when they want $25 or more per tire to mount & balance one time... i will save some money & take my chance at walmarts. plus save on cheerios & everything else when im there!
firebirdguy
Member
that is true, they do have some models that only they sell, doesn't mean they are bad, they are usually decent quality... for the price.
most tire companies have a house brand or special model that other places dont offer. for example walmart has a goodyear wrangler "trailmark" only they sell, its supposed to be comparable to the trailrunner that is a common goodyear tire but they cant order the trailrunner. but then goodyear sells the kelly brand "edge" model that is a copy of the trailrunner with some minor differences.
every brand has crappy models of tires.
mesooohoppy
New member
well youre in iowa, there are lots of walmarts outside of where you are. maybe youre in a small town, idk. i can tell you if you lived where i live you wouldnt buy anything from walmart other than oil, filters, and shop towels.i agree with that to a point. all depends on the store you go to, my local walmart has had the same employees for 5+ years & their tire guy is as good or better than local tire shops. also, most local tire shops are small businesses & dont pay as well as walmarts auto center, plenty of turn over for small shops too & ive seen some yahoos at even reputable shops as well as young kids that are new hires.
walmart may have a reputation for questionable work, but it all depends on the store & can vary greatly. but the lower cost & lifetime rotation & balance is well worth it & if by chance you get a out of balance tire, you can bring it back & rebalance for free... & the biggest advantage is that if you travel somewhere, you can go to any walmart in the country for the service.
i'm all for supporting your local shops, but when they want $25 or more per tire to mount & balance one time... i will save some money & take my chance at walmarts. plus save on cheerios & everything else when im there!
there is no 'may' have a reputation for questionable work. they do where im at. you seem to have gotten lucky (again, maybe youre in a small town). where i am at, i guarantee you higher end tire shops are paying their employees more than my local walmart (which employs all sorts of 'winners' whom i dont even want looking at my rig). it also helps if you go to a reputable tire shop and do your research before hand.
your iowa walmart may be good, but what if you go next door to another state (or say a town) and you get shoddy work done on your rig and you have issues? now youre stranded in a different state/town thanks to questionable walmart work.
25 a corner to mount and balance too much for you? so you're going to take your chances with something as important as tires? thats where you lost me. you dont even want to know how much shops charge for tire swaps on cars with TPMS sensors. plus most of us have 33" tires. its not like getting these balanced is the easiest.
brakes and tires are the most important things on your vehicle. im glad you can trust someone at walmart and save money. most of us cant because we know what goes down at walmart.
Syr4RinNC
New member
Never has anything that I heard or read made me think that the following applies to it. This post above did.
HTML:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQCU36pkH7c“what you’ve just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.
mesooohoppy
New member
well i for one am glad you and the other guy save so much money getting your tires done at walmart.
because you know, like i said earlier, tires arent anything important to worry about. do both of you get your eyes checked there too?
firebirdguy
Member
not sure what your attempt at a reply or insult means. so iowa has good walmarts & the rest of the country has bad walmarts? or because you think i live in a "small town" thats why i trust my walmart but big town walmarts arent trust worthy? id ask you to clarify but im not sure it would matter...
FYI i live in a town of close to 200k people, we have like 4 or 5 walmarts & they all have trained mechanics in their field & managers are usually ASE certified & run a pretty tight shop with all modern machines. have you ever mounted & balanced a tire or do you just overpay at a shop to have it done? its not rocket science to operate a tire machine ya know!
& sorry but "most of us" do not have 33" tires, probably at least half are normal daily drivers or maybe a small lift & they ride small trails or go camping etc, the hardcore off roaders are less than half im pretty sure. funny how you assume you talk for "most of us."
& well maybe, where youre at is full of morons that dont know how to m&b a tire. seriously if you think its an epidemic of bad work at walmarts you need to get out more! majority of walmarts today offer great service, full warranties, & probably sell & install 10x more tires a year than most tire specific shops. & just as easily, a major shop like goodyear or general tire etc will hire a kid off the street or some backwoods bubba that uses an impact gun on lugnuts!
same thing applies for walmart or any shop... do research or check reviews on their work & there is zero reason to claim walmart is less than any other shop for basic things like tire m&b or oil changes etc.
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mesooohoppy
New member
i was just replying to some of your points, not trying to be insulting; sorry if it came off that way. i have never seen an ASE certified tech at any walmart where i live. my dad worked at good year my entire childhood, so i have a bit of a different perspective than you do. 2 things i learned very early on was tires and brakes are very important.
FWIW, my local walmart has a 2.5 star rating. why am i not surprised. i get out plenty, i avoid walmart like the plague, well because have you ever seen peopleofwalmart.com? that is basically what everyone is like around here.
firebirdguy
Member
no worries, i wasnt insulted. but your post came off kinda condescending & judgemental of where i live or what my perspective is, & walmarts in general when you have only dealt with a few in your area.
ive been working on cars for 30+ years & have many friends that are ase certified lifelong mechanics & factory ford trained master mechanics & one has been at goodyear for 25+ years. im aware of how most shops work & can spot a shady mechanic or shop a mile away! i've had work done at shady shops that claim they are good, & at walmart if i bought tires there. ive heard more horror stories about smaller shops or franchise shops like most goodyears & other names are than i have walmart. but then again walmart doesnt do major mechanical work.
just saying if you bash walmart, then be fair & bash any shop out there that has the potential to do questionable work too. or just as bad, questionable business practices... many shops out there will lie to old ladies & people that dont know cars & tell them they need repairs they dont need. had that happen to me a couple times over the years too, its great when you tell them they are wrong & they realize you know better.
i agree tires & brakes are very important.. thats why i do most my own work on my cars or will usually watch whoever is doing things like alignments or mounting tires etc.
& yes i know all about peopleofwalmart.com, the walmart in my area is actually pretty nice & you dont see too many people like that. personally i have no problem letting a "decent" walmart balance my tires.
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YBstranded
New member
My name is YBstranded, and I'm a victim of a Walmart tire shop...
I bought a set of the Goodyear Authority tires online from Walmart because a Jeep I bought used a couple of years prior came with them and I liked them. I think I paid $140 each for them.
I had the tires shipped to my house and I was going to have a local shop put them on since the nearest Walmart that had a tire center was 55 miles away.
But, I had to take my UTV down to that town because it's where the dealer was and it was due for service, so I figured I'd thrown the tires in the trailer with the UTV and have tires installed while I was getting the UTV serviced. Plus, I was in the middle of a bathroom remodel and needed to stop at the Home Depot to get some sheetrock and tile as well.
I drop off the UTV, then go to Walmart and drop off the 4Runner.
The male human behind the counter was clearly addicted to meth. My dad was with me and he did 42 years in law enforcement, and I've done a few years myself. The guy was a tweaker.
There were no other vehicles ahead of me.
I figured it would be about 45 minutes at the most for the two techs to do the job.
We came back just over an hour later and it still wasn't done. After two hours, they started backing it out of the shop. We stood outside and watched them go as slow as they could possibly go while still moving. It was so incredible, it was funny.
The guy gets it out and I asked if he could inflate the tires to 42 psi, they were E-Rated tires and I was going to be pulling a heavy load. Nope. He insisted they can only go by the psi on the door frame. I tried to explain that although these were the same factory size, that they were a 10-ply tire and needed higher pressure. Nope. Wouldn't do it.
I looked at my vehicle and the freshly plasti-dipped rims were scraped up in several places. The tires still had that ugly plastic/blue film on them, they didn't bother to wash them off, even.
Behind schedule, and starting to get pissed, I went in to pay and the tweaker told me $95. I said I was told it was $55. He said only if they are purchased from Walmart. I said these tires were bought online and the shipping labels from Walmart were still on the freaking tires when I brought them in. Sorry, that doesn't count, he needs a receipt. I told him the receipt was at my house and I wanted to speak to his manager. He relented and asked if I had an email alert from Walmart on my phone showing the tires were ordered. I did and showed him. Paid $55.
Got in the rig and drove to Home Depot to get supplies. By the time we were loaded up, it was threatening to rain and I had to drive 60 miles to get my sheetrock home safe. Headed back home on the highway and the whole rig started shaking and vibrating as soon as I hit 45 mph.
Got home, unloaded, and took it to a local tire shop that confirmed that it the tires were not even close to being balanced.
I ended up contacting the manager of the Walmart that did the work and he was very gracious and apologetic and sent me a $100 gift card.
I will never take my vehicle to Walmart for work again. And after they got "woke" and stopped selling pistol ammo, I don't shop there at all for anything if I can help it.
I bought a set of the Goodyear Authority tires online from Walmart because a Jeep I bought used a couple of years prior came with them and I liked them. I think I paid $140 each for them.
I had the tires shipped to my house and I was going to have a local shop put them on since the nearest Walmart that had a tire center was 55 miles away.
But, I had to take my UTV down to that town because it's where the dealer was and it was due for service, so I figured I'd thrown the tires in the trailer with the UTV and have tires installed while I was getting the UTV serviced. Plus, I was in the middle of a bathroom remodel and needed to stop at the Home Depot to get some sheetrock and tile as well.
I drop off the UTV, then go to Walmart and drop off the 4Runner.
The male human behind the counter was clearly addicted to meth. My dad was with me and he did 42 years in law enforcement, and I've done a few years myself. The guy was a tweaker.
There were no other vehicles ahead of me.
I figured it would be about 45 minutes at the most for the two techs to do the job.
We came back just over an hour later and it still wasn't done. After two hours, they started backing it out of the shop. We stood outside and watched them go as slow as they could possibly go while still moving. It was so incredible, it was funny.
The guy gets it out and I asked if he could inflate the tires to 42 psi, they were E-Rated tires and I was going to be pulling a heavy load. Nope. He insisted they can only go by the psi on the door frame. I tried to explain that although these were the same factory size, that they were a 10-ply tire and needed higher pressure. Nope. Wouldn't do it.
I looked at my vehicle and the freshly plasti-dipped rims were scraped up in several places. The tires still had that ugly plastic/blue film on them, they didn't bother to wash them off, even.
Behind schedule, and starting to get pissed, I went in to pay and the tweaker told me $95. I said I was told it was $55. He said only if they are purchased from Walmart. I said these tires were bought online and the shipping labels from Walmart were still on the freaking tires when I brought them in. Sorry, that doesn't count, he needs a receipt. I told him the receipt was at my house and I wanted to speak to his manager. He relented and asked if I had an email alert from Walmart on my phone showing the tires were ordered. I did and showed him. Paid $55.
Got in the rig and drove to Home Depot to get supplies. By the time we were loaded up, it was threatening to rain and I had to drive 60 miles to get my sheetrock home safe. Headed back home on the highway and the whole rig started shaking and vibrating as soon as I hit 45 mph.
Got home, unloaded, and took it to a local tire shop that confirmed that it the tires were not even close to being balanced.
I ended up contacting the manager of the Walmart that did the work and he was very gracious and apologetic and sent me a $100 gift card.
I will never take my vehicle to Walmart for work again. And after they got "woke" and stopped selling pistol ammo, I don't shop there at all for anything if I can help it.
