Costco Crap?

[jhedrich]

My father bought a set of Yokohama tires from Costco. They vibrated and shimmied like an SOB. He complained and they traded them for a set of Bridgestones and one of those tires was found to have faulty ply or side wall....go figure.

Anyhow, we are of the opinion that Costco is selling $h!tty tires, leftovers, mixed batches, factory seconds or rejected old stock like the rest of their products.

Does anybody have an opinion on this? Anybody else had bad tires from Costco?

I'm due pretty soon to replace my Michelin MXV4+ and I'm debating if I should take a chance on Costco again

 

[tdibugman]

I know plenty of folks who bought tires from Costco - I would've bought mine there too, but I ran into an old friend who worked for Tire Rack. No one ever had problems. What Yoko's did he get? Some of there less-expensive tires are poor, so the Bridgestone was a nice upgrade. Hell, the were nice enoguh to swap all of the tires, rather than the bad ones- with a different brand, no les-thats customer service in my book.

 

[mickey]

I've never heard of that. Sounds like very, VERY bad luck to me.

One of my Michelin Pilots I bought for the Evil Beetle last year had a severe problem. The replacement tire was fine. It happens.

-mickey

 

[tadc]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by jhedrich:
Anyhow, we are of the opinion that Costco is selling $h!tty tires, leftovers, mixed batches, factory seconds or rejected old stock like the rest of their products.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Like the rest of their products? How ya figger? I've never had/heard of inferior products coming from Costco.

 

[brownnugen]

We buy all of our tires and just about everything else in this household from Costco. I should buy some stock in that company. does anyone know what I could find them under (stock name)?

 

[MOGolf]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by brownnugen:
does anyone know what I could find them under (stock name)?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

It's a bit off topic, so I guess I'll have to word it as their "crap" stock is "COST".

(I don't think their stock is "crap". I have no investment with it. I'm just keeping with the theme of the thread.)

 

[oldpoopie]

[ December 09, 2001: Message edited by: oldpoopie ]</p>

 

[Beowulf]

Just bought 4 Michelins from Costco back in July. The tires are top notch. I also purchased and had them installed for about the same price of just buying the tires from TireRack.com.

I think you probably just got unlucky.

 

[Ralph Gladd]

I have been using costco as my source of tires (michelin MXV4)for the past several years with no problems at all.They rotate and rebalance free of charge and will repair or replace(pro rated)flat tires.
Ralph

 

[gardentender]

Regardless of retailer, I recommend Michelin tires. When working at a Sears Auto Center in the 70's, we found that Michelins/Road Handlers NEVER EVER had any defects. Some did not even need balance weights after computer spin checking. Michelin has not, in the past, unloaded factory seconds or "blems" on the market. (this is from a former Michelin truck tire distributor in New Orleans).

Wheel defects and sloppy mounting by tatooed minimum wage "technicians" can contribute a lot to "bad tires". They can easily bend steel wheels when mounting tires and warp alloy wheels with improper and excessive torquing of the lug nuts. After a few miles, the tires are ruined, leading one to believe it was the tires' fault.

blah, blah, woof, woof

 

[hdavid]

Purchased one set of 4 tires (Michelin) for the Chev Corsica (years ago), put 140,000 kms on them, sold the car recently - still have not hit the minimum tread wear indicators/thing-a-ma-bobby.

Also, 2 years ago purchased 4 more Michelins for the Chev Extended Cab. No problems.

The only gripe I have with the Michelins, due to the lengthy mileage warranty on them, is that they are tough. Very tough. Every pebble on the road you will feel.

However, small price to pay for a tire you can keep on your car for 7 years +

Regards

 

[kato258]

IMHO it's not the tires by the quality of the technicians. i bought my last set from Sam's Club. good tires, great price but the staff was pitiful. had to return for the same "free" repairs at least twice.

 

[gardentender]

you have to start off with good tires first.

Second, a cruddy technician can ruin a good tire easily.

[ September 13, 2001: Message edited by: gardentender ]

 

[VWBoost]

Who makes the "Kirkland" brand tires for Costco?

 

[Darren A.]

I cannot vouch for Costco tires, but I put a set of Yoko Avid T4's on about a month ago, and could not be happier. They are extremely quiet and smooth.

 

[car54]

tires dont cause vibrations and so on. a technician whop doesnt know how to balance tires causes that. Costco doesnt sell bad tires, no tire mfg. would knowingly let a bad tire out the door (ok, maybe bridgestone/firestone). Ive used and recopmmended michelin, dunlop, yokohama, and BFGoodrich. they all rule. no matter where you buy them. its all in the skill of the technician.

The tires with the least amount of balance weight always go on the front. If a tire needs more than 2-3 ounces (or significantly more weight than the other tires) it should be rotated 180 degrees on the wheel, and rebalanced. Ive been doing this for years and my balances never come back. I dont like costco/sams club as they wont let you watcvh them balance the tires out. therefore you must trust the technician. If you want a good job, go to some place like sears auto center where they allow you in the shop. some NTB's will allow you to watch also.

 

[Pace]

VWBOOST: Kirkland tires are made by bridgestone. Costco does not carry anymore in-stock my size of tire 14" for the A3 jetta, special order only. I soon will need a 3rd set of tires. Michelins were bought from Costco and no problems on them, 45,000 miles so far and maybe 3000 mi. at the most left. Mark