Costco refusing to mount tires on Tacoma

Yeah I don’t see how they can say they are not liable for damaging your wheels... I didn’t accept that answer either.

 

Costco denied me once as well. Discount is my new shop. I’ve liked them.

 

That’s a bummer. I had a pair of spacers on a vw and discount tire said they can’t install a wheel with a spacer on it. So they said I had to put the wheel back on myself or they would take off spacer. I told them to take off spacer. They ruined spacer taking it off so they told me to buy new spacers and send them the receipt. Felt bad cause they were just following protocols. Good news is you only get new tires every xx,xxx miles.

 

I was thinking the whole time they were full of crap but it wasn’t worth my time. I know they’d be liable but if that was an argument I’d have to have before they touched my truck then I don’t want them doing anything for me because I’d have to end up making them fix or replace them and that takes more time and money as well. The other small shop just a few miles from me asked me to bring them in and let him look at them. He said if he thought there was a chance something would happen he’d let me know up front. He was the owner and does much of the work himself. He claims he has a Road Force but when I check Hunter’s website his shop doesn’t show up so either Hunter’s website is off, people are not truthful, or most don’t really know what a RF is. Costco told me “they thought “ they had RF too but they don’t even use Hunter equipment.

 

Corrected for you.

 

The reason shops wont switch wheels out for you that don't have tpms system is because tpms system is considered a safety feature on the vehicle.. state law in WA (not sure on other states) does not allow a shop, to have a vehicle leave with a inoperable tpms system if the system was working when it came in.. shops can be fined for such practice.. If you swap one of your wheels on then drive in with the tpms light on already then they can swap the other 3. since the system was already not functioning as intended

 

It’s easy. A simple statement on the bottom of the work order you sign authorizing the job and they are no longer liable.

 

K

 

I think the best bet is to find someone who does road force balancing. In my case, it was the dealer and they were cool about installing larger tires. KO2s mounted and balanced with very little weight.

Go here and click on "locate a balancer."

https://www.hunter.com/wheel-balancers/road-force-elite

 

I understand what you are saying but the waiver laws (hold harmless agreements) vary from state to state, sometimes wildly so. My state has waiver laws as well but once you prove they were negligent and that the negligence caused damages, you’ll likley prevail. They’ll also need to be able to show that they explained to you that you were signing a knowing release, not just something hid in tiny print (my state). Again, your state may be different. But you might be screwed if just a common issue, not necessarily from someone doing something negligent/wrong, caused the issue.

Edit: Most of these claims would be in small claims court where I live and I’d imagine the only question that would be asked would be “did you damage the wheel”? Once “Yes sir” was uttered it would be case closed.

 

Discount tires ordered and mounted my 265 70 17 falkens on new Pro comp rims then put them on my 16 TRD Sport. Just had them rotated last week too.

 

I was a supervisor at a Costco tire center. And I would've mounted those tires and just put notes on the invoice holding member liable for his own choice of tire outside the 3 % increase in size. Thats it

 

My company does the same.

 

yeah that website isn't 100% accurate. We have a Hunter road force balancer and a regular balancer at work and we don't show up on the site.. no one in my zip code has one apparently

 

This is good to hear because my local guy seems legit and swears he has one.

 

just ask your shop if you can watch the road force process. We show people all the time at work. road force balancing is usually only used when someone requests it or if a customer has had a recurring vibration issue due to tires

 

Good thread and good to know. I never had a problem with Costco mounting oversize tires but that was over 20 yrs ago.

In 2000, I took my business elsewhere after Costco rotated and balanced my tires on my former 1985 4x4 Toyota PU but forgot to torque the front tire lug nuts down. The lock nut was loose as well and one lug nut had already flew off. This was a couple days after Costco and I had only parked in my garage and my workplace's secure parking lot so I knew Costco was at fault. I tightened my lug nutss down with a tire wrench, drove home, replaced the missing lug nut and torqued all the lug nuts just to be safe.

To this day I always check my lug nuts with a torque wrench after any tire shop does tire work. I just don't trust any shop after what happened.

 

I really appreciate the advice. He told me he’d show me how it works. I just don’t want my wheels screwed up. But, as of now, I’ve held off 4 months in part because my truck has been in the shop so much. It’s been in so far a week this time so maybe I will get it back soon.

 

Just ask to see the machine?

 

Oh definitely but a lot of shops around here will not let you back there. You literally never see what they’re doing.