Why You Shouldn't Buy Tires at Costco

I've now purchased two sets of car tires from Costco. They are great tires (Michelin) at the best prices I could find anywhere. The first set lasted as advertised and I had no problems with them or the service at Costco. But the second set has been a bit different. Not with the tires themselves, but with the service from Costco. It's so bad that it's making me re-think my future tire decisions. I probably won't buy another set of tires there.

For those of you who don't know the setup at Costco, when you buy tires from them, they will rotate the tires free of charge every 7,500 miles. You simply bring the car in, turn the keys over, and they rotate them for nothing. Not a bad deal, right? Well, there are a couple of snags:

• You CAN NOT make an appointment for a tire rotation. It's simply first come, first served. Forget trying to time a tire rotation to coincide with regular shopping at Costco -- if you're three hours from any sort of semi-popular shopping time at the store (which is almost any time they are open), you're looking at a two-hour wait at least. Why can't they simply let people make appointments?

• After the tire rotation is completed, they strongly suggest (you have to sign something that says you've been advised of this) that you come back after 25 miles to make sure the tires were put on securely. I'm sure this is some sort of legal protection policy, but it says one thing to me: "Unlike other garages, our mechanics aren't that good at tightening nuts on a tire, so be sure you bring your car back in to check because there's a good chance one of your wheels will come flying off at 70 mph." In addition, if I leave Costco, make a couple other stops, then drive home, I'll be at 25 miles with one trip back there. Does this make any sense?

So to try and minimize the hassle of waiting for a tire rotation, I arrived before the store opened a few weeks ago. As they were opening the doors, I tried to go in the "out" door (which is the side where the tire department is.) I was waived back to the other door by some follow-the-rules clerk, and in those 20 seconds I missed, another guy had walked up, passed me, and was at the tire counter before I got there. I was second in line, was notified that it would be an hour before they were done, and when I got there an hour and 15 minutes later, I still had to wait 10 minutes. Ugh. 

So here's the problem for me: time is money. If I have the uncertainty of having to wait for an indefinite amount of time and have to plan my entire life around trying to get a semi-decent length of time to get my tires rotated, it's just not worth it. I can get tires for only a bit more somewhere else that does take appointments -- and that has mechanics that know how to tighten nuts the first time too. As such, I probably won't buy tires from Costco again.

If you have ideas on how to deal with this issue, I'm all ears. I've tried shopping in the store, and I can kill an hour doing this. But at the time I go shopping it's usually far over an hour's wait. I've thought about having my wife follow me in her car and then her bringing me back a few hours later, but Costco isn't that close to home -- and why should I have to deal with this anyway?

Comments

[MattJ]

You could rotate your tires yourself.

[RobF]

I would look at this the same way as a rebate. Is the price worth buying the item without the rebate? Pay for rotation at the oil change. It's about the same number of miles and usually under 20 bucks. Driving that distance simply to rotate tires isn't free. That's about like driving extra distance to save $2 in gas.

[malingerer]

You get what you pay for..

[rq]

I don't understand why this would keep you from buying tires at Costco. If Costco is the cheapest place to buy these tires why not buy them there and have someone else rotate them (which most likely isn't even needed every 7500 miles).
Have you considered rotating your own tires?

[Joe]

Discount Tires matches any competitors price and offerfree lifetime tire rotation and balance. Not only do they take appointments, they encourage it. They have been great to me over the years. I am on my 3rd set of tires with them. I would go no where else.

[Crystal]

We get coupons on the backs of our Krogers receipts for $16.99 oil changes with free tire rotations at NTB. Since we need an oil change every 7500 miles anyway, this works well for us.

Discount Tires also offers free tire rotations and free patch services for anybody, not just customers. While I was in college and very broke, they were my saviors several times with some tire punctures. They get all my tire business now!

[dando2]

I was surprised by the "come back after 25 miles" thing at my Costco as well. I did, however, see first hand part of the reason they have it. While I was waiting on my tires a woman came in complaining that she took her car to get her brakes done and the mechanics could not get the tire off because the mounting stem was broken and now just spun. They mechanic explained how there was no way they could have done it because they only tighten to X instead of cranking on lug nuts. After a LONG discussion, she left and they mechanic looked at me and said "I can't tell you how many people try to blame us when other shops break things"

[D]

Next time, go to get your tires rotated when you have shopping to do. Shopping takes a while and while you're doing that they could be doing your tires.

[billyjobob]

Waiting always sucks. I go to Discount Tire. I like them and the service is great. But I too have to always wait. I drive a truck. So,the last few times that I have needed any work done on my car, I have thrown my bicycle in the back. Then I just leave the truck with them and I hop on my bike and go ...shopping, riding ...have a drink somewhere ...whatever. Bottom line ..I think no matter where you go your going to find that you'll have to wait. It's just part of the world we live in.

[Money Beagle]

I second Joe on the Discount Tire recommendation. I've purchased all of my tires there and you get free rotation and balancing for the life of the tire.

[Crystal]

CORRECTION: I cannot verify that Discount Tire offers free tire rotations to everybody...they may have taken pity on me in college. I do know that they do simple tire patches for free for absolutely everyone since that's why they were recommended to me to start with...

[lincmercguy]

WRT not needing to rotate tires every 7500 miles:

The rotation interval is going to depend on the model of car. The older Ford trucks with twin I-beam suspension needed frequent rotations because of the suspension geometry in the front. Some AWD cars need frequent rotation due to problems caused by tires being different diameters (Subaru is one of those). Also, many small "sporty" FWD cars need frequent rotation because the rear tires have a lot of camber to them to make them handle better. On the other hand, if you have a plain old RWD car with a solid rear axle, you only need to rotate them often enough to keep the tread wear between the front and back tires roughly even.

My advice: If you do any of your own work, just rotate the tires yourself. If you're not sure about the torque on the lug-nuts, buy a cheap torque wrench and go to 100ft-lbs. A cheap torque wrench won't be that accurate, but it's more about torque consistency between the lug nuts.

[CJ]

I second the "do it yourself" sentiment...you could have it done at home in the time it takes to drive to Costco.

I can't blame them for not making appointments. You are probably one of the very few who dutifully keeps an appointment, but most people are lousy at it. Their workday would be a disaster, with major holes in their schedule because people don't show for their appointments.

[Misha]

Second Discount Tire. My contract (I'm in California) offers free tire rotation. Never had bad service, always on time and the prices are better then Costco.

[Traciatim]

You should always check your lug nuts after about 20 miles or so after your tires have been off your car for any reason. Especially after you take it some place that's pumping through as many people in as short a time as possible.

[Jclimber]

I'll add another kudo for Discount Tires, I get all my tires there. The price difference, if any, between DT and Costco is not worth the hassle. At DT I can make an appointment for a flat, new tires, rotation, etc.

And the absolutely best thing about DT is that their extended warranty is valid for the entire life of the tire!! That means if there is usable tread on the tire they will replace it or fix it for no cost. All other places will pro-rate the benefit after some fixed tread wear (usually 7/32).

[FMF]

Wow. Good to hear about Discount Tire. We have several around our home and I think I'll check them out (my wife's car needs new tires soon.)

[Alicia]

I have a great solution for you...America's Tire Company! I used to buy all my tires at Costco and I subsequently found out that the last set of tires I purchased there were the wrong size for my car, they made turning the wheel nearly impossible. So, we went to America's Tire Company. My husband had a flat in his ubber expensive fancy low profile tires and they fixed it free of charge. We have since gone back and received outstanding service every time for a fraction of the price of other providers (even for the hubs fancy tires).

[umm...]

Re-torquing lug nuts is not so much a check on workmanship as a basic safety process to ensure that everything seated correctly the first time around. If there was a slight burr on the threads, or perhaps something that didn't allow the wheel to bottom out properly, you could torque the wheel to spec but still have an unsafe condition. It's likely the first 30-50 miles of driving would jostle the anomaly loose, but allow the problem to be caught before you lose a wheel. Every time I've had tires / wheels removed, the shop has asked me to return for this reason. I just check them myself at home with a torque wrench instead.

http://www.tirerack.com/wheels/tech/techpage.jsp?techid=107

[ashley]

My father had his tires rotated (at a dealership) and about a week later, the wheel came off the truck! Luckily, he was going about 10 mph and nobody was behind him, because he came to a screeching halt!! They had tightened the lug nuts too tight. Appearently, this is more common than I knew about, once I started talking to others about it. I always ask for my tires to be tightened by hand instead of with the torque wrench.

[Steve]

While I certainly agree that not being able to make an appointment is annoying. I'm confused why you're complaining about the hour plus wait when you did go. You tried to skirt the system (go in the out door) and somebody playing fairly beat you there. Ohhhh... I feel so sorry for you.

[FMF]

Steve --

That's "skirting the system"?

[Steve]

Perhaps not the best way to phrase it... but you get the point. It reminds of me of someone on the highway switching lanes left and right as traffic speeds up and slows down and then yelling as they are passed by someone simply staying in their lane. Or similar behavior waiting in line at the supermarket.

Like I said I agree the whole process is annoying and would probably get me to purchase tires someplace else (depending on the price difference) too. I just found it amusing someone "playing by the rules," so to speak, beat you to the punch.

[FMF]

Steve --

While he technically played by the rules, he was behind me to start, saw I was delayed, sped up to pass me (barely), then almost ran to beat me to the counter. If I had been in his place, I would have let him go ahead (after all, he would have been there before me.)

Anyway, some good has come from it -- I found out about Discount Tire! ;-)

[Ed Hudson]

Rotating tires yourself is not a good idea... they REALLY should be balanced ANY TIME they are rotated... or you will surely have problems. I've never bought tires at Costco, but have bought them at Sam's Club, and they offer the same deal as Costco as far as free rotating AND balancing for as long as you own the car the tires were installed on. I've had good luck over the years buying tires at Sam's Club, and they even replaced one tire at no cost when it failed after almost 9,000 miles due to a bad belt in the tire. Most places won't do that without prorating the old tire. Some of the tire dealers where I live (thanks to Sam's and Costco I'm sure) now also offer the free lifetime rotating and balancing, and the prices are not that far off from the discount warehouses either, but very few places I've ever found (other than car dealer mechanic shops) will set appointments for tire rotation... that's like oil changes... first come first serve.

[VT]

I also would suggest Discount Tire, though I thought the rotation was only if you bought the tires there.
Midas has coupons with a $19.95 oil change and tire rotation, so I've been doing those.
(we used to buy tires at Sam's Club, but their service and selection started to stink, so we went elsewhere.)

[Eric]

Thanks for the Discount Tire recommendation! I JUST finished shopping around for tires and Costco was one of my options. Unfortunately (or is it fortunately now?), their price was higher than a smaller shop down the street so I went somewhere else. Good to keep in mind.

[texashaze]

IMO, Costco does a great job - good quality work and cheap prices. However FMF makes a good point on timing. Plan on an hour at least. Luckily I work near our Costco and my co-workers just pick me up after I drop off the car at lunch. We then come back later. They get their tires there too so it's a common thing.

One important thing to note about Costco is that their employees are always well trained and very professional. They seem to actually want to do a good job. My experience at discount tire has been the opposite since it seems those guys could care a less.

[Tim]

Another satisfied Discount Tire customer. They'll price match, but in my experience their prices were the same, if not better.

[Richard]

I buy my tires at Costco strictly for price.
I rotate my own tires or get it done when I have the car serviced. Coming back to check the lug nuts has got to be a ploy to get you in the store. If lug nuts are torque properly there is no need to check them. I have bought 4 sets of tires from Costco and have never had an issue with lug nuts (check them myself). The tire rotation is a cortesy service, also I think to bring you into the store.

[Bill]

Here's a suggestion: Don't rotate your tires. Your tires will not last any longer by rotating them. In fact they you will probably get fewer miles. Why is this? Because the fronts always wear out much faster than the rears. So leave the rears alone and they will go many more miles than if you rotate them to the front. When needed, just replace the fronts with two new tires that match the rears. This applies to cars with a fixed rear axle. It also applies to cars that have independent rear suspension. With independent suspension, each tire at each corner takes a set as they wear. If you keep moving them around you just cause uneven and thus, faster wear. Jaguar specifically instructs owners to not rotate tires. Rotating tires makes all four wear out at about the same time, but you're not really getting more mileage out of them. And, your vehicle will not ride or handle as well. Now doesn't that make life easier? One less "gotta do".