last month during our snow storms, i bought a set of 225/50r18 tires, Michelin hydroedge. well, i took the rims off of the car and loaded them into the truck, since there was about 8 inches of snow on our mountain. I went to the nearest sams club location (45miles away) and got the tires put on my trd rims, while the car was in the garage on jack stands.
well after driving the car to work, for a week they seemed fine (max speed 55), but on a recent trip at about 65 the steering wheel shook side to side. well i was off today, so i decided to get the shimmy i had in my steering wheel fixed. drove over to sams and told them the problem, they said, it would be about an hour, so i found a couch display near the back and took up ground. after listening to my ipod for about 50 minutes, i decided to go see if the car was ready. it was, so at no charge i was ready. drove to a local Krogers, bought some blue berries, black berries, zucchini, squash and baked potatoes.
set out on my trip home, i got to the 65 mph section, the vibration was still there, i was down hearted, then my tpms light came on. the was it
, u-turn. drove back to sams ( about 3 miles) when i turned into the parking lot i felt the rear end give. flat tire. parked checked it, yelp almost flat. walked back in and said i have a flat tire and it is still shimming. the guy at the counter said that was fast. haha
on the inside of the right rear tire there was a straight slash, the techs said if it wasn't on the inside, then he would of said a knife cut it, but what ever it was it was sharp. it was a perfect cut from the tread to about 1/2 inch before the rim. damn tire was toast( less than 1000miles). he looks up his inventory, he has no 225/50r18 tires of any type to put on there. they put the spare on, and said when the new one comes in they will swap it.
well wouldn't u know it, hydroedge is on backorder for 6-8 weeks. i told him i cant drive my 130 mile round trip/day to work and back on a donut. the register guy and i talk to the general manager. he told him to find a tire and they would pay for it till my special order tire comes in, whenever that is.
off to the phones the first ten shops kinda laugh at the register guy when he asks about that size. i think it was the 13th shop had a hanook in my size. it was a warehouse about 15 miles away. he told me to buy the tire and they would reimburse me when mine came in. i lied and said i don't have the money to buy it. another call the the general manager, they refunded my tire 173 bucks and told me to go pick up the tire and they would put it on.
off i go, ever did 55 mph in a 70mph zone? i did for 15 miles
go captain slow. found the place, picked up the tire(130 bucks), and at 55mph, drove back to sams. they put the tire on at no cost, and marked in the book that it cost-ed the same price as my original tire. so when ever my hydroedge comes in they will swap them out and let me keep the hanook optimo at no cost, even got it in writing.
on the drive home the shimmy was gone. and i made 40 bucks and a tire today. sams club did a great job to help me out.
how many places would spend 4 hours helping one person.
that was an all day event i also took my wife to work this morning as a nice gesture, made it back to pick her up with about 15 minutes to spare.
Hell of a camry day.
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