Replacement tires for 300C AWD, where iarethe pressure sensors?

The Mobil Lube places are good. We get the Mobile One and actually watch them pour it in by the bottle. We can also see the guy changing the filter. We have never had a bad experience at a Mobile, but I have heard of bad experiences at Jiffy Lube.

I consider changing engine oil (or any other work on a car) FAR more fun than assembling computers.... that's way too close to what I do for work.

But then I enjoy mowing my own lawn (and fixing my own mower), planting my own flowerbeds, wiring my own house, planting my own garden, remodeling the house, building my own deck, etc. etc. etc. too. F**k golf and jogging, give me a hobby with tangible results! :-)

That they use the correct oil. That they use the correct AMOUNT of oil. That they put it in the right hole (engine oil in the transmission anyone?) That they drain the old oil. That they don't strip the drain plug. That they tighten the filter. That they don't OVER tighten the filter. That they put the right fluids in the differential and transmission. That they don't overtighten those fill plugs. The list goes on for pages.... I just got through un-screwing a long list of things that Jiffy Lube (used religiously by the previous owner) screwed up on my Cherokee.

So's flipping burgers.... how many times does your lunch order get screwed up?

Why is someone who does 40-50 oil changes a day using pneumatic tools and standing comfortably in a pit with decent lighting more likely to make a mistake than someone who does 2 oil changes a year, with a socket wrench that has no torque calibration, laying on his back in a driveway with a flashlight for illumination? I do count the bottles of Mobil 1 that use, just to be on the safe side, but I've never seen them use the wrong number.

and lets not forget.........the ones who actually pull the filter and put a new one on (instead of just cleaning your old one and telling you they did) and when they change it out, forget to check if the old o- ring come off with the filter???

remember most of them deal in volume of work, not quality of work.

you let them use air tools on your drain plug?

Why are quick lube places inherently untrustworthy and dealerships or Joe's Auto Service inherently trustworthy?

A few decades ago in another country my cousin was getting oil filters free or cheap from a friend who worked in an auto service place and was checking new filters out from the store and not installing them.

Perce

It would probably be impossible for a DIY'er to strip an oil pan plug with normal size wrenches - lying on their back or otherwise. However it is routine for "professional" mechanics to do it with either impact wrenches cranked all the way up or with extra long wrenches and pulling as hard as they can (maybe they are trained to do so or just lack intelligence, or are mad at the world and are intentionally destructive

- who knows why or exactly how?). Regardless of *how* or *why* they do it (I almost believe that a person would have to *want* to do it to accomplish it), they do manage to do it quite often, whereas I can't imagine a DIY'er, competent or not, accomplishing it (unless they are using an impact wrench and have no brains).

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')

Good point. I actually - before and after - visually checked the oil filter and the color and level of the oil in my elderly mother's brand new car the first time she took it in for an oil change at the local Chrysler dealer. When she got it back, it still had the flat black filter on it with "ORIGINAL FACTORY FILTER" paint stamped on it, and the oil level and color were the same as when she took it in. It was not a "free" "change" - they charged her for it. Do you think it was an honest mistake?

Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with the letter 'x')

Precisely BECAUSE they do so many that they're on autopilot whereas I'm thinking clearly about what I'm doing. And by the way, if I caught anyone using pneumatic tools on my oil drain plug I'd storm into the work bay and shove the tool where the sun don't shine! Pneumatic tools have NO place in an oil change.

Secondly, they're more likely to make a mistake because its not their car and they don't care about it.

The problem with Jiffy Lubes (and all the quick lube places) is that your experience with them is -highly- variable, as you get a different guy every time you pull into the place. The majority of guys there are good, but some are bad. They also are under tremendous pressure to get the cars in and out.

We have a local Jiffy Lube about 5 blocks from here. They advertise 19.95 oil changes all the time. Now, they buy the oil in bulk but they still are paying somewhere around a buck a quart, and a decent oil filter at retail is about $5, they are probably paying $3, so that leaves a profit of about $10 per oil change.

Now assuming they are paying minimum wage of $7 an hour, plus payroll taxes and all the rest their labor and overhead costs are likely $15 hour. Then there is the building mortgage/lease. So to make a profit at all they have to be doing a minimum of 2 oil changes an hour for -each- guy working there. And a lot of the times the guys are sitting around doing nothing. During the busy times they are probably running the cars in and out every 15 minutes.

It's easy to see that if they are just doing oil changes they likely are running in the red.

To make up for this they upsell all manner of stuff - wiper fluid, wipers, you name it, at outrageous markups. But not everyone buys them.

It's definitely a hard way for a business to make a living. And you can imagine that they can't afford to pay much above minimum.

A guy coming in to work there who is good is going to work the minimum amount of time needed to get a better job. And a guy who is an idiot isn't going to be able to find anything better and will probably be stuck there.

Now, as to your Costco "deal-o-the-month"

I have a set of Costco tires on my van. At the same time I bought that set I also bought an equivalent set of Firestones for my other van. I bought the extended warranty at Firestone.

The Costco tires are way more expensive. The reason why is that the Costco extended warranty is only in force if you maintain your Costco membership. Thus, unlike the Firestone warranty where you pay about $80 or whatever when you buy them, you have to pay your $60 costco membership every year or you lose the warranty.

Secondly, the Costco warranty DOES NOT COVER YOU if your tire wear is NOT within 3 32nd of each other. So, you basically have to get the vehicle aligned before you even put the tires on (which is not a dumb idea) and you have to maintain it's alignment. AND you must regularly rotate your tires at Costco. It is NOT DIFFICULT for 4 tires on a vehicle to get further than

3/32 of wear from each other.

Last, the Costco coupons for special pricing ONLY APPLY to a set of FOUR tires. Thus, if you have a tire failure, (road hazard or whatever) then sure you get a new one. But, guess what. You have an AWD. Your owners manual will tell you that running 1 new tire in a set of 3 ones with 1/2 tread left on them is verboten on AWD - because the tires are different radiuses. And naturally, once one of the tires is different, then Costco won't honor the warranty on the set of tires - because now they are not within 3 32 of wear of each other. The upshot is if 1 tires fails they will replace it but you have to buy the other

3 at regular retail - you can't use a coupon. Thus you end up paying the same for the remaining 3 as for the 4 you bought originally. Some deal.

The last trick I've seen them pull is NOT recording the vehicle mileage when they installed the tires. I caught them doing that on mine and the lame line was "I forgot" Oh sure you did. Without a mileage reading at time of installation Costco will simply say there is no proof the tires were within warranty.

Costco isn't stupid, they have figured this thing out. They give with the coupons and the discount tires, and they take away with the membership. And the membership fee is set as high as it is because it makes people think that they gotta get their mileage out of their expensive membership by shopping at the place all the time. So people do that and quit comparison shopping with other retailers and grocery stores and such. And, Costco is a specialist in mixing regular priced stuff in with their low priced great deals. Most Costco shoppers get used to going there and end up spending more than they need to, and their average grocery bill is no better than a regular store.

Ted

I agree. On the longer term Michelins are the best deal and they are safer as well. I've bought Michelins since 1978, although since then I've had other make tires on new cars, all those had to be replaced prematurely.

All season tires eliminate that effort and the cost of another set of tires/rims.

All season tires are pure shit if you experience snow and sub-freezing weather for several months each year, and you want to preserve your original (expensive, aluminum) rims from the effects of salt as well as skidding into curbs and hitting pot-holes in late winter.

Snow tires are no gimmick. They have a different tread pattern and rubber formulation designed for low temperatures. And the milage you put on them in the winter will extend the life of the regular tires you have for the other 3 seasons.

Although this is drastic (and some would argue that the gov't is going too far), it is now manditory to have snow tires in Quebec after Nov

1. Apparently they have this in Finland, Sweden, Estonia and Latvia as well.

--------------

As of Nov. 15, 2008, drivers will have to equip their vehicles with snow tires from that day each year through to April 15. The province estimates that 90 per cent of vehicles already use snow tires though an estimated 500,000 people rely on all-season tires.

--------------

Can you cite objective material supporting this "safety" claim - other than TV advertizing showing a baby riding around in a tire?

AWD and automatic traction control has pretty much eliminated the need for snow tires. I live in New England where snow and ice are not a stranger to us. I've found the handling of my 300C AWD with the original Continentals to be just fine even on black ice. On several occasions I've hit ice patches and the car was able to stop straight and true while the other cars that were on the same road were doing 180s. If you have a rear drive car then you would probably need snow tires, however I would never consider buying a rear drive car in New England, they make those for the California market.

AWD is more mechanical garbage than I want to have in a car. It's a poor trade-off between increased cost in terms of up-front intial cost and long-term maintainence and decreased MPG vs the few occasions when you really need it. A FWD car with snow tires (without needing fancy traction control) will easily do the job in winter.

All season tires that are hard (hard because they're designed to be high-milage tires, and are even harder in the cold) are brutal in ice. The AWD argument is bogus when you're braking. All cars have 4-wheel brakes.

And with snow tires you'd be able to stop in a shorter distance.

Hear, hear, I second what you say. I've had both FWD and RWD for many years, FWD anytime. My newer FWD car has traction control, we'll see if it is an advantage next winter. Our winters have been getting colder with more snow the last several years.

-A skier from snow country.