Wal-Mart Auto Tire Scam

Time for your medication, sir.

You are dead wrong. Please don't post libelous information about WalMart.

Treadwear Mileage Warranty If the tread on a tire wears down to its wear bars before reaching its warranted mileage, we will issue credit toward a replacement tire on a prorated basis. For example, if a tire warranted for 40,000 miles wore out after 20,000 miles, you would receive a credit of half the original price of that tire toward the current price of a new replacement tire. Uneven or premature tire wear caused by a vehicle's mechanical problems is not covered by this warranty.

Guess what Buckwheat...the "we" above is WalMart. If you are too damn dumb to read the information available before handing over your money I have no sympathy.

That sounds pretty crazy, but I wouldn't put it past them at all. Wal-mart is sucking the life out of communities all over the world. But point in fact, this is not a group about wal-mart. Thanks for the heads up though.

You are very confused Alfalfa, as are some of the other responders. You are obviously "to damn dumb" to go to

This is what a legal warranty is, Alfalfa:

1. What is Covered: This can include defects in materials and defects in materials or workmanship (like treadwear separation), installation errors, as well as wear-out coverage. (Note that my Wal-Mart receipt does not tell you how long the treadwear wear-out pro-rating is good for on the particular tire. I guess you are supposed to remember that).

1. How Long Coverage Lasts: The warranty must tell you specifically how long the warranty lasts. (Are defecfts in installation, materials and workmanship covered until the tread wear bars appear?. This has been an issue in a number of fatal accidents over treadwear separation. What you cite says nothing about defects and how they are covered.)

2. What is not covered.
3. What The Company Will Do
4. How To Get Service
5. How State Law Applies

When you purchase the so-called "Uniroyal" Radial A/S or "Goodyear" Viva-type tires, they do not give you a copy of the warranty. They also don't have them available in three Wal-Mart Tire & Lube Shops that I have visited (as the law requires). Go and ask. As I said, the websites SAYS that they will send you a copy of the complete warranty on request. I invite you to write to the address given on the Wal-Mart website to obtain copies of the warranties for these tires. Your requests will go unanswered. Why don't you try all this and get back to us.

Listen, I've been dealing with this for many months and have talked to a Wal-Mart shop manager, store manager, district manager, customer service people, and a representative fromn the Wal-Mart corporate office. They are well aware of the problem, but seem unable to solve it. As I mentioned, the "Automotive Troubleshooter Show" on AM 760 in Denver broadcast a story in December about Wal-Mart not honoring a warranty for defective tires, and the customer was also not given a copy of the warranty in that case. I have given them nearly a year to simply mail me a copy of the warranty, and they haven't.

You also don't deal at all with my other main point. Obviously, a store CAN warrant their own tires that they purchase from a manufacturer. That is what Big O tires, Discount Tires, and Peerless Tyres all do. And they actually give you a copy of the COMPLETE mileage and treadwear warranty. But they don't call them Goodyear or Uniroyal tires, they have their own store brands. On the other hand, if you buy a national-brand tire from these places, it is covered by a national warranty and can be serviced by any shop that the manufacturer authorizes. Some of the national-brand tires that Wal-Mart sells ARE warranted by the manufacturer, but some are NOT. That's the problem. They don't tell you this. And the only way to find out is to go to the manufacturer's website and search on the name of the tires. Go to

By the way, Wal-Mart, Sears and other retailers buy their batteries from various manufacturer's including Exide, Johnson-Controls, and others. But they use the Wal-Mart brand "EverStart" or Sears "DieHard" and they make it very clear in the warranty book that these batteries are only covered by the store. You can also get a copy of the warranty; it's in the battery catalog, available in the store. If they followed this practice with the tires, there wouldn't be a problem.

Think, before you flame.

seems to me the walwart tire document gives only a treadwear warranty, says nothing about defects in material/workmanship. That being said I had no luck when I calimed to the GM dealer that my affinity model tires are my malibu were a piece of crap.

The warranties are printed on the reverse of every single work order at Walmart. Your accusation is simply libelous.

The warranties are printed on the reverse of every single work order at Walmart. Your accusation is simply libelous.

Not for the one I got just 5 days ago -- completely blank on back.

The website was hardly better. All it said was this:

Assembled Country of Origin: USA Components Country of Origin: USA Warranty Length: 60,000 miles Supplier Warranty: 60,000 miles

February 18, 2016

Goodyear Tire and Rubber should stop manufacturing Viva car tires, sold exc lusively by Wal-Mart stores. These tires cannot be properly balanced and c ause vibration of the car and eventually cause the feeling that the car whe els are wobbling as the car travels down the street or highway. These chea p "economy tires" will cause premature wear on expensive steering and front

-end suspension parts, not to mention the disconcerting vibration of the ca r. Three years ago I bought a set of four Goodyear Viva tires at our local Wal-Mart and put a total of 6,000 miles on them (I'm retired). I had Wal- Mart rebalance them twice during this time period. It's been a year since the last rebalancing, and the car "wobbles" down the street so intensely, i t just made a lot more sense to replace them, than to balance them "for fre e" again. I ordered a set of Michelin tires online from Wal-Mart and had t hem install the tires this week. Wow! What a difference. The car runs sm oothly again with no vibration or wobbly feeling. I always regarded "Goody ear" as a rock-solid, fine American manufacturer --- an American institutio n of yesteryear, as well as an American "icon" and a giant of American indu stry. I'll never, ever buy any kind of Goodyear tires again, and I advise the public to do the same. Is this what you get when you buy "Made in Amer ica"? It's beyond belief that Goodyear and Wal-Mart put so many millions o f these horrible, badly made tires on our roads. I'm P.O.'d, big time.

Is this the first time you have ever shopped at Wal-Mart?

_Everything_ at Wal-Mart is like this. They specialize in cheapened-down versions of legitimate products. You can buy a TV set that says SONY on the front and looks like a normal SONY set, but when it breaks down you'll find it's a special model made only for Wal-Mart, Sony won't sell repair docs and their normal repair centers won't touch it.

What did you EXPECT for Wal-Mart tires?

--scott

Here's the only part of your post that matters...

Other big-box stores do the same thing. That "John Deere" garden tractor at Home Depot or Lowes is a "value-engineered" product actually built by another company under license. (Usually MTD.) Likewise with things like name-brand water heaters etc. at those stores. They are special cost-cut versions that you'll be hard-pressed to get parts and service for later.

Oh, absolutely. After all, they have to compete with Wal-Mart!

--scott

You get what you pay for.

Andy

The old now defunct Gibson discount stores. One time I bought some tires there. They had a thing with a gas station just up the street that mounted the tires.

Looks like 7 years of complaints about the same tire. Yet they keep selling them. I wonder if most of the people who buy them tend to be people who just drive around on city streets and rarely go over 60 mph and don't notice the flat spots as much and don't subject the tire to the heat from high speed driving that makes them fail.

When you think that way you frequently get far less than you pay for. They see you coming a mile away.

My mom bought "top of the line" Bridgestones at her local Caddy dealer. When they developed bubbles the dealer wouldn't touch them -- the s*****ad said to go to a Bridgestone dealer, who replaced them for free. They were obsolete at the time she purchased them.

Can't say I'm terribly surprised to read this about cheap tires sold at Wal ly World.

I had a similar feeling about Primewell, which apparently is a cheap Chines e brand made for Firestone shops. Maybe Primewells aren't as bad as Vivas, who knows.

I almost bought a set of four Primewells due to the attractive price, but t hen had a sudden onset of good sense.

Instead, I bought a set of four Firestone Affinity Tourings. They were a l ittle less than what I paid for four Michelins at Costco almost 6 years ago . I doubt any Firestone tire is quite as good as a Michelin, but they seem OK so far. They're certainly a massive upgrade from those Primewells.

Except the big stores have been doing this for longer than walmart has been around. It's just more obvious now because the level of cost reduction has to be all that more severe.