The Winter's Coming Winter Tires Thread

[WhiteTiger]

Last vehicle in the shop for the tire swap/winter tune up (wipers, oil, checkup/fluids) today. Beat the snow this year.


If it snows today...Sorry, that's on me.

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by photon

KalTire apparently has no record of me dropping off my rims for new tires. They're "checking"...

Costco ordered the wrong tires for my wife's vehicle.. She says they went out and looked at it and STILL ordered 18" instead of 19".

I guess even if it snows it probably won't stick right away... hopefully...

I guess I should have told you: Kal Tire sucks.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Wormius

When I say loosen, I mean more like removed them all, on all the tires. It wasn’t my proudest moment when I went around to the other side of the car and the tires were all askew.

I remove all the tire locks when I do the first tire to save time and annoyance, but yeah, I don't loosen/remove all the remaining nuts until I work on the specific tire.

Originally Posted by kevman

They have.

https://jackandjillofalltires.com/

I've also seen a smaller one but I can't find it now.

Something like this?

https://www.amazon.ca/PeakTow-Heavy-...37&sr=8-5&th=1

Both seem like they do the same thing, but the Jack and Jill one has a higher "A" shaped bar mechanism for widening/lifting the tire vs the Amazon one uses a ratchet mechanism.

The Jack and Jill website saying it takes 30 minutes to DIY is kinda misleading though. Same as the 3 hour tire centre estimate.

It takes me 60-80 minutes, 45 is a really good day. But then again, I'm including dragging the tires out of storage, checking tires, positioning, labeling, adding air/rechecking torque, then putting tires back into storage.

A quick drive before tightening again then adds another 15-30 minutes.

[calumniate]

Originally Posted by Sliver

General Grabbers. They have the mountain with the snowflake inside. That's all weather, no?

That's cool. I drove a new F-150 in the early 2000's and the factory tires were like driving on balloons. Once I switched them the handling was so much different.. was like the tires actually had walls finally. Was amazed how bad the factory ones were haha

[Fuzz]

I can easily do tires in 30 min, not including retorque, but I just take 2 minutes to do it after someone drives it.

[photon]

Originally Posted by Shazam

I guess I should have told you: Kal Tire sucks.

Nokian doesn't tho

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I can easily do tires in 30 min, not including retorque, but I just take 2 minutes to do it after someone drives it.

I store my tires in a shed on the other side of my property. Rolling those over one at a time, unwrapping and positioning them takes around 10-15 minutes. Then I need like a 5 minute breather. Same thing when rolling the swapped tires back to the shed. Slightly longer if the ground is wet, snowy or icy.

I think I'd save 30+ minutes easily and easily be able to go from start to finish in around 30 mins if I stored my tires in my garage. But then the garage would be cramped just to save around 30-40 minutes twice a year on swaps.


2 minutes after driving for retorque? How fast you driving to get that 30-50 km in?

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by WhiteTiger

Last vehicle in the shop for the tire swap/winter tune up (wipers, oil, checkup/fluids) today. Beat the snow this year.


If it snows today...Sorry, that's on me.

All good, you're on the other side of the country.

Edit:
maybe not, I had you confused for someone else.

[PepsiFree]

Kal Tire’s quality of service and expertise is pretty location-dependent. I know a couple great tire shops that became Kal Tires, but the people and service stayed the same. I’ve also been to one or two horrendously bad Kal Tires (Chinook and North Hill).

Plus, yeah, they sell Nokians, so that’s where you go.

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

Strange that most Kal Tires have above a 4.5 stars on the google.

Unless they're creating that many anonymous accounts to self promote.

[you&me]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Kal Tire’s quality of service and expertise is pretty location-dependent. I know a couple great tire shops that became Kal Tires, but the people and service stayed the same. I’ve also been to one or two horrendously bad Kal Tires (Chinook and North Hill).

Plus, yeah, they sell Nokians, so that’s where you go.

Weird... I've been using the Chinook location for 10+ years now for 2/3 cars (they store the tires, so I just keep going back) and I don't think I've ever had a single, even minor, issue.

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

Glad I ordered Nokians for my vehicle. Sounds like I made the right choice.

Their rating for cornering is what sold me.

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by TrentCrimmIndependent

Strange that most Kal Tires have above a 4.5 stars on the google.

Unless they're creating that many anonymous accounts to self promote.

Only Chinese restaurants have ratings lower than 4.5.

Google ratings are next to useless.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

I store my tires in a shed on the other side of my property. Rolling those over one at a time, unwrapping and positioning them takes around 10-15 minutes. Then I need like a 5 minute breather. Same thing when rolling the swapped tires back to the shed. Slightly longer if the ground is wet, snowy or icy.

I think I'd save 30+ minutes easily and easily be able to go from start to finish in around 30 mins if I stored my tires in my garage. But then the garage would be cramped just to save around 30-40 minutes twice a year on swaps.


2 minutes after driving for retorque? How fast you driving to get that 30-50 km in?

Haha, ya I used to have to do that, before I built the best garage ever. I hauled my floor jack up form the basement, all the tools to the driveway, tires from the shed across the yard. Now they are all on the wall next to the car, I can do the pressures on the wall, plop them down right where I work...so good!


I meant 2 minutes to do the re-torquing, not the driving. I don't count driving as part of it, because someone is gonna need to go to the store at some point, why waste gas? You don't need 30-50km, at my dad's shop we'd drive around the block with some heavy acceleration and braking (particularity the BMW Z3...) and that does it. Never had an issue.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by you&me

Weird... I've been using the Chinook location for 10+ years now for 2/3 cars (they store the tires, so I just keep going back) and I don't think I've ever had a single, even minor, issue.

To be fair, it’s not like my horrible experience overrides anyone else’s great experience. Might have just been a case where they’re great 95% of the time but I fell into the 5% a couple of times in a row.

Either way, I can see where people have had a poor experience at certain locations (I have), but the idea that every location is sucks is stupid.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

To be fair, it’s not like my horrible experience overrides anyone else’s great experience. Might have just been a case where they’re great 95% of the time but I fell into the 5% a couple of times in a row.

Either way, I can see where people have had a poor experience at certain locations (I have), but the idea that every location is sucks is stupid.

Weren't you storming around calling them 'tire monkeys' and knocking over displays, though?

[you&me]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

To be fair, it’s not like my horrible experience overrides anyone else’s great experience. Might have just been a case where they’re great 95% of the time but I fell into the 5% a couple of times in a row.

Either way, I can see where people have had a poor experience at certain locations (I have), but the idea that every location is sucks is stupid.

That's fair... I think we've all probably been a part of that 5% at one time or another and I think it's reasonable to have reservations about a business (or specific location) based on those experiences, even if you're aware of likely being in a minority.

Kaltire is one of the few businesses that I will openly praise and a lot of that comes down to sheer volume of interactions that have been nothing but positive, so in this case, I felt it was worth sharing my experience too.

FWIW, beyond the bi-annual seasonal tire change (4-6 interactions per year), there was a period about 5 years ago where my wife's car had a propensity for tire damage and flats... We're talking 7 (21", expensive SUV) tires in a 12 month span, all of which were replaced with Kaltire's prorated warranty, with no questions asked (sometimes at ~90-95% off)... On one hand, they're just a business that's adhering to their own warranty program (and not the only one's that offer something like this), but the lack of friction in those instances, as well as all others, has always stood out.

Now that I've said it, as I get older, I think that's probably what I value most in
a business... lack of friction.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Weren't you storming around calling them 'tire monkeys' and knocking over displays, though?

That’s between me and God, or whoever.

[TrentCrimmIndependent]

It's wholely unsurprising that PF would attract that bottom 5% of customer service experience lol.

[Jimmy Stang]

I do my changeovers myself, and buy my tires from Urban Expressions. Used to go to Kal Tire, but moved over to Urban Expressions for new tires and mounting based on recommendations on this forum - service and price has always been good with UrbanX.

My only "bad" experience with Kal Tire was when I bought new winter tires from them many years ago. I brought my own, new steel wheels that I got on sale at Canadian Tire. "Please mount my new winter tires onto the new steelies, and put them onto my car."

I returned to see my winter tires mounted onto my summer wheels, my summer tires unmounted in the hatch, and the new steel wheels were completely missing. Ultimately they found my wheels and re-mounted everything properly. Mistakes happen.