Local Wallymart adventure.

I normally take my wheels off and walk them into a shop to have tires put on. Today was a little different due to me being at work and the wife had my car. Tire problem, they were installed in 2001 (and I live 1.55 miles from work) and they needed replacement due to severe weather checking. They were losing air on the sidewall very slowly.
Wife stops at the local Wally Tire Fixit. They take the car in and find a match for the size needed. On the lift with the car it goes. The guy doing the work leaves the anti-theft socket on the passenger floor which is cable wired to the tire iron. Been that way since day 1 and its factory. He uses a ladder to upen the door and grabs the iron. He then cuts the safety cable and removes the socket from the iron. Impacts the anti-theft socket on the wheel and finishes the job. 2 tires on the front.
He goes to the counter and tells my wife that he had to remove the socket from the iron and here it is. Lays it on the counter.
She arrives at my work and tells me the story. I immediately call the Wally-not-so-smart and explain that the socket cut off is now loose and will undoubtedly get lost in my car. My car is a work car when I need it to be. It was placed on the iron 16 years ago and this is not the first time those tires have been off the car. I'm referred to the store manager who sided with me. But, she says according to the employee, the car was already in the air and thats the reason the guy cut the cable. She saw things as I did, it wasn't in 2 pieces when it came in, there was no reason it should be in 2 when I got it back. They had to take it to the local Ford dealer to get it fixed. Aparently no one was smart enough to wire a cable and place a crimp on the end. Needless to say, I had to properly torque the factory aluminum wheels when I got home too. So where are these "certified" people who show photos on the wall? I was not happy with the intelligence there at all today. I guess its back to taking in steel trailer wheels for simple changes and doing things myself.

And you expected anything more from Walmart ? lol
Just giving you chit Dave .

Are these guys you speak of ASE certified, or are they Wal-Mart Certifed? Makes a BIG difference.

Second, while an ASE-certified dealership mechanic worth keeping is probably making $12-20 an hour, this guy's probably making $8.50 and glad to get it. In other words, you get what you pay for, and Wal-Mart ain't payin' doodly-squat.

IMHO being ASE certified means nothing. I don't mean it is bad but it isn't necessarily good. I have SOL who is a mechanic, not ASE certified. They got new mechanic who was. In the first week an older car came in and needed tune up. ASE guy didn't know anything about points and condenser. Come to find out only 2 guys there who could do it were not ASE. NOW don't get me wrong, the ASE mechanic was good mechanic but so were tho ones not ASE. A mechanic has to have something special born in him to be a mechanic. If that is missing all the schools and certifications will never make him a real mechanic. It will at best get him by.
Where my SOL works, being certified doesn't get you a job or keep your job. Being a real mechanic does

I am "school-of hard-knocks-Gleaner-F-Farmall-H"
Certified. Is that good enough for you?

Gene

I'm curious why someone in law enforcement would have a car on the road with noticably unsafe tires, especially when their wife is driving it? Dave

Why would you be buying tires at Wally world??? I have checked their prices and they aren't that good. If you get the spec. number off of their tires you will find out that they aren't top line tires. They have names that sound good like Uniroyal Tiger Pawl two. That two on the end makes that tire a 40,000 mile tire not the 80,000 mile tire that standard Tiger Pawls are.
As for ldj comment on ASE certified. It should not surprise anyone that they don't train too many people on points and condenser in a car. THEY HAVE NOT USED THEM IN OVER THIRTY FIVE YEARS. It would be like your doctor bring in a bucket of leaches to cure you.

I suppose the guy was making at least $7.50 per hour. I always say; you get what you pay for!

I doubt the tire was loosing air thru the side wall. On aluminum wheels they will leak around the bead after a coupla years. I have had to have a tire or two remounted and the rims cleaned up on ever set I have bought for my cars on aluminum wheels.

Have you taken just wheels into Walmart to have tires mounted? I took a set of trailer wheels into Sams Club and had to talk to several people before they would mount the tires and then would not sell road hazard because they didn't see what the tires were going on. They first told me they could only sell tires that they installed on the vehicle.

No problems with Sams Club. Courtious and effecient. They rotate my tires....pull them off the car, take off the weights, spin balance, put back on the car, torque the lug nuts and charge me about $3 a tire to do that. I've had private garages screw stuff up also, and , not one of them torques the lug nuts, they just crank down with a air gun.
Bought tires at Sams's also...good service all around.
You'll find jerks every where including private garages.

I absolutely refuse to buy anything as important as tires from Wal Mart. In fact, I very rarely darken their door for anything.

X2 for Sam's Club tire shop. I've always had good luck with them.

"you get what you pay for"


Agreed.

wally world is a minimum wage grocery story. You expect a bag boy to be a rocket scientist?

I shop the heck out of them.. But I know that I'm in a "cheap as you can get" discount house.. Thats exactly what they are supposed to be and what they advirtise. No more.. No less...

As to tires... they are just like the kid at the local full service gas station putting tires on your car.. no more, no less.

Your right to have them fix the tool, but any other expectation is wasted.
You can expect the next guy to do it all over again.



Why in blue blazes would you think anything differently.

I shop Wally's for just about everything but shop work.
Took the daughter’s car in for an oil change. As is my habit I drove home and checked the oil and found it full but not 'clean.' Did a little eyeballing and found the filter still had road dirt on it. Back to Wally's and complained to no satisfaction, "That's from the mechanic’s hands, that’s a dark oil."
Another time I was going in the back door by the tire shop where they were changing a tire on the outside apron. The guy had a torque wrench but tighten until it clicked once then again and then gave it another half turn.
I had a set of four new tires put on by Sam's. Good tires, good road hazards plan but over the life of the tires I broke off three lug bolts because they were zipped on cross-threaded.

I saw the same thing with one of my sons friends. ASE certified engine tech.Patches all over his shirt. But he couldn't change the points on a 289.I had to show him how it was done.

To get an ASE certification you take a test.Now you have to know the answers to the questions to pass the test.Most mechanics that have some experience can pass the test.I doubt a Wal Mart mechanic making 8.50 an hour can pass an ASE test,especially if he doesnt have much experience,he is not going to get a lot of experience changing oil and tires either.There are different ASE patches from beginner up to Master Mechanic.I might be wrong,but if you can pass an ASE test means you know some stuff,and probably could work somewhere that paid better,even a beginner.
Just because somebody can pass an ASE test does not mean they have a lot of common sense though.People make mistakes because they dont care,or dont know any better,or some are just jerks.Plenty of people Ive run into that didnt have an ASE patch,and some were good,and some of them were bad too.The ones who have an ASE patch,if it was paid for by the company,are all for the company usually.Company men I guess you can say.It might be good or bad depending on how it affects what they are doing.If they think they can get away with it,will try and sell you stuff you dont need.The patch means they know what they are doing usually.That doesnt mean what they do is necessarily good for you though.It doesnt mean they know everything,or that they are a real good mechanic.I dont really know how to explain what a real good mechanic would be by todays standards.I guess a real good mechanic today would be somebody who could tell a good story,good enough to get work in the shop that might or might not be necessary.I dont think there is a test for that.Whoever does that may or may not have an ASE patch on their sleeve.Plus there are other patches.A good way to look at the patches is that they have some experience.Like they didnt start last week.Whether they are good, still remains to be seen.Tire and lube places,whether its Wal Mart or not,are not going to have real good mechanics usually.

When did the factories stop using points ignition in new cars...1975? That was 35 years ago...longer ago than the AGE of most of these new ASE mechanics. Unless they're working on antiques, farm tractors, or low-budget race cars, they're not likely to encounter a points-and-condenser ignition. Same with carburetors...even Hyundai was using fuel injection by 1990, so carburetor technology on highway vehicles are 20 years old and older.

Do you also ridicule folks who don't know how to to work on knee-action shock absorbers or magnetos? Been a few years since THOSE have been used on highway vehicles, too.

I buy all my tires now from wall mart. Used to buy expencive ones and I run alot of gravel and found they dident last any longer than cheap crap.I now actually run a winter tire year round.I needed them in winter one year because we moved to the hills and needed more traction.They told me to take them off for summer cause gravel would chew them up to fast.Never did and found they work just fine.I change 2 tires every year and put the new ones on in front(dodge caravan)we run 35000miles per year on average.As far as service goes I get good in one and didn't get good in the other so I now only go to the good one.That is how everything this day and age seems to work,it all depends on the man behind the counter.I have had my vehicles taken to all kinds of shops and the worst rip offs I ran into was the ford and dodge dealers themselves.I know no wall wart would have left dirrty oil all over the floor of my van and not clean it up.Needles to say that ford dealer will never do anything for me again.

I think you have been watching MSNBC way to much. Two years ago our local Walmart was starting part timers over 9 bucks an hour. Then if you could follow directions and show up when needed you received a pay jump in a short time.
Still several people that have been working there for years and know what is happening. That don't mean in a store with that many employees that they all are top notch. I bet you could name several duds at 25 bucks an hour where you work.

99% of those d@@##@@m things are in the glove box. I am surprized those things are still on your car. Do your self a big favor and go get 4 regular lugnuts and throw that thing in the recycle bin. If you dont some freezing day you will wish you had.

(quoted from post at 07:51:17 07/21/10) When did the factories stop using points ignition in new cars...1975? That was 35 years ago...longer ago than the AGE of most of these new ASE mechanics. Unless they're working on antiques, farm tractors, or low-budget race cars, they're not likely to encounter a points-and-condenser ignition. Same with carburetors...even Hyundai was using fuel injection by 1990, so carburetor technology on highway vehicles are 20 years old and older.

Do you also ridicule folks who don't know how to to work on knee-action shock absorbers or magnetos? Been a few years since THOSE have been used on highway vehicles, too.

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Buzzman,
If you are talking to me, I didn't ridicule that mechanic, in fact I said he was good, just didn't know about points. Someone had said the wallmart mechanic probably wasn't ASE, Indicating he was no good. I was just trying to say a mechanic doesn't have to be ASE to be good and can be good without ASE. Like I said it means nothing to me or to the place where my SOL works

I price shop (hard) for tires on my one ton truck and have found if you check on line at Wal-Mart a lot of the time you can buy name brand tires cheaper. I then have them delivered to a local Wal-Mart store at no cost to me, pick them up and go to local garage to be mounted and balanced. Last time I done this it saved me $52.00 "per" tire. Last set i put on from there gave me over 50,000 miles pulling heavy trailers daily. As for having work done at Wal-Mart i just dont feel secure about that.

The auto department manager at my local walmart was caught stealing batteries and tires,taking them out the back door.Now no one is allowed to come in the back way,you have to carry your old batteries through the store after the door security people install a sticker.

Well to me if someone braggs about how good they are. They had better be able to back it up.

The best thing about Wal-Mart is that they keep the fuel prices lower than they would otherwise be in a particular area.

Oh yea, they were through the sidewall. My trusty can of dish soap and water proved that earlier in the day. I knew they were getting there, just didn't plan on it yesterday. I'm sure there is intelligent life out there, just not where I was hoping to find it. Plus one should remember, I live almost 1 mile from work. A set of tires will weather out before they wear out for me.