NTB tire install. Recommend avoiding.

[c.schill]

Little back story first... 

 

I took my girlfriend's 2019 challenger to NTB last year to get a tire plugged. Long story short, they scraped up the lip of the wheel they worked on pretty badly. Worse than your average curb rash. They claimed they "didn't do it" and that it was probably curb rash (which it wasn't), and had to get the district manager involved. After some arguing back and forth, they ended up paying for the wheel to be refinished, and we went on our way.

 

Fast forward to this past Friday, and I decide to give another NTB store on the other side of town another chance on my 2019 Silverado LT. They had a good price on some Cooper's, so I had them install all 4 on Friday afternoon. The attached photos are of what I found when I got the truck back. Didn't notice it when I left the store, because I was just ready to get out of there after sitting for almost 3 hours waiting, but noticed about an hour later after I got home. 3 out of the 4 wheels have deep scratches almost half way around the lip of the wheel, deep enough that I can catch a fingernail on them. They immediately claimed they didn't do it (again), and asked if I'm sure the scratches weren't there before. I assured them they were not, and they asked me to send the photos I had taken to their store email, and the manager would call me when he looked at them. That was at 430PM on Friday, and I still had not gotten a call as of 1PM on Saturday. I called the store, and was told the store manager had something come up and wasn't at the store last night or today, and I would have to bring the truck back on Monday morning for them to look at the damage. 

 

At this point, I'm not confident they're going to own up to it. I have been patient with them so far, and am giving them the chance to make it right, but it's not looking good right now. These wheels were spotless when I dropped the truck off, and I have photos to prove it. To top it all off, the left rear tire is leaking at a pretty quick rate (about 5 psi every 6 hours), so I have already had to air it back up twice. 

 

My suggestion is, avoid NTB/Tire Kingdom aside from buying the tires themselves there. In the future I will not be letting them touch any vehicle I have control over. They clearly employ techs that don't care about the job they're doing, or the quality of the work. I will update this post as things progress with how they handle the situation.

 

 

Edited October 18, 2020 by c.schill

[sharkeysierra]

NTB? 
 

How do you not notice those huge scratches in perfect parallel with the wheel edge? 

[c.schill]

1 minute ago, sharkeysierra said:

NTB? 
 

How do you not notice those huge scratches in perfect parallel with the wheel edge? 

National Tire & Battery. They also operate stores under the "Tire Kingdom" brand. 

 

As for noticing, like I said before, I just got in and headed home. I took a closer look when I got home and immediately noticed the scratches. Didn't occur to me at that exact moment that I should check to see if a shop that specializes in tire work had destroyed my wheels. 

[sharkeysierra]

With all the horror stories and the “I didn’t notice until later” comments. I check any “professional” shop I take my vehicles to. As you found out with the challenger, caution would have been my first thought before I drove off. 

 

These things are better fixed and taken care of before anyone leaves the shop. Because anything can happen and anyone can point fingers. With those huge silver scratches on a black wheel, even in a dim lit parking lot, those are noticeable.

[diyer2]

I have had this happen and this is what I do now. I did the same thing and didn't check before I left. Big no no.

Take the sales person or the employee who writes up the sales ticket out and show them the condition of your wheels. Take pictures with your phone while he watches.

 

The last time this happened I had the shop owner(small town independent) show me the tire machine. 

Got online and found the tire machine web site. I called the tire machine manufacture and explained what happened. The tire machine tech said the machine wasn't adjusted properly or the tire tech wasn't trained properly. 

 

I just changed the tires on our new car to Michelins. Different small town shop. No problems.

 

This happens a lot. 

 

[KARNUT]

I use discount tire. My grip with NTB is they do more than tires. They constantly try to up sell. I only went there because they had my tires in stock. Discount didn’t. I said don’t open the hood. They open the hood. I almost lost it. They don’t listen.


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[diyer2]

I did business with Discount for 20 years before we moved. I had 2 scratched rim issues at that store. They replaced one to the tune of $350. At Discount I stood outside the bay and watched them work. The manager learned I expect quality work. I told him you're supposed to be the expert. The sign says Discount TIRE.

[KARNUT]

I did business with Discount for 20 years before we moved. I had 2 scratched rim issues at that store. They replaced one to the tune of $350. At Discount I stood outside the bay and watched them work. The manager learned I expect quality work. I told him you're supposed to be the expert. The sign says Discount TIRE.

There’s 3 in my town. Never had a problem. I don’t look at the rims real close. I’m sure there’s scuffs sometimes. As long as it isn’t that obvious I don’t sweat it. I can see them work there’s windows. They use all the protection available. There’s been tires that haven’t lasted the length advertised. They pro rate with no problems. I had a set that got noisy they gave me a huge pro rated discount. I’m a fan.


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[txab]

I've got my issues with DT. They've screwed up so many "center caps" on my Toyota Sienna, I think I've lost count. It's at least 6 or 7. Their tire jockeys just take something, stick it through the rim from the backside and then whack it with a mallet. The plastic cap goes flying across the floor. With this procedure several of the tabs that secure it into the wheel, are broken off, and/or the spring tension clip is lost. The first time this happened the manager handed them to me and said they were "defective". I said bs, I watched what your guys did even got a picture. So they ordered 4 more. Next time in, I specifically warned them to be careful. What happens? Apparently the same thing.But, didn't find out until I got home and they were missing, because they were slung off on the drive. So they order more. I finally wrote DT HQ and received a nice note apologizing and offering a discount on my next set of tires I purchase from them.

 

I've had to go back and get them to install the correct length valve stems twice on my older vehicles that have trim rings. Seems they just replace long stems with short stems without thinking about it. I've lost center cap bolts on my 1980 truck, because they misplaced them, I guess. Now I just take the caps off myself before going in for rotation.

 

They seem to have a high rate of turnover even at the managerial level.

 

This is a new cap

 

 

Edited October 18, 2020 by txab

[RyanbabZ71]

Discount tire does an inspection with you (at least here) before working on your vehicle. The last time I went to discount they scratched
One of my wheels pretty bad after having to fix the wheel weights they installed on the outside (had them redo it) they did make it right but it should have never happened.


Ryan B.

[c.schill]

16 hours ago, sharkeysierra said:

With all the horror stories and the “I didn’t notice until later” comments. I check any “professional” shop I take my vehicles to. As you found out with the challenger, caution would have been my first thought before I drove off. 

 

These things are better fixed and taken care of before anyone leaves the shop. Because anything can happen and anyone can point fingers. With those huge silver scratches on a black wheel, even in a dim lit parking lot, those are noticeable.

Ideally, yes, I should have checked and not trusted. But hindsight is always 20/20. You're just stating the obvious here, nothing profound.

 

Half-update: The store manager called today and apologized for not calling me on Saturday morning. Apparently had family issues come up. He'll be meeting me tomorrow morning at 8AM.

[c.schill]

Update: After a lengthy discussion with the store manager, and a call with the district manager, the store will be paying for all 3 wheels to be refinished. I will have to be without the truck for a few days, since I don't have any other wheels to put on there, but I'm satisfied for now that they are making things right. As long as the refinisher they contract with does quality work. Still have to research them before scheduling the job.

[15SilvyHC]

I went to NTB one time to get a set of toyo open country m/ts mounted and balanced on my truck. All seemed well but on the drive home when I got up to speed noticed the steering felt touchy as hell and was all over the road. Pulled up the air pressure on the DIC and the knuckleheads had put 80psi in all 4 tires when I should have been running around 35-40 unloaded. In the end not a huge issue but still left me questioning who they employ. Probably won't be using them again. 

[Buckwild27]

Over the years, I've been forced to go to NTB because of my work schedule and due to them being the only ones that could get me in. My last experience was getting a front alignment on my 2013 Sierra. I ended up with 2 days off and spent it driving 5 hrs back home and rebuilding the front suspension that was past due. NTB was the only place that could get it in to do alignment. Well, I dropped it off the night before because I needed to be back on the road to work by 1 pm. I went to pick it up, and knowing they were horrible at their jobs, I did a quick test drive. Steering Wheel was off a little over 1/4 of a turn. When I took it back, the manager told me that there was no way to fix it. If I want the truck to drive straight, the wheels are going to be off, or they could fix the wheel, and the alignment will be off. After giving them repeat chances to change their story. I informed them how to fix it and that they were full of S@##. The manager started throwing the F bombs. They took it back and actually fixed it, then did me dirty by parking in on the side of the building and didn't tell me it was fixed. I know it was done because after 20 minutes of waiting, we went to take care of some other things and saw the truck when we drove around the building, thinking they hadn't got it back in we went on our way half-hour later we come back truck hasn't moved. I went in and asked when they were going to fix it. The guy said they just pulled it out. And had no words when I called him out on that BS.

[KARNUT]

I find it interesting that people will blame a corporation instead of just giving the location to avoid. I have both their service is very good. I lean toward discount tire. Same with generalizing quick lubes. There’s a family owned one by me, excellent service.