I'm not in the habit of calling out businesses and giving them horrible reviews usually, but this…read moreone takes the cake and wins the trophy of disappointment artist of November.
With the Snowpocalypse coming soon, I'm sure, I was looking for a set of used winter tires; since I already have AWD, I wasn't really looking for brand new shoes. So I spied a set of 4 Dunlop Winter Sport 3d's on Craigslist, out of a small shop in Harvard,IL. Gave the number a call and talked to David on Wednesday who told me he had a set of 4. I asked him what tread depth were on them, and he couldn't tell me. That should have been red flag number 1. He did tell me he had several sets, and that I could come pick one out. I asked him to just hold the set he thought had the most tread, and he said ok. So I went ahead and planned to make the 32 mile trip today, Friday, 2 days from talking to him and get some new to me tires. I even went to an auto parts store to purchase 2 tread depth tools, one for my personal use, and one for him, so that he could accurately tell his customers how much tread was left on the tires, vs,"uh, I think more than half the tread depth".
So I get here, to a slightly janky looking storefront and walk in. There's one guy manning the place and a bazillion tires in no discernible order in stacks and stacks taller than my head. I asked the gentleman if he had a set of 205/60/16s, winter. He proceeds to meander around the shop for a couple of minutes, searching in vain for these unicorn tires. I mention that I spoke to David in the phone Wednesday, and that he said he had several sets of that size. So he makes a phone call to him and asks if he has a set of 205/60/16. The answer is no, and that he only he has 205/55/16s, and that he only has one single 205/60/16, and not 4. This is bullshit.
Here's a short primer on tire sizes, using my factory size of 215/55/16. The first number in the tire size, in my case is 215. That number represents a tire's width from sidewall to sidewall, in mm. The second number is the aspect ratio. This number, 55, represents a measurement of the sidewall height, in relation to the width of the tire. 55 means that the sidewall is 55% of the width of the tire. The larger the aspect ratio, the taller the sidewall is. If you don't know what a sidewall is, it is the part of the tire that you see when looking at it from the side, the portion with all the numbers and wording, tire brand etc. The last number, 16, refers to the inner diameter of the tire, in inches. This number has to match your wheel size. No ifs ands or buts.
The tire he was offering me is not a recommended tire size for my vehicle, and that is due to weight restriction per tire. 205/55/16 may be safe, but it isn't a recommended alternative to my factory size. I'm pretty peeved that I came all the way out here and was misled about what they had to offer. Maybe some dumb yokel would have just said oh, you don't have what we talked about on the phone? Just slap some shit on there, no problemo!
No. I'm an educated consumer. And I'm pretty mad at myself for thinking I was getting a good deal. This isn't an entirely bad thing at all, as this may force me back to a business that I know and love and have dealt with for the last 7 years for my tire needs, who are responsible and trustworthy, and better yet, a reliable source of information regarding the products that they carry and don't carry, with my safety in mind.
As I'm sitting here writing this, David, the person I spoke to on the phone walked up to my car and apologized that he didn't have any of the size we talked about. He proceeds to tell me that someone came and got that set I wanted yesterday and that he always tells people on the phone, to call the morning of and check if they're still there(didn't tell me that). I was led to believe that he'd have a set for me, and he didn't. I'm disappointed but whatever. I gave him the tread depth tool anyway. I was going to return it to the store, but meh.
