WALMART TIRE CENTER EXPERIENCE ALMOST KILLED MY WIFE AND I…read moreI'm sharing this because Walmart's response to a serious tire installation issue has left me deeply concerned about customer safety and Walmart won't admit they were wrong, how then, can you fix the problem. It's now off my conscience if someone gets hurt or worse, dies.
July 2026, my wife and I had a tire installed at the Walmart Tire Center in Great Falls, Montana. We left the store and immediately got onto the freeway, where speeds reached 80 MPH. About six hours and hundreds of miles later, we stopped at a Love's Travel Center. I noticed a large bulge in the sidewall of the front driver's-side tire.
I knew immediately that we could not safely continue driving on a tire with a bulging sidewall.
I took photographs and later showed them to three different tire professionals. I asked whether the bead damage was consistent with something that could happen during mounting. All three said yes. I also asked whether a tear this significant would likely be noticed during installation. All three said it would be difficult to overlook, and none said they would have allowed a vehicle to leave their shop with a tire in that condition. I was also told the bulge likely would have been visible immediately after installation.
This raises serious questions. I don't know exactly what happened inside the Great Falls Walmart Tire Center. I don't know whether the technicians, Nicholis W. and Trent M., knew the tire had been damaged, failed to recognize the damage because of inadequate training or experience, or simply failed to report it. Regardless, the result was the same: we were sent onto the highway in a potentially dangerous vehicle.
A tire is a critical safety component, not a cosmetic item. When customers pay a professional service center to install tires, they should be able to trust that the vehicle is safe when it leaves. TRUST WAS BROKEN!
I gave MT Walmart management and its Executive Customer Service team an opportunity to investigate and address what happened. MT Walmart's position was that the installation was performed correctly and that the tire itself was defective, with the damage developing while we were driving rather than during installation. MT Auto Care Manager, Tracy, told me the store had reviewed the video and concluded the damage was not caused by the installers. However, Walmart Executive Customer Service representative later acknowledged that the video was too far away to be conclusive, yet Walmart ECS still relied on the manager's conclusion.
This explanation does not match what I was told by the three other tire professionals I consulted, who all believed the bead damage occurred during mounting.
After spending two nights waiting for the replacement, a new tire does not resolve the underlying safety issue. The tire was only replaced because I happened to notice the bulge approximately six hours and hundreds of miles after leaving Walmart. We were fortunate. We could have been involved in a serious accident before ever realizing there was a problem.
What I wanted from Walmart was simple: acknowledge the seriousness of the incident, investigate how the tire was damaged, determine why the vehicle was allowed to leave in that condition, and address any training, supervision, or procedural problems that may have contributed. Instead, it was a case of "NOT ME", the responsibility was placed on the tire manufacturer, and Walmart never acknowledged that an installation error may have occurred or explained what would be done to prevent something similar from happening to another customer.
IF YOU USE WALMART OR ANY TIRE CENTER TO MOUNT TIRES, I STRONGLY RECOMMEND INSPECTING YOUR TIRE BEAD INSIDE AND OUTSIDE BEFORE DRIVING AWAY!
Incident: July 27-29, 2026
Vehicle: 2017 Hyundai Accent Value Edition
Tire: Falken Ziex ZE950 All Season 185/55R16 83H
Locations: Great Falls, Montana & Post Falls, Idaho Walmart Auto Centers
#Walmar #WalmartGreatFallsMT #WalmartPostFallsID #FalkinTire
@johnFurner @JohnDavidRainey @DavidGuggina
