More Tire Questions Goodyear Eagle GT's

[kingtut]

You know, I bet if a local dealership made a commercial for the local market addressing the "stealership" nickname and asking for people to give them a second chance- assuming of course that their prices aren't totally out of whack and they don't try to upsale people things they really don't need, they might get some business back.

In this economy people seem to be holding onto their cars more (aside from this "my tax money for your not-so-clunker" program that is more of a waste than a benefit- but that's beside the point) and are looking to repair their cars. Repair shops were not really hurt by the economic downturn at all because everyone was fixing their cars instead of trading them for new.

Lol, nice Tom...well said.

It's funny you mention the "dealerships trying to get business back comment". I recently got a flyer in the mail from McDonald Audi (who totally butt-raped me in the past on repairs). They listed some common problems with Audis (which I'm surprised they could fit them all on one flyer, haha) such as timing belts, synthetic oil changes, suspension stuff, etc....AND listed a handful of independent Euro shops, along with a comparison of their charges (for that service) along with McDonald's. It was kind of cool to see a refreshing attempt at marketing, but you could still tell they were full of it. Dealerships (or at least this one) is known for "finding" 'x' many other "issues" that need immediate $attention$

[bobopud]

Sorry Dommo, but I will never take my car to a dealership for anything other than routine maintenance, especially if I have an out of warranty repair.

Just the other day the wife got a CEL. I figured it was probably the gas cap, but she wanted to take it in and get the code read just in case. The dealership wanted $120 to read the code and diagnose the problem. I literally laughed at the guy and walked out. We just went to Pep boys and got the code read and cleared for free.

Now, if I could find a dealership that won't charge such rediculous prices and try to sell me a $150 fuel injector cleaning service or a $120 CEL check, then I might consider giving them some business, until then I'll stay away and do repairs myself.

[tsx_guy]

mcdonald sends me flies with coupons for oil changes, i paid full price once....once.
and tut, you know you like the butt raping...

[kingtut]

shhh...don't tell anyone (and that happened once...once;))

[tsx_guy]

shhh...don't tell anyone (and that happened once...once;))

your secret is safe with me rump ranger.

what was the topic here, tires?

[AIM WO4]

It's strange... I was a mechanic, and don't understand why so many try to sell you more maintenance than you need.

I remember trying to get my ABS Module replaced in my Saab. They wanted $3000!!! I called Saab USA, and they said they'd help by paying $1250 towards the fix. I laughed, and told them I'd fix it myself. That shocked the crap out of them! I saved a lot of $$ and posted my DIY instructions for all my fellow Saab owners to read.

I spent $65 on my own OBDII reader as well. No $120 fees to diganose anything at the shop.

As for tires, I get a cheap deal with the military AAFES store.

[dommo_g]

This is incredulous!

Never heard of this before. I'm so used to Saab trying to rip me off, that I never even considered a dealership.

Well....I'm only talking about tires here heheh. Our dealership charges $34.95 for a lube, oil and filter, which includes checking/topping off other fluids and usually a car wash. I know you can find $20 oil changes all day long driving down a main street, so why pay more than you need to?

Here's a story from today....I had an appointment to put some tires on a car. (Goodyear Eagle GTs lol). Guy calls in the morning, I tell him we had a customer drop in for the same tires and we were putting them on as we were speaking. He says no problem, he wanted to come in later in the afternoon anyway. I say cool, I can have another set of tires in by then. It was early enough to where I could still get a set delivered before him getting here. He gets here, and he's driving a 6i sedan. 215/50-17s. I was expecting a CX-9 with 245/50-20s. Damn. I don't have the guy's 17" tires, they're on a freight truck scheduled for Monday delivery. I explain to him the story, tell him I'll do his oil change at cost. So I change his oil, and when I removed the filter housing, the O-ring on there was too big and was way loose. Could have bunched up in there and caused a leak, or could have not. Regardless, it didn't fit right. I noticed his filter was some aftermarket one. Says he got the last change at Grease Monkey. I charged him for parts only, and even gave him the wholesale discount. It STILL came up to $19. I know why the term 'stealership' exists, and I use it too. But since I've been working in dealerships, I know why genuine parts cost more. So it's not really that dealerships are ripping people off...a big thing is that most dealerships use genuine parts in their service bays, and genuine parts are most of the time more than the cheap aftermarket parts you'll get elsewhere that may or may not work properly.

On the other hand, there's not a whole lot of work that I wouldn't go to a dealership for. It's too damn expensive usually. So you can get an oil change for cheaper, but at what expense? Maybe they use a cheaper filter that might not fit right. Maybe they don't change the O-rings, maybe they don't use a new drain plug gasket, maybe they use a cheap house-brand oil. It just comes down to what's important to people.

[MazdaTom]

I've been changing my own oil for....... 15 years now and have changed the drain plug o-ring gasket thing like 3 times total. I have a stack of them sitting around, I just forget. Never have any leaks so when I remember about not changing the gasket (after the crankcase is full of fresh oil), I'm never worried about it.

[bellalyssa]

I got my new tires put on and oh my god! I don't know if it's because I was riding on incredibly bald tires but I love the way these tires handle. For all seasons they're pretty damn good.

[mOOsE]

I wish people would think to consider their Mazda dealership when looking for tires. Mazda has a wholesale program with Tire Rack, and I can meet or beat most of the prices you pay by buying directly from Tire Rack.

seriously, Mazda needs to give this dude a raise...

[4doord]

If anyone is interested in the Eagle GT tire in the 225/40r18 you can let me know, my show can do those for 656.00 out the door with road hazard warranties and full install so let me know. David at Coloradoland Tire 8100 W. Crestline Ave Littleton Co 80123 303-973-3332 or PM me. Thanks

[tbot]

dave u know when i need tires i'll be hitting u up wanna get rims tho too

[4doord]

No problem just let me know

[Stealth01]

Time to resurrect this thread.

Now that we've had three days of ice and snow this season, I can report a little on the performance of the Eagle GTs under these conditions.

When we had that ice storm last week, I took the MS6 out a couple of times. THe roads were icy with some blowing snow, so I took it kind of easy. Did test things a few times and found that the Eagle GTs provide VERY good stopping power for all-season tires. Starting was good too. Where they lacked a little (and only a little) was in the lateral grip. It was pretty easy to get the back end moving sideways, but all I had to do to correct was let off the gas and between the grippy tires and the MS6's AWD/TCS systems, it righted itself immediately. Much better than the old Exclaim UHPs did.

On snow and ice today and yesterday, I found the same thing. On icy roads, of course, NO tire without chains or studs is truly stable, but these felt pretty damn good, considering they're not winter tires. I tried several times to get the MS6 moving sideways, and while getting the back end to break loose wasn't terribly difficult (just took boost lol), letting off the gas righted the car each and every time. Not much deep snow to drive through, but I did take it through some 2-3-inch areas and the tires were very stable. No slippage whatsoever, and I had a hard time in the accumulated snow getting the back end to slide. Stopping was really nice...much better than I expected in an All-Season tire.

So what I gave up in dry pavement performance, I REALLY feel like I recovered and then some in bad weather handling. Good tire.

[tsx_guy]

i was going to ask for an Eagle GT snow report. Thanks.