As most of you know, Cindy and I normally break down and assemble our own bead lock wheels but unfortunately, we've both been pretty busy lately and so yesterday, after removing all the rings on our set of 37" Trail Grapplers mounted on ATX Chamber Pro II's (and even breaking one down altogether), we decided to just take the rest down to our local Discount Tire and pay them separate the remaining four.
As expected, once we got there and explained what we wanted, the tire jockey furrowed his brow and said that they're "not allowed to work on bead lock wheels". And to that, I inform him that I understood their policy but that all I needed was for them to separate the wheels from the tires. I explained that we've already removed all the rings and that essentially, they were just a regular wheels with one side of the bead already broken. Reluctantly, he let us know that he would need to make a call and see if it'd be okay. After waiting patiently for about 10 minutes while the guy made call after call with nobody able to give him a straight answer, he finally hung up the phone and let's us know that they still can't do it. Specifically, he says they can't because their "tire machine is incapable of separating the tires from the wheels". Confused, I asked what he meant by this and he explained that they would technically need the ring to be installed in order for them to break the bead and being that there's nothing there, they would have nothing to work off of. Dumbfounded by his response, I explained to him that the side in question is ALREADY broken and is just kind of flopping around - all I needed was for him to break the other side and then separate the tire from the wheel. By then, another guy came out and confirmed that they can't do it as their machine would have nothing to hold onto and so I asked, how do they separate a tire off a regular wheel once they've broken the bead on one side. Unable to answer my question, they repeated what they had already said and so I just smiled, thanked them for their time and left.
After getting back in our truck, Cindy and I literally drove across the street to Les Schwab and asked them if they could help us. And, as expected, the counter guy politely informed us that they're technically not supposed to work on bead lock wheels but that he would talk to his manager being that what we were needing was easy and really shouldn't be a problem. About a minute later, he came back with a smile and told us that we could pull up to the first bay and that they would take care us right away. About ten minutes later, they had our four tires separated from our bead lock wheels and all with a smile. Imagine that!
It's funny how you can have two separate companies, with the same policies, only one is just interested in saying NO to a customer and the other actually takes the time to listen to what they need and find a way to help them out. While Discount Tire is an advertiser of WAYALIFE and we've always had good experience buying tires from them online, I have to say that this wasn't the first time we've had a less than a stellar experience at their brick and mortar store. The last time, we were actually given grief for not buying our tires directly though them - this in spite of the fact that we still order our tires through their online store and I had even let them know as much. That whole incident left a bad taste in our mouths but I think this one really was the final straw for us. From now on, I think we'll be taking our business to our local Les Schwab.
As expected, once we got there and explained what we wanted, the tire jockey furrowed his brow and said that they're "not allowed to work on bead lock wheels". And to that, I inform him that I understood their policy but that all I needed was for them to separate the wheels from the tires. I explained that we've already removed all the rings and that essentially, they were just a regular wheels with one side of the bead already broken. Reluctantly, he let us know that he would need to make a call and see if it'd be okay. After waiting patiently for about 10 minutes while the guy made call after call with nobody able to give him a straight answer, he finally hung up the phone and let's us know that they still can't do it. Specifically, he says they can't because their "tire machine is incapable of separating the tires from the wheels". Confused, I asked what he meant by this and he explained that they would technically need the ring to be installed in order for them to break the bead and being that there's nothing there, they would have nothing to work off of. Dumbfounded by his response, I explained to him that the side in question is ALREADY broken and is just kind of flopping around - all I needed was for him to break the other side and then separate the tire from the wheel. By then, another guy came out and confirmed that they can't do it as their machine would have nothing to hold onto and so I asked, how do they separate a tire off a regular wheel once they've broken the bead on one side. Unable to answer my question, they repeated what they had already said and so I just smiled, thanked them for their time and left.
After getting back in our truck, Cindy and I literally drove across the street to Les Schwab and asked them if they could help us. And, as expected, the counter guy politely informed us that they're technically not supposed to work on bead lock wheels but that he would talk to his manager being that what we were needing was easy and really shouldn't be a problem. About a minute later, he came back with a smile and told us that we could pull up to the first bay and that they would take care us right away. About ten minutes later, they had our four tires separated from our bead lock wheels and all with a smile. Imagine that!
It's funny how you can have two separate companies, with the same policies, only one is just interested in saying NO to a customer and the other actually takes the time to listen to what they need and find a way to help them out. While Discount Tire is an advertiser of WAYALIFE and we've always had good experience buying tires from them online, I have to say that this wasn't the first time we've had a less than a stellar experience at their brick and mortar store. The last time, we were actually given grief for not buying our tires directly though them - this in spite of the fact that we still order our tires through their online store and I had even let them know as much. That whole incident left a bad taste in our mouths but I think this one really was the final straw for us. From now on, I think we'll be taking our business to our local Les Schwab.
