Discount Tire using the same tactics as Oil Change places

[Ruark]

I got tired of having to wait so long at Discount so I started going to Tires by Design. I paid $10 per tire for N2 fill and I go by about every 3000 miles to have them check the pressure. I have never bought anything but N2 from them.....

Uh, you realize nitrogen filling is a total scam, don't you? Just the air around you is over 80% nitrogen.

[Mel]

I got tired of having to wait so long at Discount so I started going to Tires by Design. I paid $10 per tire for N2 fill and I go by about every 3000 miles to have them check the pressure. I have never bought anything but N2 from them.....

Uh, you realize nitrogen filling is a total scam, don't you? Just the air around you is over 80% nitrogen.

Actually it is closer to 78%. But since you cannot possibly evacuate all of the "air" from the tire, the resulting nitrogen fill will not be much different than normal air.

[LDB415]

I am not a tire guy, nor do I play one on TV, but I'd think pickups might wear a little more toward the front, especially if driven with no load in the back. Heavy engine and cab up front, sailboat fuel out back. But I don't know anything except chicken fried steak is almost always a good idea.

[FastCarry]

Benefits of Nitrogen filled tires are bogus

Wear is about friction. What allows a car to stop, turn and move? Friction between the tires and the road. When driving, you are almost always causing friction on your drive tires, while only turning or brake a fraction of the time. Drive tires will always wear faster than non drive tires, hence the recommdation of rotating tires. The only caveat here is a bad alignment, that will cause wear no matter if its a drive wheel or not.

[mrvmax]

I got tired of having to wait so long at Discount so I started going to Tires by Design. I paid $10 per tire for N2 fill and I go by about every 3000 miles to have them check the pressure. I have never bought anything but N2 from them.....

Uh, you realize nitrogen filling is a total scam, don't you? Just the air around you is over 80% nitrogen.

Thanks for the advice but it is not needed. If you have used it and found it not worth the $10 then don't use it. I have found that my tires stay closer to the pressure than with air, N2 reduces moisture inside my tires and the $10 per tire is more for them to keep checking for me so I do not have to. I understand what our atmosphere consists of and so do most grade schoolers (at least they used to).

[The Annoyed Man]

Benefits of Nitrogen filled tires are bogus

Wear is about friction. What allows a car to stop, turn and move? Friction between the tires and the road. When driving, you are almost always causing friction on your drive tires, while only turning or brake a fraction of the time. Drive tires will always wear faster than non drive tires, hence the recommdation of rotating tires. The only caveat here is a bad alignment, that will cause wear no matter if its a drive wheel or not.

Back in the day when I was road racing motorcycles, we kept our race tires charged with nitrogen because it was dryer, and the tires ran a little cooler, therefore keeping their grip a little longer before turning greasy.

[2farnorth]

For general information drive tires do wear faster that non drive in my experience. On rear wheel drive usually the right rear will wear faster than the left rear (that's the primary drive). I don't rotate tires on my pick up any more because you end up with both right side tires being worn more than the lefts. Don't have a heavy V8 in it so weight is balance fairly well.

In Texas or any other place that uses a lot of tar and chip roads you will lose 5-10 k miles life off a set of tires. If the road noise is higher so is the wear. Yes there's better traction especially on wet surfaces but you pay in tire wear.

[RoyGBiv]

I'm another Discount Tire fan. 10+ years at least. I typically do my research before showing up at the store, NEVER buy the DT version of the branded tire and skip the road hazard warranty.

My son blew a tire on I35 a few weeks ago. By the time he got stopped, the tire was toast. After putting on the spare he went straight to the nearby DT and they still prorated the blown tire. Only cost about $50 to install a new $180 tire.

[LDB415]

Air is 78% nitrogen. Tires filled with nitrogen, from a reputable source with proper equipment, are ~99% nitrogen. Big deal. So what. Oh, yeah, far drier than regular air so the tire compound and the wheel material are less contaminated and deteriorate far more slowly from within. Oh, yeah, larger molecules so seeping out through the tire is much slower meaning pressures stay up properly much longer. Oh, yeah, more temperature stable so the fluctuation in tire pressure from cold to hot is less keeping the tire closer to optimum pressure at all times. But yeah, big deal, so what. YMMV.

[RSX11]

skip the road hazard warranty.

Sometimes, skipping it is not the way to go. I always get the road hazard warranty. There is a lot of new home construction going on in my area. that means lots of nails in the street. I get a nail in a tire every 6 months or so, and it's often unrepairable, so, new tire on warranty. And, for a few bucks, you can buy the new tire warranty on that replacement tire as well. Due to this, I may never have to actually pay for a new tire again.

[Keith B]

skip the road hazard warranty.

Sometimes, skipping it is not the way to go. I always get the road hazard warranty. There is a lot of new home construction going on in my area. that means lots of nails in the street. I get a nail in a tire every 6 months or so, and it's often unrepairable, so, new tire on warranty. And, for a few bucks, you can buy the new tire warranty on that replacement tire as well. Due to this, I may never have to actually pay for a new tire again.

This. If you get cheap tires, then it may not benefit you to pay for the road hazard warranty. However, a set of 22” Michelin light truck tires for my Yukon XL @$350+ a tire makes sense to buy a certificate to cover unforeseen damage over the 60,000 miles or so they will last for tread wear.

As for Discount Tire, I’ve never had any issues with them and they have actually always gone out of their way to make things right.

Additionally, when the tornado hit Joplin, our church was sending a team up to help with restoration. We were borrowing a trailer from a guy I knew, but it needed new tires. I stopped in at my regular store and when the manager found out what we were doing, he asked me to call his boss at the corporate office and talk to him. When I did, he told me to put the store manager back on line. He told him to put a new set of tires on for us, free of charge.

Needless to say, they got a very nice letter from our Bishop and also some great PR with our congregation of over 7000 members.

[anygunanywhere]

I got tired of having to wait so long at Discount so I started going to Tires by Design. I paid $10 per tire for N2 fill and I go by about every 3000 miles to have them check the pressure. I have never bought anything but N2 from them.....

Uh, you realize nitrogen filling is a total scam, don't you? Just the air around you is over 80% nitrogen.

Actually nitrogen is great for tires. Many fleet operators have been using nitrogen for years with great success. Most race cars use nitrogen.

Nitrogen filled tires maintain a more constant pressure when the tires heat up and cool down. Also, the oxygen at the higher partial pressures causes the tire rubber components to oxidize quicker. The higher the partial pressure of oxygen the faster organic compounds oxidize. Nitrogen filled tires last longer especially in 18 wheeler tires which run at up to twice the pressure of cars and light trucks.

You might not think that it is a big deal but over the life of a vehicle I am certain the nitrogen will be beneficial. My wife's new 2021 Toyota 4Runner's tires are nitrogen inflated and I like it.

[anygunanywhere]

Back in 1989 one of my operators was injured at work and was flown to Hermann Hospital in Houston. When we went to talk to his wife and sons and assist them in getting to the hospital I saw her tires. The steel cord was showing. We went to a Discount Tire in Pasadena. The store was backed up solid. I advised the manager of the issue and he changed the tires in the parking lot himself. I paid for them on my corporate card and got her on her way to Hermann. Her husband died two days later.

[Jeff B.]

You did a good thing. Tragedy the man passed.

I've used DT and have nothing against them, but have switched to Costco for my tires. I had a Michelin LT2 that wasn't repairable, the manager let me know and then told me that the L2T had been discontinued. The replacement was a Defender. Warranty applied it was about $105.00. The rest of the story was that for whatever reason you could not cross axle the LT2 and Defender. I expected the you need to buy another tire, but to my surprise he said Michelin had a program for that and the extra tire was free. Man was I surprised!

Jeff B.

[clarionite]

For general information drive tires do wear faster that non drive in my experience. On rear wheel drive usually the right rear will wear faster than the left rear (that's the primary drive). I don't rotate tires on my pick up any more because you end up with both right side tires being worn more than the lefts. Don't have a heavy V8 in it so weight is balance fairly well.

In Texas or any other place that uses a lot of tar and chip roads you will lose 5-10 k miles life off a set of tires. If the road noise is higher so is the wear. Yes there's better traction especially on wet surfaces but you pay in tire wear.

Tuesday I was driving out to the new house, It had been a rough week. Having to do more repairs on the house than I thought when I bought it, and having to buy some equipment earlier than I thought I'd need to. So, about 6K in expenditures for the week that I had, but hadn't budgeted for. As soon as I turned onto the road, I began to notice a smell. I was trying to place it. Was it my breaks getting hot? Was it a belt or hose getting hot? All I could think was what now? What's it going to cost me? Then I realized they were resurfacing the road. They had put down tar and chip on the left side of the road, but hadn't finished the right side yet. I was smelling the fresh tar. Wednesday when I came back the road was completed and the smell was almost gone too.