Discount Tire general manger contacted me last week saying that he’s very sorry Discount Tire did not live up to our expectations and that they can no longer offer us any services or support for any issues that may occur with the installment of our tires. However he also said that if this is a warranty issue, Nokian can handle it and we can take these tires to any authorize Nokian retailer for services.
Here’s the run down of Discount Tire did to our van:
- Damaged the turner lugs with their impact wrench
- Damaged the wheel rings by using the impact wrench to tighten down the wheels without lining up the rings
- Over tightened the lugs. Specs call for 150 lbs which I can remove, But Discount tire’s team over tightened these lugs which I had to get my wife to stand on the lug wrench to loosen.
- Unknowingly Installed defective tires. The Nokian tire is not a bad brand and is one of the best tires we’re ever own and now will not correct their mistake which we’ve had to systematically isolate which tire was defective.
- Installed the two new tires on the front of the van, which is a no no…
- Incorrect balancing of three of the four tires and this is not the first time Discount Tire has incorrectly balanced our tires and both times they’ve refunded our money.
What ever was done to the front end of our van was done by Discount Tire techs because we never had this sound upon entering the shop. Now that there’s something wrong, Discount tire Refused to correct their mistake. For more than 8 months things were great and Discount Tire did everything we wanted to see done. Now that we return for a warranty claim, they’re not willing to help.
Our options, because we’re wanting to keep the Nokian tires, we’ll have to locate a new installer. The last shop we went to, might offer this service, but Walmart now sells Nokain cheaper than any other site we’ve visited. According to our specs the front tires (with that sound) have been prorated to 60K miles while the rear tires have 8/11 tread life left, At least that’s what Discount Tire tells us.
Does this deter us from getting another set of Nokian tires when it’s time? Nope, we’ll buy another set of Nokian Tires for the van when it’s time, Just avoid Discount tire.
Furthermore, here’s what we did this morning. Drove to an open parking lot that had a lot of lights I rotated both front new tires to the back and took the van for a test drive. I located one of the smoothest roads In Maryland and drove the van cycle through several varying speeds attempt to isolate the sound which wasn’t to be heard. Not only did we not hear the wom wom sound from the front of the van, we didn’t hear the sound coming form the rear of the van either. One would think that if the these tires made the sound while mounted on the front of the van, they would make the same sound on the rear of the van. But was not the case. No sound at all for 40+ miles.
But something came to mind while visiting a friend who seems to be onto something. he said that perhaps the traction control/ABs is over compensating for the new tires on the front while the traction control is active. Otherwise, we’ll keep and ear to the road over the next week to see if the wom wom sound returns.
Both traction control and ABS are activated by a difference in wheel speed as a result of loss of traction. The mere presence–on a dry road–of different tires on front & rear would not activate either TC or ABS–unless there is an underlying problem, such as with individual wheel speed sensors, and–of course–that isn’t the tire shop’s problem.
Additionally, a “wom-wom” sound isn’t what one would hear from either ABS or TC activating. ABS results in the application of brakes (on one or more wheels) many times per second, and the sound would be akin to an extremely rapid thudding noise, accompanied by a thudding sensation. When TC is activated, the same type of brake application can take place, and it is frequently accompanied by a reduction in engine power.
I suggest that, on the next rainy day, you go to a large, wet parking lot and purposely activate the ABS and the TC. I am very sure that the noise you will hear will be very different from the “wom-wom” sound.
That is because Discount tire only replaces, repairs and rotates tires, they are NOT mechanics or technicians… When Discount tire employees want to learn more they went to places like Goodyear and Firestone etc for further on the job training or go to a trade school… Discount tire does not do damaged wheel studs, stuck lug nuts or anything else…
BTW, Walmart will/can not take care of damaged wheel studs or cross threaded lug nuts either…
Sorry to hear about your troubles… good luck
Just wanted to point out something I didn’t mention, sites and tech are saying that if we went to larger wheels/tires our traction control/ABs lights would have went off… But after 8 mounts of driving on these 19’’ wheel (van OEM was 16") we’ve not seen any of these warning lights.
Plus it’s only been three days since rotating the new tires from the front to the back and still no wom wom not even from the back. One would think that if it was the tires making this noise on the front, they should still be making the same noise on the rear… but this is not the case… wo what changed other than new lugs, new wheel rings, new balancing and an alignment or is because I did all of the above and this has made the tires silent… we’ll never know until we go to install a new set on the front again or rotate the rears back tot he front after 5K miles.
Just remember that all tuner lugs are not created equal, my son bought some that was to soft and pulled the treads and loosened up a little, so that could have been what happened to you, just a thought… 
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To conclude this thread. we’ve determined that one or both of the new tires are making this whom whom sound. So if you’ve ever heard jeep or trucks drive by and you hear their tires making this same or nearly the same whom whom sound… thats what we’re experiencing. The issue is that when we first bought the complete set of tires none of them had this sound to them, but did make a bit of road noise. Just happen that these two new warranty tires are a bit louder than normal. otherwise we love these tires though I’ve had to air down to 43psi as the 45 was too much as we’re driving on more of the center winter tread instead of the out edge road tread.
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