Received an email from my dealer to come in and have them look at my tires, and tell me if I should have them replaced. I’m reaching the 25K mark. My car is a 2013 Subaru XV. Is this just there way of making money on me?
I use the ‘quarter test’, see if you see the top of Washington’s head when you put a quarter in the tread. You tell THEM when you need new tires. And get their price, plus other tire dealers, buy from the shop with the best combination of price and service to you.
They want to sell tires but also if you have not rotated the tires and have uneven wear on an all wheel drive vehicle that could cause trouble. If the inspection is free and you do not want to buy tires from them you could just politely say no thank you.
Many , many enterprises these days send out generic mailers and emails based solely on averages . .
’’ it’s been a while since your last oil change.’’ - ‘‘let us do the 99 point safety inspection.’’ - ‘’ have you inspected your roof lately ?’’ - ‘‘when was the last time you changed your water filter ?’’ - ‘’ your doctor / dentist hasn’t see for a while.’’ ect
not just car service.
YOU, check your tires or go have anyone check them for you.
tread DEPTH and AGE are the two deciding factors and the dealer cannot know the condition of your tires . . they’re just throwing out that idea.
usually, tires get inspected at oil change and are on the report you get with the bill.
Is this a tire recall notice or just a tire sale?
Your last maintenance record may have your tire tread depth readings, that will give you an idea how worn the tires are.
So far my limited experience with Subaru is that the tires wear at about the same rate at all four corners, but the tread depth is critical (actually the tire circumference) on a Subaru all wheel drive. The tires must be within a 1/4" in circumference from the largest to smallest, and that translates to about 2/32" tread depth difference.
If you have not had your tires rotated on a regular basis, you need to get the tread depth measured to make sure you are in spec. Using a quarter is not sufficient, you need a tread depth gauge or steel ruler with the zero on the edge. A basic tread depth gauge only costs a couple of bucks, a digital gauge costs quite a bit more but may be suitable for someone who has trouble reading scales.
BTW, if your tires are out of spec for this, all four have to be replaced regardless of condition. Four new tires will be less expensive than a new transmission.
Agree, if it is not a recall, I think they want to make sure your tires are wearing evenly lest expensive repairs on the drive train. I finally broke down and bought a tire tread gauge for a couple bucks and check tread depth every tire rotation (about 5000 miles). When it gets down to about 5/32, might as well start shopping for tires.
“Is this just there (sic) way of making money on me?”
They can only make money “on you” if you decide to buy your tires from them.
While it is true that many car dealerships are now competitive with tire dealers when it comes to price, it is also true that car dealerships have nowhere near the selection of tire brands and models that are available if somebody is willing to do his/her due diligence, and to shop around at a variety of retailers.
As was said, the evenness of the tread depth on all 4 tires is critical on AWD vehicles, like Subarus, so checking the tread depth on the tires is definitely a good thing to do, especially in view of the reality that “original equipment” tires typically have a fairly short tread life. However, the OP is under no obligation to buy his/her tires from the dealership.
AND . . this dealer has just done another good service to the driving community.
– even if you don’t buy tires from them . . . even if you don’t need tires right now . .
They made you notice .
They got you to be an active participant in your vehicle’s maintainence.
NOT a drive-it-till-it-breaks owner, but better.
And that’s a service to all the other drivers out there , that yours is not one of the clunkers.
It hasn’t been until the last few years that new car dealers in my area began selling tires. I still prefer my independent tire dealer for tires. This independent dealer does alignment and front end work. I prefer this independent to a new car dealer for its,experience and expertise on tires.
The GM dealer in town is right next door to the Goodyear dealer. A while back I noticed a sign in front advertising tires. This week I noticed a great big yellow and red sign saying they will beat anyone else’s prices. I saw the guy that owns the Goodyear store at church and wanted to ask him how he liked that big sign but didn’t want to set him off in front of his grand kids.
I expect once they get their hands on it, they also will want to do their “15 point inspection” on the rest of the car, or whatever it is they call that service. Dealerships make these offers for two reasons, first to provide a service for their customers, and second to increase the revenue of their repair shop. They’ve got mechanics being paid a salary with some free time apparently, so it makes business sense to send out these enticements for a free service. If the tires test out ok, but the customer is in need of an oil change, they figure they might as well be the ones to provide it.
Whether this is done for the customer’s benefit, or for the dealership’s benefit, hard to say. Probably a little of both.
If this notice is not a tire recall notice I would not react to a tire promotion offer if the car is inspected during regular maintenance. When a vehicle is serviced at a full service shop the tires are normally inspected, there should be no reason to inspect them again.
There are many who have their oil changed at drive through facilities that do not inspect for punctures and tire condition. I have had customers come in complaining of noise and the tires were worn to the steel belts, some vehicle owners cannot check their own tires.
These pictures are of the tires on a car that came in for an airbag recall yesterday, the tires are at least 6 months older the the OPs, manufactured in February 2012;
^
Yikes!
I am interested in knowing how the customer reacted when Nevada pointed out the unsafe condition of those tires. Hopefully the customer took him seriously and didn’t accuse him of “trying to make money on him”.
Oh, Lordy! That’s the worst case of dry rot I’ve ever seen with air in it!