New tires from Discount Tire.... messed up

bpounds...Thank you for your reply. This is very confusing for those of us that are not mechanics but will eventually have to change a tire, or make sure the shop or tow truck driver is doing it correctly. Picture for everyone would be great!

lots2seeinmyrv wrote:
Does anyone have a picture they can post of a trailer frame indicating where you are supposed to jack up the trailer?

We are shopping for tires and I want to make sure they jack it up correctly.

Thank you,
Beth

Beth, that subject usually turns into an argument around here. Hard to believe, I know, but...

I think I have a photo at home of where I lift. Will look later.

Meanwhile, the reason for the argument is that the owners manuals usually say to lift under the trailer frame, and warn against lifting from the axles. In my opinion, those who will argue that you have to do that, are those who blindly follow owners manuals and have little real world experience. How's that for getting an argument off to a good start? :) By the way, lifting under the frame is a good way to pinch brake wires, because the wires are often installed between the corroplast undercover and the frame. Put your jack there and you crush the wires. But the main reason to not do that is that it takes too much jack travel to unload the springs before the wheel can begin to lift.

Lifting under the axle is the correct way to do it, BUT it is important that the jack be as far outboard as possible. Under the axle directly below the spring U-bolts is ideal. You can't kink the axle tubing or bend the axle at that point. Lift too far inward and those things can happen. All of that is true of a solid axle under your car or truck too.

Tire shops know how to do it. Some folks here worry too much. Sure it never hurts to keep an eye on what they are doing, but refusing to let any tire shop install tires is a little over the top. They can just as easily damage your car or truck by lifting wrong, so at some point you have to think they know what they are doing.

Does anyone have a picture they can post of a trailer frame indicating where you are supposed to jack up the trailer?

We are shopping for tires and I want to make sure they jack it up correctly.

Thank you,
Beth

My two experiences with Discount Tire have been positive. One time in Vegas I was not pleased with one of their office guys and later told the guy that I ordered my tires from of my experience. I did not ask for any type of compensation but he gave me a Military discount for my troubles. The next day I dealt with the "good" salesman and all went well.

Point is I voiced my displeasure about an employee and the guy listened and I am a happy customer.

In my opinion, if they lifted under the axles at the U-bolts, that is the correct location. Not sure what you mean by lifting at the springs. Sounds like the same thing.

There are at least a couple of different companies using the Discount Tire name. Only one is the same as America's Tire.

This one,
http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/home.do

And this one,
http://www.americastire.com/dtcs/home.do

Obviously the same company.

This one,
http://discounttirecenters.com/
is NOT the same company.

I've had nothing but good experiences at Americas Tire. Until a few months ago I had a Discount Tire Center a few blocks away. Not so good experience there, and the store has been taken over by the new Pep Boys stores that are a shop only.

No matter where you go, pinched brake wires can easily happen. At this point you don't even know if they did it. Give them a chance to make it right.

Before dissing any tire store I would first check for myself if the tire store did indeed cut a wire with the jack or in some way cause the brakes not to work.

It would be interesting how the tire changer managed to cut a wire when the jack is at the bottom of the axle tube and the wires come in the top of the axle tube and the wires are properly tied up so road debris doesn't snag them.

I also use Americas tires and never had any problems. I took my wheels in seperately and had them installed so I did not run into that problem. We also need to blame the trailer manufactures for the terrible way break wires are ran.

obgraham wrote:
I've always had good professional service from Discount Tires. But lets be realistic. Tire mounting is not a task done by upper management at any tire store.

Thank goodness for that. Upper management couldn't find the lugs

People are human we make mistakes. Instead of beating people down go back and see how they handle this issue. We all make mistakes it's how we react to the problem is how we should be judged. I own and operate a Pennzoil Quick Lube and yes mistakes happen u just have stand up fix the problem and usually you will create a customer who trust you even more.

Last set of trailer tires I bought, the tech (Good Guys ...by the way) asked me how I would like the trailer jacked. I said, "Not at all." And then went out...took out 4 6X6's and put them under the jacks. Hit the leveling button and lifted all 4 tires off the ground at once. Apparently they had never seen that done before and were impressed.

When installing the rims back on the trailer, the "lugged them up" loosely. Then I let the trailer back down on the ground, and I hand torqued them. They watched me. They said they had to torque them. But we settled on the decision to let me do it if they could watch and then check the torque with their hand wrench. Now that is the kind of understanding I appreciate from a good shop. They worked with me. And I worked with them. And I tipped them well, afterwards.