I take back all the good stuff I've said about Les Schwabs!

[Grit_dog]

Sooo, in my 8 years up here in the PNW, generally had pretty good luck with Schwabs. Lots of fleet vehicles, so plenty of truck tires, brakes, patch a loader tire at 1am stuff.

Last night I drop off my company pickup AFTER calling earlier in the day to confirm they could do what I needed. Shocks, brake pads (maybe rotors but likely not), oil change, balance and rotate tires (Schwab Toyos).
Guy calls me this morning to go thru the work needed. Shocks/struts, 1 blown 1 leaking, check. Brakes, pads low on both axles, check.
Rotate and balance, check. We don't do oil changes! WTF? Guy yesterday said no problem....ok whatever.
How much? Shocks/struts, $900 something, ok good. Brakes? $2100!
Again WTF? Sir we only replace ALL components. Pads, caliper and we will see if it needs rotors...
Huh? It's a 3 year old truck, no need for calipers. Sorry that's our policy.....

Gd@mmit. Now I gotta make like 3 separate service appointments. 1 for the shocks 1 for the brakes and probably 1 for the oil change separate.
And to boot, drove my personal truck to work and clipped a limb that was sagging and cut off protruding into the shoulder, smashed my passenger side mirror at 6am in the fog.....

Les Schwabs can kiss my @ss.
Anyone know who else sipes tires in the Seattle area? That's the only need I'd have to go back there. Since they now won't mount non Schwab tires either.

[mich800]

Grit dog wrote:

wnjj wrote:
Discount Tire sipes down here. You could check with them there.

I'm calling them. Kid's car needs to go under the knife before winter.
The hi po tires on it will be like riding a greased cookie sheet if 3 snowflakes hit the road!

If they are true summer or 3 season performance tires you may be wasting your money on sipes. The compound probably will be working against you under 40 degrees.

[Cummins12V98]

Well I will have LS fix a flat on a tire I take to them. No way they are touching my vehicles. They don’t torque properly. That’s a fact!

I INSIST to pay for the repair. Manager got red faced pizzed with me when I would not accept the repair for free. I said I will never buy a tire or brakes so I feel it’s hypocritical to accept the service for free and not ever buy anything.

[ksg5000]

Cummins12V98 wrote:

ksg5000 wrote:
I had LS redo my RV brakes a couple of years ago - forget the price but it wasn't near that much. I suppose every rig is different.

LS is now trying to promote their own private label tires - and they are spendy. I told there rep that I could buy Michilins for less than he was quoting me and pointed out that anybody who knew squat about private label know that success is based on have same quality as well known brand but lower price. I suppose they will learn that the hard way.

On the bright side - LS tells you upfront what they charge b4 they do the work - and you always have the right to vote with your feet. I bought my latest tires at Discount Tire, use another outfit for front end alignments, but still use LS for brake fluid changes, tire rotations etc - there 1/4 miles from my house and convenient.

You going to have LS rotate the Discount tires?

Yep - no problem.

[WVcampground]

Not familiar with Les Schwab......any relation to Earl Sheib?

[Tom_Barb]

Near on 40 years dealing LS, no problems.

Oak Harbor dealership.

[PA12DRVR]

I was going to chime in that I always had outstanding service from Les Schwab when I lived in Spokane for 3 years....


...until my incipient mortality stared me in the face and I realized that "it wasn't that long ago" was actually more than 20 years ago (1995 - 1998). 😞

[Cummins12V98]

TOYO’s that came on the 98 RAM I bought were from LS MADE IN CHINA.

Previous pic. They forgot to install grease seal !

The idiots crushed the mounts holding the shocks by OVERTIGHTENING. Had to bring new shocks just to fit into mount. Thanks LS!!!

[Cummins12V98]

discovery4us wrote:
For me it is more the manager and technicians than the name of the store. I started using Les Schwab when they came to town about 5 years ago. I had been using Americas Tire for many years and had been happy with them until a new manager came aboard and service went down hill fast. The old manager moved to the Les Schwab store and myself and many of the Americas tire customers also moved to Les Schwab.

Like I said good “Service” bad parts/tires.

[Cummins12V98]

ksg5000 wrote:
I had LS redo my RV brakes a couple of years ago - forget the price but it wasn't near that much. I suppose every rig is different.

LS is now trying to promote their own private label tires - and they are spendy. I told there rep that I could buy Michilins for less than he was quoting me and pointed out that anybody who knew squat about private label know that success is based on have same quality as well known brand but lower price. I suppose they will learn that the hard way.

On the bright side - LS tells you upfront what they charge b4 they do the work - and you always have the right to vote with your feet. I bought my latest tires at Discount Tire, use another outfit for front end alignments, but still use LS for brake fluid changes, tire rotations etc - there 1/4 miles from my house and convenient.

You going to have LS rotate the Discount tires?

[NWnative]

I gave up on Les Schwab about 2 years ago after lots of issues with their Toyo tires. Discount Tire gets my business now - name brand tires at a good price. For other maintenance / mechanic needs, I do the work myself or head to the dealer.

[ksg5000]

carringb wrote:
Full brake assembly replacement has been their corporate policy for at least the last 20 years. Nothing new there, except that previously local managers had the authority to make exceptions. Most of that local control has gone away, due the "L" word mentioned above. They are upfront about that generally, and if you do need a full brake job, they tend to come in lower than other shops, and much lower than dealers, while having a better warranty. The warranty is 3 years / 25,000 miles. Most OEM brake jobs, and some large chains, only get a 1 year warranty. And some private shops only do a 90 day warranty. If they do one at all.

They've never done oil changes.

X2 - with the exception that their website says that a few LS will do oil changes (never found one in 25 yrs).

[discovery4us]

For me it is more the manager and technicians than the name of the store. I started using Les Schwab when they came to town about 5 years ago. I had been using Americas Tire for many years and had been happy with them until a new manager came aboard and service went down hill fast. The old manager moved to the Les Schwab store and myself and many of the Americas tire customers also moved to Les Schwab.

[toedtoes]

I went to LS once. Got two new tires on a truck. They "recommended" brake work (I'm female and I knew I didn't need brake work). Sold the truck the next day. Guy went to switch new tires to the front (old school) and the bolts broke. I went in to LS the next week with the broken bolts and repair bill. They accused me of lying and trying to rip them off. Insisted I bring the truck in for an inspection - um I don't own it anymore... It was a bill for about $12.

When I called corporate, the "customer service" executive answered my call with "yeah, I know all about you. I'm not doing anything for you."

In all my years, I have never been so badly treated right out the gate by any business.

For years I went to Winston tires and they would bend over backwards doing right for me. They never tried to upsell me, they stood behind their work, and they always treated me like they would any male customer.

Now I go to Americas Tire for tires and my independent mechanic shop for brakes, etc. Both have always been great and have never treated me like some sort of thief. And neither has ever tried to upsell me. I took my clipper in to Americas tire for a tire inspection and they happily installed cat eyes on the rear duallies for me at no extra charge (I had not bought the tires or the cat eyes from them).

Just the other day, I ordered new tires for the trailer. When I got home, I realized they ordered load C tires instead of load D. I went back in and five minutes later had the correct tires ordered with nothing but "oh, let's fix that".

[ksg5000]

I had LS redo my RV brakes a couple of years ago - forget the price but it wasn't near that much. I suppose every rig is different.

LS is now trying to promote their own private label tires - and they are spendy. I told there rep that I could buy Michilins for less than he was quoting me and pointed out that anybody who knew squat about private label know that success is based on have same quality as well known brand but lower price. I suppose they will learn that the hard way.

On the bright side - LS tells you upfront what they charge b4 they do the work - and you always have the right to vote with your feet. I bought my latest tires at Discount Tire, use another outfit for front end alignments, but still use LS for brake fluid changes, tire rotations etc - there 1/4 miles from my house and convenient.

[Ron3rd]

Like others, Discount Tire (known as America's Tire in California) is the only place I go for tires. Service has always been outstanding with no BS and total honesty up front. I like the fact too that all they sell is tires so there's no incentive to sell shocks, brakes, etc.

A lot of people don't know they'll beat any price too. Find your lowest price on line and they'll beat it. On my last purchase of trailer tires,
Walmart.com had the lowest price I could find by about $20 over everyone. America's Tire beat the price by $1