Costco tyres

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Diver300

Well-Known Member
Most Helpful Member
Following on from this:-https://www.electro-tech-online.com...ors-in-series-with-unconnected-shafts.163038/ which is talked about transmission wind-up on 4WD or AWD vehicles.

Costco are refusing to fit new tyres to just one end of my car, where the other end is more than 4mm different in tread depth as they have a blanket ban on doing so on anything that drives all four wheels.

My car is electric with a motor at each end but apparently having the wheels spin at slightly different speeds at each end will cause the non-existent transmission between the front and rear of the car to wind-up or something.

Or maybe Costco sense a revenue opportunity.
 
I think companies that are very efficient with blanket rules and staff that are specifically trained to follow blanket rules are fantastic because they are a very low priced solution to fit the needs of 80 or 90% of what people need at a great price. That way, Costco doesn't have to pay for widely experienced people or weird exceptions trying to decide if a car is gas, electric, hybrid (and what kind of hybrid and which models and years have which type of hybrid drive).

People who create difficult situations for themselves by not rotating their tires on a timely basis is not Costco's problem.

It's interesting how people who can afford non-standard service the most, tend to complain loudest about not getting special service at a place that only offers a standard service.

Don't be cheap - go to a specialty shop or buy 4 tires.

Note, Costco gives you free rotation, inflation and balance for life of tires. Dont complain if they refuse to rotate your tires if you didn't buy all of them at Costco. Don't complain if you have specialty rims or custom-painted rims - they will refuse to mount tires on them for fear of scratching them then suffering your complaints, lawsuit attempts and bad reviews.

Don't skip the rotation period - period.
 
It may be because there are more front wheel drive cars in the UK, Costco's rotation advice is to put the part-worn rear tyres on the front, and the new tyres on the back when the front ones are worn out.

I agree with that, and it's what I will be doing. The front tyres of my car have worn out first.

It's certainly not common for cars here it the UK to have the tyres rotated except when some new ones are needed.
 
Diver300 said:
Costco are refusing to fit new tyres to just one end of my car, where the other end is more than 4mm different in tread depth as they have a blanket ban on doing so on anything that drives all four wheels.
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Just tell them that you want the two decent part-worn ones back - they are your property!

When you need a new pair at one end, get those swapped back on at a sensible tyre place.

(When I've had a unrepairable sidewall puncture in the past I've changed bot sides and kept the good one as a spare, for the next time one tyre is needed. I don't see why you can't do the same with a front or back pair).
 
rjenkinsgb said:
Just tell them that you want the two decent part-worn ones back - they are your property!

When you need a new pair at one end, get those swapped back on at a sensible tyre place.
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One option I have is to just collect the new tyres and get them fitted somewhere else, but I'll have to pay for fitting, which I would also have to if I had some part-used tyres fitted at a later date.

I'm also going to ask if Costco will fit the tyres to the wheels if I turn up in alternative transport with just the wheels.
 
I use costco... Most of the gear is top quality, but here in Blighty you need a trade account to enter..

They sell EVERYTHING...
 
Ian Rogers said:
I use costco... Most of the gear is top quality, but here in Blighty you need a trade account to enter..

They sell EVERYTHING...
Click to expand...

Funny you should mention that, I've got a CostCo card (from work), but I've never been - we got cards because we were having a works party, and wanted trade prices for food, paper plates etc.
 
We buy Aberdeen Angus burgers from kirkland mega cheap and piggin delicious.

The food is out of this world.... Toys, Spirts and lagers, you name it
 
Diver300 said:
It's certainly not common for cars here it the UK to have the tyres rotated except when some new ones are needed.
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I'm not sure it's "not common" in the UK since all tire companies recommend it. Maybe you've just managed to never learn to have it done.

Rotating Your Tyres - What Are The Benefits? | Dunlop Tyres

Read advice from Dunlop on the importance of rotating your tyres to maintain balanced handling and traction, and who can perform the task for you.
www.dunlop.eu
 
Are you sure about this?
Ian Rogers said:
... Most of the gear is top quality,
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And this?
Ian Rogers said:
We buy Aberdeen Angus burgers from kirkland mega cheap and piggin delicious.

The food is out of this world.... Toys, Spirts and lagers, you name it
Click to expand...
Because Nigel claims...
Since
Nigel Goodwin said:
I don't live in the USA, but CostCo sounds like a crap cheap company, go to a decent one.
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Even though he has no experience or never bothered to check...
Nigel Goodwin said:
Funny you should mention that, I've got a CostCo card (from work), but I've never been - we got cards because we were having a works party, and wanted trade prices for food, paper plates etc.
Click to expand...
 
CostCo is primarily a bulk warehouse... It sells branded and non branded gear..

The stuff I buy is good quality. The price is pretty decent, the clothes are always top brands.
When Nigel first responded, I don't think it clicked that it was the same one as here in UK..

From the off CostCo does sound like a poundland shop or a 5 and dime store..

But Hey ho... That's why pencils have rubbers on them..
 
ZipZapOuch said:
Are you sure about this?

And this?

Because Nigel claims...
Since
Even though he has no experience or never bothered to check...
Click to expand...

And yet I was completely correct

The name, and the description of their practices, pretty well says it all.

As for the UK, CostCo is a 'cash and carry', the sort of place that market traders or cafe owners buy much of their stock - but I wouldn't get excited like Ian does about it, the better local cafes for example tend to source higher quality meat from local sources. But if you're planning a big party, it's a good way to save some money - and apparently the burgers are good
 
I might do that in future.

I'm in the situation where I can rotate the tyres without too much effort.
(https://www.electro-tech-online.com...e-phase-motor-from-single-phase-mains.161572/)
but on a car with no spare tyre, and no jack, rotating the tyres would need a visit to the garage. My car has done nearly 40,000 miles from new on the one set of tyres, so rotating every 4000 as Dunlop suggest means 10 extra trips to the garage per new set of tyres.

I've been happy to have the front tyres wear down faster, then put the old rear tyres on the front, and new ones on the back when the tyres have been changed.
 

What about tyre pressure sensors?, if you just rotate the wheels the sensors will be wrong, unless you reprogram the system?.
 
Nigel Goodwin said:
What about tyre pressure sensors?, if you just rotate the wheels the sensors will be wrong, unless you reprogram the system?.
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I think that my car works out which sensor is where once the car has been driven for a short distance. I don't know what a "short distance" is but I guess it would be faster if the tyres have uneven tread depths, but cornering will make all the wheels turn at different rates.

I know my car doesn't have a spare but other similar cars have spares and it would be a bit pointless to have a spare that would need recalibration or something once changed.
 

I've no idea?, be interesting to hear if someone actually knows?.

Diver300 said:
I know my car doesn't have a spare but other similar cars have spares and it would be a bit pointless to have a spare that would need recalibration or something once changed.
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Mine doesn't have a spare either, but perhaps a spare doesn't have a sensor?, after all they are usually just space saver wheels. When I bought my new car I considered ordering a spare wheel, jack etc. but in the end I didn't bother.
 
There are some cars with full-size spares, which I assume have the normal tyre pressure sensors, and a spare can be fitted and driven on as normal.

When I change the wheels I will probably find out if the car does work out which tyre pressure sensor is at which corner. I'll probably not have chance to check if the car has worked out which is which until I've driven 5 or 10 miles, so it may be that I won't find out accurately what a "short distance" is.

If it's going to work, it'll be within a mile or two to be acceptable to the driver. It takes about that far for the ABS-based low tyre warning to work.

I think that the tyre pressure sensors can detect rotation, as they use that to know when to wake up, so that they don't use too much battery when the car is stopped. As the car definitely knows how fast each wheel is going round, it may only take a very short time to work out which is which. Any significant parking manoeuvre will end up with each of the four wheels doing different things by a tenth of a turn (about 30 cm) or more, and the acceleration due to gravity will change by 2 g every turn of the wheels, so top and bottom can probably be determined to an accuracy of a few cm.

(I've just realised that the rolling radius is almost completely irrelevant to the car working out which sensor is where. If all the wheels were very even, and the car were travelling in a straight line, it might struggle, but the differences between the distances the wheels travel during a parking manoeuvre are huge compared to rolling radius differences)
 
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