Ridiculous price quotes at dealerships

[nlambert182]

When I bought my 2012 2500, the dealer had installed a leveling kit and 35" mud tires. After about 10k miles they had quite the bounce to them, so I took it to a very well trusted/respected local mom and pop shop to have them rotated and balanced. Got it back worse than when it came in. Their response when I went back was that no one can balance a 35" mud tire. They refused a refund and said that they knew up front that they couldn't balance them. Instead they wanted to sell me a new set of tires. These tires had less than 10k miles on them.

That lead to my first experience with Discount Tire. They took it in, slapped the wheels on their hunter balancer and they came off smooth as silk.

 

[Riccochet]

Small size changes or tire size increases are not going to do much. Lift to fit bigger tires yes. But going to 20 inch rims no. What's the largest tire you can fit on a Ram 1500? 31s?

Changes in tire size will have an effect on your transmission. Everything is computer controlled. Going to a larger tire means the tire is rotating less at a given speed. The computers don't know that you put on larger tires. So they're expecting X amount of tire rotations at Y speed. I can, and will, mess with the shifting, your speedo will be off, torque management will be off.

Get a programmer to set tire size or have the dealer do it.

 

[Scottly]

When I bought my 2012 2500, the dealer had installed a leveling kit and 35" mud tires. After about 10k miles they had quite the bounce to them, so I took it to a very well trusted/respected local mom and pop shop to have them rotated and balanced. Got it back worse than when it came in. Their response when I went back was that no one can balance a 35" mud tire. They refused a refund and said that they knew up front that they couldn't balance them. Instead they wanted to sell me a new set of tires. These tires had less than 10k miles on them.

That lead to my first experience with Discount Tire. They took it in, slapped the wheels on their hunter balancer and they came off smooth as silk.

The first time I slapped a set of 35" Nitto Ridge Grapplers on a truck, one of them took no weights. Smooth as glass...Sold me on their tires. No more Good-for-a-Year for me. Bye bye to the old notion that big tires can't ride smooth.

 

[suicideking]

When I bought my 2012 2500, the dealer had installed a leveling kit and 35" mud tires. After about 10k miles they had quite the bounce to them, so I took it to a very well trusted/respected local mom and pop shop to have them rotated and balanced. Got it back worse than when it came in. Their response when I went back was that no one can balance a 35" mud tire. They refused a refund and said that they knew up front that they couldn't balance them. Instead they wanted to sell me a new set of tires. These tires had less than 10k miles on them.

That lead to my first experience with Discount Tire. They took it in, slapped the wheels on their hunter balancer and they came off smooth as silk.

Similar with my Goodyear 37" MTR on my Jeep. Had to go to 3 places to have them balanced when I moved them to beadlock wheels. The first two looked at them and refused. The third place did it, but they still handled poorly on pavement. Great offroad tires though. After having issues with death wobble and just wandering all over, I ended up replacing them with Nitto Trail Grappler MT which have been great tires on and off road. I won't buy the Goodyear MTR again.

Haven't heard great things regarding wear of the Duratrac AT either. I've thought about getting Rebel take off wheels for the Ram. The tires would be a bonus if they're fairly new. Though I figure if they're close to 25K miles, probably trash. I wouldn't buy them new. Probably go for Cooper or Falken or a few others. Just not GY.

 

[skates15]

Remember when Sears would fix your car? Pepperidge Farm remembers.

 

[mikeru]

I remember the Sears service centers. The Sears I worked at as a cashier in the early 80's had one. Didn't seem weird at the time.

 

[suicideking]

Remember when Sears would fix your car? Pepperidge Farm remembers.

I spent quite a few black Fridays at Sears getting tires. Get bored waiting and go buy tools. Two great ways to p#$s off my wife.

 

[Sherman Bird]

I remember the Sears service centers. The Sears I worked at as a cashier in the early 80's had one. Didn't seem weird at the time.

I remember delivering auto parts to Sears AND J.C. Penny auto service centers when I worked for an auto parts store in high school!

 

[LouM]

I miss my old JC Penny lifetime batteries. The old Chevy truck that was parked most of the time had several batteries registered to it at the same time.

 

[Hanover Fiste]

My in-law's neighbor bragged that an oil change and fluid check for their Mercedes was only $500! I told my father-in-law to tell them I'd do it for $300!

 

[nlambert182]

My wife's best friend had an Audi Q7. She stopped on the way home from the beach to get an oil change. It was $400!

When she went in to get new brake pads all around, it was $1,700. Fools and their money.


Thankfully she finally wised up and moved back to a GM car. She was amazed when her oil change was only $100 at the dealership.

 

[Scottly]

Remember when Sears would fix your car? Pepperidge Farm remembers.

I worked at Montgomery Ward Auto for 13 years. We had some fun with this one: https://www.washingtonpost.com/arch...r-fraud/fb106db9-728d-422a-8c58-76bac81a9a5d/

 

[runamuck]

they have made everything cost more nowadays. gone are the days when you could run down to chief autoparts and get a new alternator or starter motor for 29.95$ and be back on the road in no time.

 

[Sherman Bird]

My wife's best friend had an Audi Q7. She stopped on the way home from the beach to get an oil change. It was $400!

When she went in to get new brake pads all around, it was $1,700. Fools and their money.


Thankfully she finally wised up and moved back to a GM car. She was amazed when her oil change was only $100 at the dealership.

"Wised up"? A luxury/high performance/exotic car comes with high as hell maintenance costs! $1700.00 for a four wheel brake job on one of those is par for the course. The VW/AUDI spec oil is WAY different than the Dexos1 3rd Generation oil for her GM car.
In short, comparing apples to oranges.
Fools and their money.... meh, I think they might like to show off their high credit rating! LOL!

 

[nlambert182]

"Wised up"? A luxury/high performance/exotic car comes with high as hell maintenance costs! $1700.00 for a four wheel brake job on one of those is par for the course. The VW/AUDI spec oil is WAY different than the Dexos1 3rd Generation oil for her GM car.
In short, comparing apples to oranges.
Fools and their money.... meh, I think they might like to show off their high credit rating! LOL!

I had an Audi A4 for a while. That car stayed on jack stands way more often that on it's tires. There was a time in my life that I enjoyed wrenching on cars so it kept me busy. The wife, on the other hand, hated how much money it took to keep that car on the road versus all our other vehicles and made me sell it.

I've learned that "luxury car" is really a name and a status symbol. Our Armada Platinum has way more luxury features than a lot of SUVs (including it's Infiniti QX80 counterpart), cost a lot less, and maintenance is at least on par with most other non-luxury vehicles (aside from requiring 93 octane gas).

Hence my comment on a fool and their money. We get the same thing for a fraction of the cost AND get reliability.

 

[Riccochet]

they have made everything cost more nowadays. gone are the days when you could run down to chief autoparts and get a new alternator or starter motor for 29.95$ and be back on the road in no time.

yeah, we don't live in 1982 anymore.

 

[Tank Guy]

they have made everything cost more nowadays. gone are the days when you could run down to chief autoparts and get a new alternator or starter motor for 29.95$ and be back on the road in no time.

When I picked up the new alternator for my 1975 Plymouth Duster it was well under a hundred dollars as was the water pump. That Duster has become the least expensive car to maintain that I have.

 

[suicideking]

I had an Audi A4 for a while. That car stayed on jack stands way more often that on it's tires. There was a time in my life that I enjoyed wrenching on cars so it kept me busy. The wife, on the other hand, hated how much money it took to keep that car on the road versus all our other vehicles and made me sell it.

I've learned that "luxury car" is really a name and a status symbol. Our Armada Platinum has way more luxury features than a lot of SUVs (including it's Infiniti QX80 counterpart), cost a lot less, and maintenance is at least on par with most other non-luxury vehicles (aside from requiring 93 octane gas).

Hence my comment on a fool and their money. We get the same thing for a fraction of the cost AND get reliability.

I used to have a 2000 BMW 3 series. Once the miles got closer to 100K, I learned that I may never want a foreign car again. Everything seemed to be twice the price.

The first time the battery died, I went to Pep boys. They informed me they don't carry the battery because it's proprietary and you have to get it at the dealer. So had to get a second jump start that day so I could go pickup a way overpriced battery. Then when the trans started slipping and that would cost double as well, it was time to get rid of that car.

 

[nlambert182]

I used to have a 2000 BMW 3 series. Once the miles got closer to 100K, I learned that I may never want a foreign car again. Everything seemed to be twice the price.

The first time the battery died, I went to Pep boys. They informed me they don't carry the battery because it's proprietary and you have to get it at the dealer. So had to get a second jump start that day so I could go pickup a way overpriced battery. Then when the trans started slipping and that would cost double as well, it was time to get rid of that car.

Don't even get me going on the Audi.....

Interior flooded twice. Found out the geniuses put the battery under the wiper cowl, where the drain holes would clog if you parked under a tree and fill the floorboard with water.

Had an oil leak. Dipstick tube plastic was so brittle that it snapped off. Replaced it with an OEM and 6 months later, did it again.

Always idled rough... only fix was to completely delete the vacuum system (minus brake booster). All of the vacuum fittings were that same cheap plastic and would get brittle and crack.

Had a coolant leak. The coolant bypass valve behind the engine was... you guessed it... made of that cheap brittle plastic and had a hairline crack in it. Learned how to be a sailor that day.

Sunroof opened going over a bump into a car wash. The contactors had gotten weak in the switch and made contact when I hit the bump. Had to replace the entire assembly and change my clothes.

Radio buttons all wore off. Thought it was just a GM thing, but apparently the "soft touch" button labels were really just cheap crayon.

I probably replaced every sensor under the hood at least twice with OEM ones.
I replaced every window regulator but the driverside twice. I only replaced that one once.

ALL of this was prior to 90k miles.....

If it was made of plastic, it broke. Beautiful car. Flaming pile o junk otherwise.

 

[Atcer2018]

Don't even get me going on the Audi.....

Interior flooded twice. Found out the geniuses put the battery under the wiper cowl, where the drain holes would clog if you parked under a tree and fill the floorboard with water.

Had an oil leak. Dipstick tube plastic was so brittle that it snapped off. Replaced it with an OEM and 6 months later, did it again.

Always idled rough... only fix was to completely delete the vacuum system (minus brake booster). All of the vacuum fittings were that same cheap plastic and would get brittle and crack.

Had a coolant leak. The coolant bypass valve behind the engine was... you guessed it... made of that cheap brittle plastic and had a hairline crack in it. Learned how to be a sailor that day.

Sunroof opened going over a bump into a car wash. The contactors had gotten weak in the switch and made contact when I hit the bump. Had to replace the entire assembly and change my clothes.

Radio buttons all wore off. Thought it was just a GM thing, but apparently the "soft touch" button labels were really just cheap crayon.

I probably replaced every sensor under the hood at least twice with OEM ones.
I replaced every window regulator but the driverside twice. I only replaced that one once.

ALL of this was prior to 90k miles.....

If it was made of plastic, it broke. Beautiful car. Flaming pile o junk otherwise.

Haha “radio buttons wore off” is too funny! Been there and had that happen with a few vehicles from a decade ago. Fortunately my daughters Civic with 260k+ miles runs like a top even if you can’t read any button inside the car.