Tires Plus

My college aged daughter heard a clunk while she was home driving over winter break. She stopped at tires plus (the nearest «mechanic») worried about damaging her car further.
She was offered a free brake inspection, during which the rear right bearing was discovered to be bad. She was told they could fix it for her and they wouldn’t charge labor.
When my daughter told me the price, I thought it seemed high for the exterior of a drum brake with no labor, so called Advance Auto Parts on the way there… $ 46 complete (exterior, bearing, seal).
When I arrived, I looked at the part (Had a damaged seal. The bearings themselves were out by the lift, so couldn’t see state before removed). When I asked about the part cost, the guy said, «That’s how much they are, let me show you.» He showed me the screen that showed the part at $ 103 from ADVANCE AUTO!!!
When I told him I, a regular consumer, could get the part for $ 46 from Advance and knew that what he was showing me was not their cost, but marked up price and asked for some justification of the difference, the answer I ultimately got was «we have to keep the lights on and pay the tech». Wait a minute… if the tech isn’t being paid for labor, what are they being paid for?
I did get asked «So, do you not want us to do it?» I’m already not trusting these guys… there’s no way I’m having them reassemble the part and driving on it. Had I thought they could put it back together so it was safe, I absolutely would have driven it away.
So… long story short, maybe the car needed the whole assembly we got. Maybe it just needed a $ 10 seal. I have no way to know that for sure.
I do, however, know a couple of things with certainty.
First, we paid $ 103 for a $ 46 part and that the guy behind the counter would have been perfectly content to let me believe that was their real cost for the part.
Second, I know without question is that their sales practices are dishonest. They are designed to provide a sense of fairness and comfort to unsuspecting consumers, making them think they are getting taken care of, when in fact, they are getting the shaft.
This seems to be a pretty clear example of an unethical business that preys on people who don’t understand what’s going on with their cars.
And to be clear, I don’t care about the $ 60. I get that these businesses have some mark-​up associated with getting parts… ordering, pick up (if they aren’t delivered), etc. and I get that they have to be profitable to stay afloat.
I care very much that they aren’t honest. I won’t be back.

A few weeks ago, I was preparing to take a trip to the west coast and I noticed my tires were pretty worn and the last thing I wanted was to wind up with a flat on a long trip. I was on my way through Shawnee before departing on my trip, and my dad has gone to this location to service his car for a long time, so I called them first.
A man named Nate answered the phone and I explained my situation to him. In my mind, if I heard a customer say, «I’m going on a long trip…» my first instinct would be to offer them the services they need at a reasonable cost — they obviously have enough expenses to worry about, right? Instead, when I told Nate I was going on a long trip, it must have signaled dollar signs to him — why not try to gouge someone who wants to make sure their car doesn’t break down on their road trip?
Of course the first tires Nate quoted me were also the most expensive. He talked about the «fuel saver» quality of the tires, even though I told him I drive a Prius. In the end, I wound up going with those tires because I’ve always gone for cheap tires and I wanted some that should last longer. So, job well done Nate, you up-​sold a customer who wasn’t even planning on getting new tires when he woke up that day. That was $ 464 that literally fell into the lap of Tires Plus. But that wasn’t enough. Nate and Tires Plus got greedy.
A few hours later, I get a call from Nate. He gives the good news that the new tires have been installed and are good to go. But of course there HAD to be bad news. He started with the small stuff, recommend changing the air filters, yada yada yada, then he drops the hammer — my rear struts are «blown.» But his guys can replace them for like $ 600 (and he can throw in a $ 50 discount!).
Fortunately, my gut (and my bank account) told me to get a second opinion. When I got to the West Coast, I looked up a highly-​regarded mechanic and stopped in to see what he thought of my struts. He looked over my car, drove it around, came back and handed me the keys. Said there was nothing he could see or feel when driving it to make him think there was anything wrong with my struts.
So there you have it. If you have something on your car that you KNOW needs to be done, Tires Plus can probably do it, and might even throw in a discount. But don’t believe a word Nate or anyone there says when they recommend additional maintenance on your car. Nate took a gamble that I would take him at his word and drop another $ 600 and NEVER know I’d been taken advantage of. Well, I’m hoping by posting this Nate’s gamble backfires to some degree. If anyone reads this review and decides to take their business elsewhere, then mission accomplished. It never ceases to amaze me how these repair shops throw away the chance at gaining a life-​long customer by trying to screw them over right from the get-​go.

Two more great experiences here: oil change, then another repair. Pretty soon, I might own their building. At least I know I can trust them to do a good job trying to keep my car on the road!

I’ve used these guys a few times. Good prices on tires, good customer service. Even took me out to the shop to show me why my car was vibrating before doing any costly repairs. Seeing is believing! Shows they aren’t just pulling your leg to get a sale. I recommend these guys to everyone!

Went in for 2 new tires. Ended up getting an alignment and new brake pads and rotors. Which was fine. With an appointment, it took almost 4 hours. Which was also fine, but one of the tires blew out the next day while driving around town, nothing crazy.
They did honor the warranty and we had an appointment, so my husband got an alignment and 4 new tires 4 days later. It took 3 and a half hours.
They quoted him an hour and a half.
We will not be going back.

3 stars falls to 1 now. A progressive decrease in review ratings in not what I had hoped for when I started doing business with this Tires Plus location. I came back to get an oil change and tire rotation. It took almost an hour for an oil change. They didn’t do the tire rotation, so at check out time I had to ask them to bring it back in and rotate the tires. A pain in the ass and a time eater, but nothing to get too worked up about.
So what’s my beef? I hate it when people are full of crap. All 4 of my tires are wearing evenly and have 60% tread left on them? That’s AMAZING! I just replaced both tires on the left side of my car due to vandalism. In retrospect I should have brought the receipts in and called them out.
I’m mostly disappointed that a simple service took over and hour. 3 guys stood around my car and were chewing the fat while they were completely Christmas treeing the inspection form. I’m certain that my fluids never got checked nor did they check the headlights or blinkers. I sat at a table where I could see my car through a glass door the entire time they were working on my car.
I guess I am somewhat to blame here. It’s hard for me to pass up a good deal. A synthetic blend oil change and tire rotation for $ 28 total is hard to pass up. I for one live hard by the motto of «if it seems to good to be true, it probably is». The value is only good if they do the specified work and operate with honesty and integrity.
At this point I give up. Screw Tires Plus and their bullshit artists. I’d rather pay the dealer to do reputable work. The extra money is worth the peace of mind. These are the kind of clowns that will forget to put the oil cap back on your car or won’t seal the filter properly, because they are too busy socializing with each other and fudging the inspection sheet.
Good bye for good, Tires Plus. TRUST IS EVERYTHING WHEN IT COMES TO THE SAFETY AND OPERATION OF A VEHICLE. The worst part is that the young man, Nate, who I had complete confidence in and is the main reason I came back to Tires Plus to do business was there that day and was part of this hogwash.

Knowledgeable and honest service. They replaced my brakes for a fair price and did it as quickly as you could ask for. No complaints here!

If it was possible to give them 0 stars, that’s what I would’ve gone with. I had a blow-​out on my way home from work and was visibly upset when I walked in there. I only had the donut on my car and needed a new tire stat. They guy at the front desk was very rude and basically told me to go elsewhere because they were closing soon. I understand if you have clients backed up, but this was an emergency and I KNOW how long it takes to put on a new tire. If I’d had a better jack, I would’ve just bought one and put it on myself in the parking lot in 10 minutes. But they refused to help out a customer in need. Drive a few miles down the road to Firestone, it’s worth the customer service.