GotLime?
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Sep 14, 2009
- Location
- Mooresville, NC
We had 8 rigs and 10 guys going to Harlan last week. Half went up Wednesday and half went up Thursday. I got new tires prior to the trip.
So i bought 4 new Goodyear MTR/K tires and kept on of my old KM2s as a spare. These new tires had less than 100 miles son them before leaving for Harlan.
Brian, Goose, Jason and I drive up Wednesday. Brent (with his Dad riding co-dog), Daniel, and Mike (with Ben riding co-dog) are coming up Thursday. The Wednesday crew gets to the cabin and unloads everything. We decide to go the grocery store We all (5 guys) hop in my Jeep and head the 7 or 8 miles to Harlan. We get right to the middle of town and my right, rear tire blows. We're not going that fast. It took maybe 10 seconds to completely deflate. I pull over and the crew switches out the flat in just a few minutes.
The tire has a hole/slice/tear in the sidewall (ironically, right through where it says "KEVLAR") about 3" long. I'm still not sure what happended, but I'm going to talk to Goodyear about a warranty replacement instead of using my hazard replacement. Using the insurance costs me about $65 plus the mount and balance.
I had purchased the replacement coverage from Discount Tire. I call the store in Mooresville, NC and see if they can get me another tire. I didn't want to wheel the entire trip without a spare and with a mismatched tire on the rear. The BFG was worn and smaller to begin with even though it was a 37" tire.
Ronnie answers the phone (he remembered me from when I bought the tires). It's about 4:45 at this point. I explain the complicated story about how I'm on a wheeling trip in Harlan, Ky, lost a brand new tire and need to get a replacement to Harlan, KY ASAP. He gets it and says he will see if he can find a tire. He didn't have one in stock and no DT stores on the way from Lake Norman, NC to Harlan did either. He calls the Goodyear warehouse in Charlotte and they have one. He'll get his courier to pick it up and bring it to him......if she can get there by 5:30.
A few minutes later she calls Ronnie back, She is stuck in traffic and doesn't think she'll make it to the warehouse in time. If we don't get it tonight, the warehouse opens at 8:30 and the earliest Ronnie will get the tire is 9am. Our second convoy from Lake Norman to Harlan is scheduled to leave at 6am. We need to get that tire tonight.
Brian, Goose, Jason and I are standing in front of the Mexican restaurant in Harlan. We call everyone we know in the Charlotte area to see if anyone is in the area of the warehouse or can get there by 5:30. Between us we made I think 40 calls in just a few minutes. No joy. Things are looking bleak.
I'm going back and forth with Ronnie the whole time. He has his courier calling all the other couriers she knows while still trying to get to the Goodyear warehouse. Ronnie calls Goodyear, explains the situation and asks if they can stay a few minutes late. The lady at GY says she can. Only problem is everyone else is gone and she's not sure she can get the tire down off the rack by herself.
It's 5:45. Ronnie calls and tells me the courier is at GY, but all the doors are locked, no cars are in the parking lot and it doesn't appear anyone is there. He'll call me back.
While this is all going on, I'm also talking to Brent. He says he can get the tire and bring it to Harlan, if we can get it to Mooresville. If we can't get it to Mooresville Wednesday evening, he'll wait for it Thursday morning and bring it up. The rest of the Thursday convoy plans to leave at 6am. I feel selfish for asking this of him, but he's a good friend and a great guy and he's willing to leave later and drive up by himself so I can get my tire. Thanks Brent!! At the same time, Brent is trying to spend some time with his family and load up for the the trip. I'm a high-maintenance friend....
So i call Brent some time after 6 and tell him it's not looking good. He can stand down. It's going to be Thursday morning before the tire gets to Mooresville.
Ronnie calls a few minutes later. It's probably 6:15? He called GY, got the lady on the phone, got her and his courier together and the courier has the tire!! But she's stuck in traffic and it'll be an hour before she can get to Mooresville. Discount Tire closes at 6. Ronnie offers to wait for the tire, meet Brent and get the tire to him. Ronnie goes home, gets his wife and brings her back near the store and they have dinner while waiting. Brent heads to Mooresville, meets Ronnie and gets the tire from him.
Let's not forget that Ronnie just replaced a $400 tire on my word that my tire failed. He hadn't seen the flat one. I was 5 hours away from him.
So Brent brings the tire to Harlan on Thursday. No big deal to get a 37" tire mounted near one of the largest off road parks east of the Mississippi, right? WRONG.
No one can do it. I can't get the tire in the back of my Jeep so Brent is driving the tire around in his tow rig and I'm driving my Jeep. Phone service in that area (especially data service) is sketchy so it's not as easy as it would be in the big city. We're driving around, looking for tire places. We have to walk in and ask if they can mount it. As they say no, they direct us to somewhere else. The next place then says they can't do it. Rinse and repeat for a a few hours.
We're missing trail time, but luckily (??) it's cool and rainy. Brent and Brian have open rigs so Brent is not as disappointed to be on this fool's errand. We finally find a place an hour from Harlan, in Tennessee (!!!) that hesitantly agrees to try to mount and balance the tire.
It's an old, Mom and Pop BP station. The guy initially says he can't do it. He's afraid he'll damage my wheels. I tell him not to worry. They are all scratched up. I'm not concerned. I'll hit them with a sledgehammer if it makes him comfortable. He agrees to try. Bob (Brent's Dad) and I pull the Jeep in the bay, remove the damaged wheel/tire and the 3 of us mount the new tire. It took all 3 of us!! We now have the new tire mounted and balanced. We switch the spare back on to the carrier, remount the tire and we're on our way!!
PS. The GY MTR/Ks are directional. Brian has them on his Jeep. 2 of his are mounted backwards and I always give him shit about it. I've been doing it for years. So I'm in charge of getting mine mounted correctly, since I'm back there with the guy. I check and double check. We got it right. On the way home, Daniel is behind me on the interstate. He mentions my tire is on backwards and I think he's just messing with me and blow him off. I get to Brian's to help him unoad his rig and check my tire. IT'S ON BACKWARDS!!! And I have no one to blame but myself!!! That's what I get for messing with Brian.
I will never buy a tire anywhere except Discount Tire. If you live anywhere near Mooresville, NC go there and ask for Ronnie. Not only does DT offer the no questions replacement coverage, but their customer service is UNBELIEVABLE. Ronnie could have told me he couldn't help me at many points Wednesday evening. He never hesitated. I cannot say enough good things about Discount Tire, their Mooresville store and Ronnie. Props to Goodyear as well!! And thanks to Brent for getting the tire AND running it around KY and TN so I could get it mounted!!
__________________
So i bought 4 new Goodyear MTR/K tires and kept on of my old KM2s as a spare. These new tires had less than 100 miles son them before leaving for Harlan.
Brian, Goose, Jason and I drive up Wednesday. Brent (with his Dad riding co-dog), Daniel, and Mike (with Ben riding co-dog) are coming up Thursday. The Wednesday crew gets to the cabin and unloads everything. We decide to go the grocery store We all (5 guys) hop in my Jeep and head the 7 or 8 miles to Harlan. We get right to the middle of town and my right, rear tire blows. We're not going that fast. It took maybe 10 seconds to completely deflate. I pull over and the crew switches out the flat in just a few minutes.
The tire has a hole/slice/tear in the sidewall (ironically, right through where it says "KEVLAR") about 3" long. I'm still not sure what happended, but I'm going to talk to Goodyear about a warranty replacement instead of using my hazard replacement. Using the insurance costs me about $65 plus the mount and balance.
I had purchased the replacement coverage from Discount Tire. I call the store in Mooresville, NC and see if they can get me another tire. I didn't want to wheel the entire trip without a spare and with a mismatched tire on the rear. The BFG was worn and smaller to begin with even though it was a 37" tire.
Ronnie answers the phone (he remembered me from when I bought the tires). It's about 4:45 at this point. I explain the complicated story about how I'm on a wheeling trip in Harlan, Ky, lost a brand new tire and need to get a replacement to Harlan, KY ASAP. He gets it and says he will see if he can find a tire. He didn't have one in stock and no DT stores on the way from Lake Norman, NC to Harlan did either. He calls the Goodyear warehouse in Charlotte and they have one. He'll get his courier to pick it up and bring it to him......if she can get there by 5:30.
A few minutes later she calls Ronnie back, She is stuck in traffic and doesn't think she'll make it to the warehouse in time. If we don't get it tonight, the warehouse opens at 8:30 and the earliest Ronnie will get the tire is 9am. Our second convoy from Lake Norman to Harlan is scheduled to leave at 6am. We need to get that tire tonight.
Brian, Goose, Jason and I are standing in front of the Mexican restaurant in Harlan. We call everyone we know in the Charlotte area to see if anyone is in the area of the warehouse or can get there by 5:30. Between us we made I think 40 calls in just a few minutes. No joy. Things are looking bleak.
I'm going back and forth with Ronnie the whole time. He has his courier calling all the other couriers she knows while still trying to get to the Goodyear warehouse. Ronnie calls Goodyear, explains the situation and asks if they can stay a few minutes late. The lady at GY says she can. Only problem is everyone else is gone and she's not sure she can get the tire down off the rack by herself.
It's 5:45. Ronnie calls and tells me the courier is at GY, but all the doors are locked, no cars are in the parking lot and it doesn't appear anyone is there. He'll call me back.
While this is all going on, I'm also talking to Brent. He says he can get the tire and bring it to Harlan, if we can get it to Mooresville. If we can't get it to Mooresville Wednesday evening, he'll wait for it Thursday morning and bring it up. The rest of the Thursday convoy plans to leave at 6am. I feel selfish for asking this of him, but he's a good friend and a great guy and he's willing to leave later and drive up by himself so I can get my tire. Thanks Brent!! At the same time, Brent is trying to spend some time with his family and load up for the the trip. I'm a high-maintenance friend....
So i call Brent some time after 6 and tell him it's not looking good. He can stand down. It's going to be Thursday morning before the tire gets to Mooresville.
Ronnie calls a few minutes later. It's probably 6:15? He called GY, got the lady on the phone, got her and his courier together and the courier has the tire!! But she's stuck in traffic and it'll be an hour before she can get to Mooresville. Discount Tire closes at 6. Ronnie offers to wait for the tire, meet Brent and get the tire to him. Ronnie goes home, gets his wife and brings her back near the store and they have dinner while waiting. Brent heads to Mooresville, meets Ronnie and gets the tire from him.
Let's not forget that Ronnie just replaced a $400 tire on my word that my tire failed. He hadn't seen the flat one. I was 5 hours away from him.
So Brent brings the tire to Harlan on Thursday. No big deal to get a 37" tire mounted near one of the largest off road parks east of the Mississippi, right? WRONG.
No one can do it. I can't get the tire in the back of my Jeep so Brent is driving the tire around in his tow rig and I'm driving my Jeep. Phone service in that area (especially data service) is sketchy so it's not as easy as it would be in the big city. We're driving around, looking for tire places. We have to walk in and ask if they can mount it. As they say no, they direct us to somewhere else. The next place then says they can't do it. Rinse and repeat for a a few hours.
We're missing trail time, but luckily (??) it's cool and rainy. Brent and Brian have open rigs so Brent is not as disappointed to be on this fool's errand. We finally find a place an hour from Harlan, in Tennessee (!!!) that hesitantly agrees to try to mount and balance the tire.
It's an old, Mom and Pop BP station. The guy initially says he can't do it. He's afraid he'll damage my wheels. I tell him not to worry. They are all scratched up. I'm not concerned. I'll hit them with a sledgehammer if it makes him comfortable. He agrees to try. Bob (Brent's Dad) and I pull the Jeep in the bay, remove the damaged wheel/tire and the 3 of us mount the new tire. It took all 3 of us!! We now have the new tire mounted and balanced. We switch the spare back on to the carrier, remount the tire and we're on our way!!
PS. The GY MTR/Ks are directional. Brian has them on his Jeep. 2 of his are mounted backwards and I always give him shit about it. I've been doing it for years. So I'm in charge of getting mine mounted correctly, since I'm back there with the guy. I check and double check. We got it right. On the way home, Daniel is behind me on the interstate. He mentions my tire is on backwards and I think he's just messing with me and blow him off. I get to Brian's to help him unoad his rig and check my tire. IT'S ON BACKWARDS!!! And I have no one to blame but myself!!! That's what I get for messing with Brian.
I will never buy a tire anywhere except Discount Tire. If you live anywhere near Mooresville, NC go there and ask for Ronnie. Not only does DT offer the no questions replacement coverage, but their customer service is UNBELIEVABLE. Ronnie could have told me he couldn't help me at many points Wednesday evening. He never hesitated. I cannot say enough good things about Discount Tire, their Mooresville store and Ronnie. Props to Goodyear as well!! And thanks to Brent for getting the tire AND running it around KY and TN so I could get it mounted!!
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I've had great customer service from my local DT stores also. Seems like they all provide exceptional customer service. 
