Les Schwab Tire Center review: Tires 5

Here are my Les Schwab stories:
1. Several years ago, my wife was hearing a scraping noise coming from the brake area. I suggested she take it to Les Schwab and have them check it out. They looked at it, removed a piece of fishing line that had become tangled in the wheel, and told her everything else looked good. We continued to hear sounds, but since they had given us the thumbs up, we ignored it. A few months later, we found out that the brakes were down to the metal and had gouged out a quarter inch deep trough in the rotor. Needless to say, it cost us over $500 to fix the brakes, instead of about $150. Obviously, the hadn't really checked anything when we took it in.
2. Yesterday, I took my truck to Les Schwab to have the tires checked. I was concerned about the wear. The tires were supposed to have been under warranty for 60, 000 miles, and we had put on just under 30, 000. The guy as Les Schwab indicated that, yes, it was time for new tires. When I asked about the warranty and the fact that the tires were worn in less than half the amount of miles promised, he said that because there was more wear on the shoulder, he wouldn't be able to honor the warranty. What makes my angry is that we consistantly rotated the tires, and had an alignment earlier this year. Not one time was it ever mentioned that the tire shoulders were wearing abnormally, or we would have had the alignment done sooner. The only conclusion I can come to is that they ignored the abnormal wear knowing that I'd need tires sooner, and that they wouldn't have to honor the warranty. I will patronize Les Schwab in the future.

I too have been burned by Les Schwab; some years ago I got new brakes on the wife's Honda. New (errrr - rebuilt) calipers and rotor shave, pads, etc. the dumb f*** did not bleed the lines adequately, drove the car home - exactly 2 miles - brake on one side locked up, and it was smoking hot. Went back the next day - yelled - dropped the keys off and informed the boss man that here is where the car is at, you pick it up and I want new everything. Had to debate for a while on this, they had to comply. Went back the afternoon and found out that they did not give me new rotors, even after I explained that they locked up, were hot and smoking (any idiot would know that this causes warpage). So I had to take the car back a day later, convinced them that after applying the brakes and feeling that shimmy - that they f***ed up and tried to get out of it cheaply. I eventually won, and got brand new (errrr rebuilt somewhere in China calipers) but a new set - yes a new set since everything is a match on a car - for the front end brakes. This happened at one of the independant Les Schwab dealers in Everett Washington. I will never have them do brakes on my vehicles again.

I lost my brakes on my rv about 6 miles from the local Les Scwab. After calling them and giving model numbers, I was qouted 340 for the rear and 270 for the front and whatever parts needed replacement. The disc pad on the left rear somehow came out and the two pistons on the heavy duty ford 450 chassis brakes then became the pads until the pistons extended so far out that they dumped all the brake fluid in the system! After a delicate and cautious drive using only gears, I arrived. They pulled it off and called me inside. $ 1, 150 was the estimate. When asked why, they said that they had to replace the rotors and calipers on both sides. Remember, 340 was the quote for rear. I called BS as I am myself a mechanic but was short on time and decided to take it to them. I told them that I was in total agreement having seen what came off the left side but that there was nothing wrong with the other side. When asked to repair just the left rear, they refused. All or nothing! I then told them to put it back together and I would do it myself! I had to sign a waiver saying they were not responsible and they sent me up the road with no brakes! I went to a buddies and did the whole damned rig, front and rear, myself for 380 including the new rotor and caliper! I have always bought my tires from Les Scwab but they have lost my lifetime of loyalty from this one incident!

Hey Un Real World WAKE UP !Les Schwab as a company has no integrity, First they are trained to lie at the highest degree to profit off of people. There is no warranty on any tires, basically the paper they give to you in the store, there warranty you can use it as pretty hard but good european standard toilet paper wipe thee behind off and flush away. My story, I had to take my car back to les schwab in after having them put new tires on, because my car was shaking really bad . The person at les schwab who took the tire off broke my stud trying to take the tire off, and said that the person who last put it on did not put it on right and said that they did not do it and have to charge me for it.. So I pulled out my receipt from last time and showed it to them, it was them . No apology from the technician at all. ( I bet he felt like an ###.) They balanced the tires and said no alignment needed it was a balance problem. Again the same thing had to take the car in again . They finally fixed it. Then I had a screw in my tire and took the car back in to get the screw out. They told me I needed new tires. So I went ahead and got new tires, They said they were out of stock of the cheaper tires and that I would have to get the more expensive ones, another lie, I found out later they had them in stock. Then they would not pay me for the thread that was left on my old tires. They said that because there was no alignment done within
one year, the warranty does not work. That made me unhappy because I was told by the technician before that I did not need alignment done. Probably because they know they can screw up your warranty papers by doing that. So I asked him If I got the car alingment done back then would the warranty be ok, He said no because if you hit a pot hole the aligment can go off again. SO WHAT IS THE WARRANTY PAPER FOR! Its basically to trick the consumer into thinking there tires have warranty.What a great plan. Then I asked to have my old tires returened and they gave me one but said that they could not find the other one. WHAT BULL SH>>>>
They probably sold it. Wow I speak two languages so excuse my writting, after living abroad in a third world country, this sort of thing would of not of happened in a third world country. I am guessing that les schwab tires is probably in a fourth world country it self or fifth or even sixth. I really do not know and wish them luck in the future.

I would guess your not telling the whole story... You probably have a vehicle that is out of alignment or some loose/worn front-end parts, which would cause your tires to wear pre-maturely. Mechanical tire wear is not covered under any tire store's warranty. If your vehicle caused the tire to wear out too soon, why would Les Schwab cover it under warranty? It's not their fault you choose not to keep your vehicle maintained...

They probably can't put your worn out tires back on because they are a liability toward them. If they were to put them back on, that's like saying the tires are in "ok to drive on", and if one of those tires were to blow out down the road and cause an accident, you would complain they didn't tell you that the tires were in need of being replaced.

Tell us the rest of what they told you...