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I've now purchased two sets of car tires from Costco. They are great tires (Michelin) at the best prices I could find anywhere. The first set lasted as advertised and I had no problems with them or the service at Costco. But the second set has been a bit different. Not with the tires themselves, but with the service from Costco. It's so bad that it's making me re-think my future tire decisions. I probably won't buy another set of tires there.

The installation cost for tires purchased at the Firestone store was nearly $30. Tires elsewhere). Tire model you want and install the tires. Complaint Review: Costco Inc. Costco Optical charges an $18.00 corkage fee for frames purchased elsewhere Montebello California.

For those of you who don't know the setup at Costco, when you buy tires from them, they will rotate the tires free of charge every 7,500 miles. You simply bring the car in, turn the keys over, and they rotate them for nothing. Not a bad deal, right? Well, there are a couple of snags:

• You CAN NOT make an appointment for a tire rotation. It's simply first come, first served. Forget trying to time a tire rotation to coincide with regular shopping at Costco -- if you're three hours from any sort of semi-popular shopping time at the store (which is almost any time they are open), you're looking at a two-hour wait at least. Why can't they simply let people make appointments?

• After the tire rotation is completed, they strongly suggest (you have to sign something that says you've been advised of this) that you come back after 25 miles to make sure the tires were put on securely. I'm sure this is some sort of legal protection policy, but it says one thing to me: 'Unlike other garages, our mechanics aren't that good at tightening nuts on a tire, so be sure you bring your car back in to check because there's a good chance one of your wheels will come flying off at 70 mph.' In addition, if I leave Costco, make a couple other stops, then drive home, I'll be at 25 miles with one trip back there. Does this make any sense?

So to try and minimize the hassle of waiting for a tire rotation, I arrived before the store opened a few weeks ago. As they were opening the doors, I tried to go in the 'out' door (which is the side where the tire department is.) I was waived back to the other door by some follow-the-rules clerk, and in those 20 seconds I missed, another guy had walked up, passed me, and was at the tire counter before I got there. I was second in line, was notified that it would be an hour before they were done, and when I got there an hour and 15 minutes later, I still had to wait 10 minutes. Ugh.

So here's the problem for me: time is money. If I have the uncertainty of having to wait for an indefinite amount of time and have to plan my entire life around trying to get a semi-decent length of time to get my tires rotated, it's just not worth it. I can get tires for only a bit more somewhere else that does take appointments -- and that has mechanics that know how to tighten nuts the first time too. As such, I probably won't buy tires from Costco again.

If you have ideas on how to deal with this issue, I'm all ears. I've tried shopping in the store, and I can kill an hour doing this. But at the time I go shopping it's usually far over an hour's wait. I've thought about having my wife follow me in her car and then her bringing me back a few hours later, but Costco isn't that close to home -- and why should I have to deal with this anyway?

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Hey folks,
I'm just wondering if anyone knows if Costco does tire mounting and balancing for tires not purchased at Costco. Does anyone know how much they charge if they do offer this service?
I purchased some tires in the US and brought them back up to Canada and would like to get them installed this next weekend. I know Fountain Tire charges around $125 and I figured Costco might be a bit cheaper (and hopefully I could get it done while doing some shopping if I get to the store right as they open.)
Thanks.