Need opinions from Reno area suby owners!

[F$MWRX]

I am applying for an assistant manager job at Les Schwab Tire Centers at one of the Reno stores and would like to get your opinions as car enthusiasts, whether you are customers or not, what you like or don't like about Les Schwab in Reno? Also, what would you like to see product-wise that we don't carry or what we could do to better take care of you? I have some ideas since I work for Les Schwab now in the Portland, OR area, but would like some local opinions as I don't know much about the area or car scene in that area. I would greatly appreciate any comments.

Thanx,
Nick Saddler

[Dean]

To be honest, I would bet not one of us has gone to Les Schwab for much of anything.

We have the Tirerack warehouse in town, Discount tire in LV, Vulcan in Salt lake, so most of us by our tires from one of those vendors, and then have one of the 2 or 3 shops that cater to motorsports enthusiasts, as well as other options M&B them. We also have 2 shops that shave tires if needed.

So that is what you are up against. Good luck.

[F$MWRX]

Originally Posted by Dean

To be honest, I would bet not one of us has gone to Les Schwab for much of anything.

We have the Tirerack warehouse in town, Discount tire in LV, Vulcan in Salt lake, so most of us by our tires from one of those vendors, and then have one of the 2 or 3 shops that cater to motorsports enthusiasts, as well as other options M&B them. We also have 2 shops that shave tires if needed.

So that is what you are up against. Good luck.

So, what do you guys do as far as rotating, rebalancing, and getting flats fixed? Also, do you have the motorsport shops do your alignments, brakes, and performance suspensions as well? Thanks for the input, I do appreciate it.

[sperry]

IMO, Les Schwab has high prices, none of the brands I buy, and condescending help.

A few years back I had a set of Blizzack LM22's on order at TireRack, and I was looking for someone to mount them. I talked to the guys at LS and I was told mounting was $25/tire (most places charged about $10/ea at the time), but that didn't matter because they wouldn't mount something they hadn't sold me... but considering they didn't carry Bridgestone Blizzacks, Nokia Hakkapellias, or Dunlop Wintersports I don't see why I'd bother to pay $700 for a set of snow tires from there. Plus the guy was a dick, like I was wasting his time trying to give them my money for services.

I've never gone back since, and won't in the future. There's way too much competition out there for them to jerk customers around. They can keep selling to the people that don't know any better.

[sperry]

Originally Posted by F$MWRX

So, what do you guys do as far as rotating, rebalancing, and getting flats fixed? Also, do you have the motorsport shops do your alignments, brakes, and performance suspensions as well? Thanks for the input, I do appreciate it.

Those of us that race can't afford to pay someone for that work...

I'll rotate tires front to back between track days. Rebalancing isn't an issue 'cause I'll go through a set of tires in about 10 hours. Repaired flats aren't safe at 130 mph... a puncture is a tossed tire.

I'll do an alignment at a local race shop only after I make major changes to my suspension. The rest of the time it's rulers and string... or just eyeballing it and checking tire temps. Also, I've had places like Big-O and Firestone refuse to align the car to my specs... trust me 0 camber +/- .5 deg is not going to work on my car... it needs over -3 deg.

I do brakes and suspension bits myself in the garage.

As far as the daily drivers... I do the same work on them, it's just a matter of once every 6 months or so instead of every other weekend.

[MPREZIV]

Most of the motorsports nuts around here are VERY discriminating about who touches their cars, regarding ANYTHING. So, Les is out of the question!

I work at a dealer, and Les doesn't work with us, so I don't do business with them personally...

[khail19]

Very, very overpriced when I was checking tire prices before. Like twice as much as some places, and they refused to price match or come down at all. That's all the experience I have with them as a potential customer. Us Subaru guys are very picky about what we put on our car and who we let work on it. And we're also cheap bastards as well!

[JonnydaJibba]

I think Les Schawb is overpriced. There are a number of places around here that I can get everything I need done for less money and much less hassle. Also, LS deals with a great volume of customers, which makes it hard to establish a reputation with them or any sense of trust. I want the people doing work on my car to at least pretend to care about my car.

[Bob Danger]

I simply don't trust there "techs", I remember Tim took his 95 Talon to the Schwab in Carson, not only did they put 10 miles on it, "testing the alignment", but they also left the car sitting behind the building totally unlocked.
I know that they don't require there "techs" to be qualified in anyway, I applied at a Schwab, a few years ago, and during the interview they did not ask me if I had experience with any of the equipment they use. They weren't dicking me around either because they offered me a job, I passed because I knew a lot of the people in the shop, and they said it sucked. I would rather take my car to the High School auto shop, it would be much cheaper, and the work would be getting done by the same people, or at least people with the same education. Haha, Just kidding.

[Nick Koan]

I went to Les Schwab once to mount a tire at the last minute (only place open).

It wasn't horrible, and the chick behind the counter was pretty hot. Other then that, though, I don't really see any reason to go there to buy wheels or tires or for services. Too expensive versus what you can get online or at TireRack, even after considering a mounting/balancing cost. Not to mention that Les Schwab doesn't cary a single wheel I liked (at least on display in the store).

The one tech I talked to there seemed used to dealing with the general public instead of 'car guys' and rolled his eyes a few times at me when I told him what I wanted and that I wasn't concerned with his protests ("Oh, you don't want to do that with AWD vehicles...") but eventually he just did what I asked. I cut him some slack, though, as what I was asking wasn't very ideal, but I only needed the tire mounted for 2 days, and I didn't think it was a big deal.

So, all in all, I'd use them again in a pinch, but not for my normal stuff. I can either handle it with local tire or motorsports shops, or deal with it myself.

[zpeed]

Once I shop for the wheel tire rack quote me around $1500, LS over$2500. + I hate the TV ad where everybody running.

[F$MWRX]

Originally Posted by sperry

IMO, Les Schwab has high prices, none of the brands I buy, and condescending help.

A few years back I had a set of Blizzack LM22's on order at TireRack, and I was looking for someone to mount them. I talked to the guys at LS and I was told mounting was $25/tire (most places charged about $10/ea at the time), but that didn't matter because they wouldn't mount something they hadn't sold me... but considering they didn't carry Bridgestone Blizzacks, Nokia Hakkapellias, or Dunlop Wintersports I don't see why I'd bother to pay $700 for a set of snow tires from there. Plus the guy was a dick, like I was wasting his time trying to give them my money for services.

I've never gone back since, and won't in the future. There's way too much competition out there for them to jerk customers around. They can keep selling to the people that don't know any better.

Wow! $25/tire to mount them? Here in Portland, we only charge $3.50-$5.5o/tire depending on the size and difficulty of the mounting process. Did that include a valve stem and balance? Cuz a balance is only $10.50/tire and that still doesn't add up. We do carry some Nokians, and can get Blizzaks and wintersports, I'm suprised they didn't tell you that. We don't stock them they just have to be ordered. I apologize for them being condecending to you, that is not how we do business. Customers are our priority.

Where I work now we are very close to Portland International Raceway and we do a lot of work with the Miata club - shaving down RA-1's for them and taking care of other autocrossers, drifters, and drag racers. We will also do performance alignments to the specs you want, because we know enthusiasts have different agendas when it comes to alignments than the general public. We take care of every car that comes in to our store like it was our own. I too am very picky about who works on my bugeye and I definitely see your concerns. It sounds like I have my work cut out for me if I come to Reno.

[JC]

I've been to the one in Carson an unfortunate amount of times because that's where my parents go (because it's close, ugh). I hate it. I haven't been there for well over a year so I can't remember everything they've done but I do remember having to go back to rebalance the wheels more than once and my parents coming home with their tires mounted backwards. You won't find me going there unless it's an emergency and then I will stand there and watch them work on my car.

[MattR]

Nick, welcome to the board. It's obvious that most of us have had less than great experiences with Les Schwab, self included. Fortunately, the other "Tire Shops" in the area aren't much better. There's a place called Tires Plus that I considered burning down, seriously the worst service I've ever experienced. However, Big-O in the Northwest has always done a good job, for mounting/ dismounting, as has Sid's Alignment and Tire.

Like many of the other members, I usually just buy from Tire Rack/ Edge racing and have my tires mounted at the race shop where I go for alignment and corner-weighting, and as far as brakes, I do that myself.

With that said, I'm always willing to give a fellow car enthusiast a chance, because chances are, your interest in cars carries over into the job you do, so I'd entertain trying LS again.

Would tire shaving be available locally? and would you be able to shave tires that are purchased elsewhere? I'm intersted in RA-1's, but in the past I can get them shaved and shipped from Las Vegas for cheaper than anyone here in town could put together.

[sti deede]

I have gone the Les Schwab in Rocklin when I mounted the last set of tires. It was $60. They were quick and didn't try to sell me anything more that I asked. I was treated me like a car enthusist, not general public or worst yet a nieve girl. Also when I had to get a tire patched they did it for me free of charge, no questions asked.

So far I've been pleased, but I still purchase my tires from outside sources and bring them in for mounting and balancing. I too do my own rotating.

[Libila]

Bobby already mentioned the one and only time I dealt with LS. Horrible customer service, over priced, they left my car unlocked overnight and they put 10+ miles on my Talon "testing" the new tires. I complained about the unlocked car and excessive miles put on my car and all they did was point the finger at people working the day before. Absolutely horrible experience overall. I'd heard bad things in the past but like much of the members said, I went to them because I was in need of tires ASAP.

Since then I've been going to Big O' in Carson because my parent's neighbor is the owner. They gave me the best customer service I've ever had at any sort of automotive related business and they had better prices on Azenis than Tire Rack.

I’m no longer a local but I thought I’d share my LS horror story

[JonnydaJibba]

Tim you're local to our hearts....







...I'm lame!

[M3n2c3]

Aww, that was cute, Jonny.

I've only been to LS a few times, and it was only with my old Eagle Vision. I had tires put on and a tierod replaced with no fuss in Reno.

Then I moved to Carson, and after a year or two started having more front-end trouble. I had to take it in three or four times before they even bothered looking hard enough to find out that the steering rack bushing needed replacing. The first two times they just put it on the rack and then shrugged and said that the alignment was good, like a claim of an unstable front end, extreme torque-steer, and excessive steering wheel play wasn't something that they were interested in investigating.

[F$MWRX]

Thanks for all of your input. That is definitely one of the problems I know that we are facing is that we do a great deal of volume, so it does make it harder to take the time like we should when a vehicle such as the ones on this forum come in. The other obstacle that we face is that we try to train our guys to work on everything from a wheelbarrow tire to a giant grader tire because we have everything in that spectrum come into our stores that we can't be quite specialized as a performance shop that strictly does high-performance tires/wheels etc. These are the things I would like to try to change at my store. At the stores I've been at I have had many customers that I will only let certain employees or myself work on because I know how cautious and good they are at what they do. That will definitely be a good part of my job as an assistant manager.

As far as the tire shaving goes, we unfortunately don't do enough of them to do it locally out of our stores, but it can be done with about a week turnaround. You would be suprised on some stuff that we don't carry that we can get a hold of as well. I have put several tire/wheel packages on STi's up here with Rotas that aren't any difference price wise than Subydude. I've also put tire/wheel packages on some of my friend's who are in a VW club for the same price they could get them thru tire rack. This isn't always the case, but I am always willing to go that extra mile to try and put something together that is going to make the customer happy and not neccesarily just what we stock through our company.

[ScottyS]

When I lived in Gardnerville like 10 years ago, I knew some dudes that worked at the Schwab, and over the years have bought maybe three sets of tires there. I since have stopped that maddness, as they always wore out too fast.

Last time I went in a Schwab store, I had a tire from a 4x4 that only gets used twice a year and needed a nail fixed. The dude looked over the tire and declared that they wouldn't fix it, as it was "unsafe". OK, so it's a little old and worn a bit, but there was absolutely nothing wrong with it, especially considering the limited use. I just smiled and let the dude waste his time getting me all sorts of quotes for a complete new set, and then took the estimates and walked out. Three years later, those tires are still on the 4x4, working fine....

[zpeed]

F$MWRX what location will you work and when?

[NevadaSTi]

My biggest complaint with any chain store tire shop, they see our high performance cars, and every Tom, Dick and Harry wants to take it for a test drive. Their excuse, "We changed out your tires, so we have to road test it to make sure its safe for you to drive." My responce is generally, "Go F yourself, I don't want anyone driving it."

[F$MWRX]

Originally Posted by zpeed

F$MWRX what location will you work and when?

I am just applying for the applying for the position, but so are probably 15 other people. If they do choose me it will be sometime within the next 3 weeks. It is the store off of Oddie Rd.

[F$MWRX]

I appreciate all of your comments, but I didn't get the position.

[Libila]

Bummer.

Best of luck wherever you end up.