I love my Jeep. The tires however, are an excellent example of a bad decision in the design process. They take a P215 75/16 size tire. This tire is only made by Goodyear and apparently also isn’t terribly popular.
A little over 2 months ago I took the spare to Merchant’s tire to be replaced. It took two months to get it. (No charge in the end for the stupid nightmare trying to get it. Yes, I could have gone elsewhere but I basically wanted to torture them and MAKE them get it for me since they said they would.) Part of the problem was that this is not a terribly common tire size so they didn’t have it in stock. The second problem was that their inventory system has gotten so completely and utterly screwed up since they merged with NTB & King Tire that it’s totally unreliable - at one point the inventory system said they had 3 in stock in the shop when they had none. They would try to get it from another shop, and it would get sold out from under them.
So, I finally got the spare. Then went to get my car inspected. Guess what it failed on? Tires, cause the alignment got out of whack and caused some very funky wear on one side… Of course. Tires. This would be the same day I’d finally gotten the spare. I talked w/Merchant’s on the snowball’s chance in hell that they might have a couple more of these in stock when they got mine, and no surprise, they didn’t. However, they referred me to the Goodyear retailer over in Burke, so I headed over there. They don’t have them in stock either and apparently have never had them in stock in that particular shop for any reason. They had to order them as well, but their inventory and transfer system actually WORKS and I had them today after ordering on Friday.
The gal at the desk asked if I needed them w/black or white lettering… At this point, the lettering on the tires could be neon green and in Japanese and I wouldn’t have cared.
But, I have a car with a valid inspection sticker, two new tires and nicely aligned.
