...having to deal with the "I know Im right" salesman
 

Hiya guys, been a while, hope everyone's fine,so during the purchase of my 2011 5.0 california special, the topic of a "awesome deal on a set of winter tires" was brought up by the salesman,I asked more specific questions, such as, what make tires, do they come with tire pressure monitoring sensors, what type of rims ect ect... I (we) were told that this dealership was offering up a deal that could not be beat,the salesman had no clue what brand tires they were,but we were assured it would be a reputable brand. He also "THOUGHT" the rims were alloys the dealership had bought in bulk, thus the deal...
I initally was not interested in this deal, I basically wanted to buy rims/tires from an outside vendor... I was not interested in running "steelies" on my new ride,but the wife was convinced it was a GREAT deal so as to not rock the boat, I went along with it!
As they were loading up the wheels on my truck to take home, I realized they were BF Goodrich winters mounted on 16" steelies...whah!!!! so I said to the salesman " I don't think those will fit on my ride," ( stock rims are 19") but he tells me, we sell tons of this package for Mustangs,so I figured, lets see what happens...
2 weeks later, I decided to change wheels to the new winter set... Ya think!!!! not even close,and of course, no sensors installed either!... I was not about to drive a 5 hr return trip to the dealer for their screwup,so I asked to have proper rims tires replaced that would fit, yesterday they dropped the new set and picked up the ones that did not fit.
The new tires are 17" CHAMPIRO WT-AX 235/55/R17 mounted on ugly ass steelies. I have never heard of this brand so I tried to do some research on them but did not find much about them other than they are made in Indonesia!!!
This reeks of "Bait & switch" to me and I am not happy with any of this going on.
I paid $1183.15 CDN for this crap??? Had I known they were about to switch from BF Goodrich to this junk I would have just turned the whole deal down.
My buddy keeps telling me to return the whole package, get my money back and buy some after market rims/tires package...
Any of you guys have any experience with this brand of tire?... Or shall I just call the dealer and tell them I want to return this load of crap and I want my money refunded, thoughts/suggestions would be appreciated here guys.:banghead:
Thanks
Mario

Never heard of the tire myself, but certainly you should ask them for the BFs, which you paid for. My guess though is it will be a losing battle. So, you an either stress it and fight the power and keep updating this thread on how they suck, or mount the Indonesians on the stang and enjoy the white stuff :)

I WOULD NEVER take the junk they are trying to pawn on you, take'em back and get your money back. Oh and I would be pissed to boot when I get to the dealership

champiros
 

i have them on my mustang...245 45 17s and they cost me 47 dollars each brand new...i wanted them as practice burn out rubber and they were as cheap as buying used ones...1200 bucks for 200 bucks worth of product...the salesman is going to mexico this winter on your sale alone...call em up...freak out and tell them you want your money back plus what you ordered on their dime...come on

Thanks guys for the input, essentially I did freak out at the sales guy,he outright offered me my money back to the penny, course he tried to say he had no idea that they switched to this cheap ass brand of tire.
I told him he's doing all the right moves to "compromise" the faith I have in the dealership and I was NOT impressed in the least... so as it now stands, I told him I want a set (4) 18" stock Mustang GT alloy rims shod in BF Goodrich winter rubber and pressure sensors installed at no cost to me other than what I have already paid, and shipped to my door.
He's going to talk to the manager about the whole mess and he'll call me back; this is the 2nd fuckup with my wheels on their part, so they better make the third time right!
If Im not completely satisfied I will take this up with the dealership owner myself,Im sure he does not want to loose my business,especially when it comes to new trucks.
I'll keep you guys updated.

yup...there is substantial mark up in new vehicles....even one truck less per year hurts the bottom line...good for you...i hope they make this right for you....keep standing your ground...these are lean times we are living in and every dollar counts

Keep on them,they think they can own us!!The stock 18" Gt rims might be pushing it,but i hope it works out in your favour seeing they keep screwing up!

I'm willing to pay more, and I did make that fact known to this guy that called me from the dealership,supposedly he's the " tire expert", he sounded surprised that I could not find any real review on these tires,or the fact the web site I did come up with does not even list thread wear index...for all I know they could be as low as 20,000km or as high as whatever! I also ran a tire search on their search engine that does NOT list, other than a fiesta any FORD products!
Apperently, these tires are supported by GM ... they go by the name; GT radial(s)... They may very well be a merging new company bringing new innovation to market,at what appears to be very reasonable cost to the end user... however, I don't feel conformable using ANY tire that in my opinion could be unsafe or somehow compromised.
I also found it suspect when I spoke to Adam about these wheels... he told me he would call me back after he spoke with the manager,BUT instead I get a call from some guy named "Dave" the tire expert and goes on to tell me that is are actually an incredibly great tire,says they had them on hand, but not BF Goodrich,so they used these Champiro.
I'm going to keep this simple, these tires are going back, I want nothing to do with this deal,and I'll get a full refund... then pick what package of rims/tires I want from Tire Rack.
My wife's cousin bought him self a set of 18" alloy's by Montegi shod with Michelin winter tires... shipping, HST,brokerage fees, tire disposal fee... all in to HIS door for $1,540. 12 spoke design in smoky gun metal.
They can get me a set of GT wheels with BF Goodrich skins, and Im willing to add $300 to round up $1500,and not a red cent more!
For reference, here's an addy;
:http://www.gtradial-us.com/gtradial/us/index.asp

Damn I want that Champiro tire something bad now lol

The Champiro 228, released last year, was designed for low noise and comfort, as well as low rolling resistance and grip in wet and dry conditions. It is also considered a “green” tire as it uses no aromatic oils. < --- but you have to add your own perfume to it LOL... Sold to snakebite!!!! lol
:suicide:

It just keeps getting better!!!!
This afternoon I decided to see if the 17" they replaced with the 16" would fit .................................................. ............
This after I was telling the guy (Mr tire expert) that I did not think 17" would fit and a safe bet would be with 18",well the 17" do NOT clear the caliper,turn the wheel and there is a nasty metal to metal grinding sound!
Im taking Tues off and driving straight up to the dealership and downright freaking out. These idiots best be ready to offer me GT alloys with either Firestone or BF Goodrich rubber, failing which I want my cash back plus gas money ... you really gotta try hard to be a moron such as these guys.
"Oh we sell millions of these wheels for Mustangs,I guarantee you they'll fit" that was two sizes away!

Unbelievable.Does your stang have the upgrade brakes?Normally the base model rims in the early models (bfore the 5.0L cam out) had the 17's.So in theory,the 17" snow would fit......unless they had the upgrade brakes which are offered with the 2011's.
Sucks you have to go threw with this anyways.The sales guys should know your car inside out beofre you make the purchase.He obviuously didn't.Good luck.

LOL I keep telling them I have Brembo calipers... and then ask them to repeat the info I just gave them just to make sure they got the "Brembo" part right lmao!
Im going to be blunt with them this time around, if they are not prepared to offer me GT alloys and good rubber I will take my cash back and going to get something nice from Tire Rack... I found a set of 4 rims in 17" made by Bremmer Kraft, 17x8 front and 17x 9.5 rear,4 TMS sensors installed,Road force balanced,4 bridgestone Blizzak tires, all taxes, all shipping brokerage fees in for $1530 to my door, so paying another $350 out of pocket is all it will cost me and I get what I want... keep it simple!

tread wear on the gt280s is 460 if thats what you were refering too....i got 20000 on mine so far and the fronts are like new...the backs,well i did mention practice burn out tires didnt i ....they smoke great...and not much rubber stink which i found odd

Are you sure the 17's will clear your breaks....
Just saying because does tire rack have the brembo pack listed in the pull down options when you input your car to search for tires? Maybe they think you got the regular brakes?

Oh yeah Tire rack does not really miss a beat... once you choose the year/make model it brings up a with or without brembo package. I spoke with the owner this morning and he did say because of the two layer inner hat and welds, they should have gone with minimum 18's and he would recommend they actually skip up to the 19's because of this exact issue with steelies.
He'll get back to me later today... he was also pretty pissed at staff that just switched brands to some generic "Chapiro" tire, he did say to me if I got BF Goodrich in 16" They should have replaced with the same brand tires,not assume I would just agree to a "switch".
I hate this sort of drama, especially when it's uncalled for!

In alloy form, because of how the inner hat is machined 17" clears Brembo's by exactly 1/4" I might just upgrade to the 18" though, the guy from Tire rack will call me tonight to confirm.

Good luck and don't kill anyone although it's tempting

4th time lucky!!!!!! LOL. They were able to get 18"steelies and I was offered a choice of 2 winter tires,either the BF Goodrich or the "Wdrive Yokohama 245/50R/18" 104V.
I went with the Yoko's, all reviews I read on the Yoko's placed them ahead of the BFG,pretty much a 4.8/9 out of a 5!
They arrived this am at 11, threw them on... when I got to the 4th wheel it started to snow.
These retail, give or take a few bucks around the $300 mark in the GTA,not sure what the cost of the 18" steelies is, but I would put them to at least $100 apiece,with tax in that would put the package just north of $1800... the sales manager that I spoke with suggested I pay an additional $300 to even out their cost,I suggested he refunds me the full amount I paid for the wheels for all the bullshit they put me through,I also reminded him I had a sales contract that was signed by the dealership that included a set of winter wheels with BFG rubbers that would FIT my new ride, and I was not interested in amending additional costs... 20 minutes later the dealership owner called and told me that as long as I was "happy" with the wheels,I did not have to pay the difference, they also threw in the trunk "grocery net" in.
In good faith, if I was told UP FRONT what the real cost of these wheels/tires was going to be,I would have just paid the difference OR declined the whole offer and gone with after market alloys through Tire Rack,but they sold me this set for $1200 and I was not prepared to modify my cost after the fact, to suit their sorry asses for their mess ups (4 times).
After the install I took the ride out, in the wet and checked out the winter wheels, we had light snow on the ground,some freezing conditions here and there,and moisture... and these things grab real good,handling is superb, cornering is really sure footed,and I also did a few hard stops,which brought the car to a stop in impressive short distance... overall,Im happy with the performance of the Yoko's.
Im just glad this is finally behind me,I was nervous driving a new 2011 GTCS with summer rubber in winter, as temps and winter conditions worsened, I could feel them loosing grip, even in the most mundane driving of stop and go.
At least now I feel confident and prepared to tackle the winter months with snow tires installed.

I can't believe they even tried to get more money out of you , what nerve... I am glad you told them to eat it as 4 timed you took time out of your day to get this done.... They should be dropping it an extra few bucks but I am happy to see you on the road and happy... Take care out there

Here's the review I looked at on these tires, actually one of several:
http://www.cartest.ca/successful_yokohama_winter_t.htm

Glad to hear that you got it sorted out. It would seem that Ford made the front brakes a little bit larger than previous years on the 11 GT, and the 17" steels we used to supply for those cars no longer fit.

For any 2011 V6 people reading this thread, you're still OK with 17".


cheers
Ed N.