Tire Rack Rant

[Iain Mannix]

On Sun, 3 Aug 2003, Michael and Stacey Rollins wrote:

> I'm sure one (if not a few of you) have the bolt patterns and offsets for
> B3s, B4s and B5s.   Like everyone's been saying, the Tire Rack isn't very
> helpful...
>
> TIA,
> Mike

I have to disagree; the Tire Rack has been very helpful for me on
several occasions - namely, purchasing tires which "do not fit" for
my cars.

They have to ask - many of the people on the other end of the
phone are not really "car people," whether or not they think
they are - I answer their questions, and only once did I have to
talk to "someone else" in the process - I've calmly explained to
them that I know they "don't fit," when in actuality they do,
blah blah blah - I always get what I need.

I've had similar issues at autoparts stores, ordering random bits
for autocross cars; alternators "for" Japanese cars destined to
wind up on a Rabbit, etc.  Some of the parts-schmucks get all bent
out of shape - "84 GTIs have vented rotors" says the idiot.

"Mine does not."

Or the battery - I went to a Checker to get the smallest battery
they had.  Looking through the rack of batteries, measuring,
guy comes over, "what kind of car is it for?"

A 12v one?

Did not fly - he refused the warranty on the battery, so I looked
at his book, figured out the battery I wanted fit a Datsun 210 or
something silly, grabbed the other parts schmuck, bought a battery
for a 78 Datsun 210(or whatever it was).

And so on - at this point, I normally just figure out what car
came with what I need, avoid the whole hassle.  There are people
at the Tire Rack who _do_ know which way is up, and know that
there's more to selling wheels than what some database tells them,
but they've got to staff the phones, too - play along, you get what
you want, they get what they want.  They sponsor this list,
as well as the SCCA Solo2 Nationals - I certainly appreciate both,
and I try to give them my business whenever I can.

If that means I have to play the game their way, fine, so be it -
the 19 year old on the other end of the line only knows what the
almighty computer tells him.  Keep him happy, you'll be happy.  If
he catches on, ask to talk to their supervisor or whomever - IME,
the "supervisor" people _are_ knowledgable, and they'll understand
things like "this wheel & tire fits in this offset if you roll the
fender and use a 1/4" spacer on the rear to clear the trailing
arm" or whatever - and they're OK with that.



Iain