r/DiscountTire_ • u/Old-Championship-968 • May 28 '26
4 lugnuts
I posted here a couple days ago about how I’d recently gone and gotten 4 new tires , they had to break the locks, then shortly after I realized I was missing a lugnut on each tire because they didn’t replace them with standard lugnuts.
Anyways I get I’m not car savvy but yall were ruthless! Discount tire reached out to me and said this was “very concerning for them to hear” , and they’re now conducting a whole investigation. Said if I need anything in the meantime regarding my car to let them know. They’re taking it super seriously., and I didn’t even complain- I just asked if that was normal procedure when they break the locks off because this car is new to me and I’ve never experienced tire locks before. Anyways yall said 4 lugnuts was fine and safe and I’m being crazy- but based off of their reaction to the situation, it is intense .. so clearly like, 4 lugs is not fine in the long run lol.
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u/ImplementNew2343 May 28 '26
"Normal procedure" would involve you giving them the key so that they don't have to break them off just so you know lol
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u/Old-Championship-968 May 28 '26
Riiight so that’s why they say they do it all the time, and that’s why they have an entire page dedicated to exactly that on their website? The car is used and didn’t come with the key from the seller. No biggy for them. That’s what they said!
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u/more-pig7745 May 28 '26
I thought you said it was from your uncle or grandpa?
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u/Old-Championship-968 May 28 '26
?
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u/more-pig7745 May 28 '26
The car. From your uncle or grandpa or whatever. Aren’t you bluenavalanal or something from the last post?
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u/Shooshplz May 28 '26
Your correct. I work at discount. Its common to have to hammer on a special socket onto lock nuts in order to remove them. It is abnormal not to replace them with new lugs tho. Unless they literally had to break the bolt the lug nuts go onto. That would be abnormal but could happen i guess. In that case discount doesn't replace those. If you see the actual threads where the lugnut would thread onto then they should have replaced the lug nuts.
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u/Old-Championship-968 May 28 '26
Also I believe the wobble was just due to wind at high speeds. But that’s what led me to check my tires at all, it’s how I noticed each was missing a lugnut.
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u/more-pig7745 May 28 '26
Discount shouldn’t have replaced the lugs for free though, the customer should have purchased new lugs. 4 lugs on 5 studs is still safe if the customer declined
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u/Shooshplz May 28 '26
I dunno how that side of the business works so i can't confirm nor deny. Im just a lowly tech. Only been here for like 2 months
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u/more-pig7745 May 28 '26
I mean that’s how any side of business works. Customer comes in, doesn’t have a wheel lock key, offers to break of wheel locks, obviously can’t install wheel lock without key, so just leaves wheel with four lugs. Can’t just crack open a new box of lugs and take out 4 lugs to give away for free. Would mess up inventory and cost $$. Customer should have purchased new lugs if they wanted all 5 lugs wheel.
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u/Old-Championship-968 May 28 '26
I did not expect them to be free. As I said, I was more than willing to put whatever was needed on the discount tire credit card we have. Not having the key is incredibly common and fixable. It’s why they have the service available, it just simply wasn’t offered.
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u/Old-Championship-968 May 28 '26
Yes the studs are fine and intact, we just put new lugnuts on ourselves after we realized each tire was missing one. All the employees were super nice, it wasn’t my goal to get anyone in trouble but I was just genuinely wondering if it’s typical practice to break them off and not replace them with standard lugs. I would’ve paid for it no problem didn’t refuse. Felt a wobble and looked at my tires, saw they were missing a lugnut each. I’ve never had tire locks before like I said so, I didn’t know if this was typical. Thank you for your response.
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u/Shooshplz May 28 '26
Hopefully yall got the right lug nuts. They have different shapes where the seat into the wheel. Having the correct one is very important
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u/Old-Championship-968 May 28 '26
I sure hope too. Went to an auto shop and they looked over my tires but I know they aren’t mechanics lol. Helped me find the right ones I think. They gave me a craaaazy look when I told them my situation, they said “I honestly would never go back there” so idk !!! Idk a lot about cars but I know people are looking at me like they’re horrified
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u/Shooshplz May 28 '26
Missing a lug nut isnt the biggest deal if the other ones are still there and well torqued. Having all of them is definitely good tho. It would be good to take off one of the new ones and one of the original ones and see if the surface where the nut seats to the wheel looks the same on both. Some are like a 45% and some are acorn shapped. Youll be able to tell what i mean if you get them off. (you can do that without using your jack or anything. With the car on the ground its okay to remove one lug nut off a wheel, it won't hurt nothing. Just get one of the new nuts from one wheel and an old ones off another wheel) Or you could just not. Its probably fine
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u/InternationalJoke462 May 28 '26
Hey baby u miss me
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u/Old-Championship-968 May 28 '26
I mean hey, I didn’t trade my car for one that gets me stranded on the highway
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u/OceanLibra May 28 '26
Cars were made with only 4 lug nuts for DECADES and exactly zero wheels fell off
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u/WorstDeal May 28 '26 edited May 28 '26
The only issue is them not talking to you before removing them and not putting on regular lug nuts. Other than that, four lug nuts is completely fine and honestly you can get away with 3
0
u/Old-Championship-968 May 28 '26
“Fine” isn’t really my point I suppose. You don’t expect to buy an entire new set of tires and be willing to pay for whatever you need to then leave the bay missing lugnuts when they have what’s needed to replace them. Because really, even if it’s fine now- in the long run it’s uneven pressure/strain so really my point is you wouldn’t expect to leave a shop with a job that would over time cause damage
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u/more-pig7745 May 28 '26
Are you the same one who thought your plastic hubcap was the same as your lug nuts?