My daughter swears by Les Schwab’s services. Free tire rotation and free flat repair. Oh, and the grandson loves the free popcorn. It’s one time where the kid doesn’t mind sitting and waiting for the work to be done. In fact, he looks forward to the trips.

Yesterday I went to Les Schwab in Rancho Cordova, CA to get two new tires. The guy asked me if I knew what siping was. I said no. He explained that siping creates additional cuts in the tires to give them more surface area. More surface area means better traction on wet surfaces and cooler tires when it’s hot. I thought, cool, my new tires were going to come with these additional cuts. (They damn well better because they cost me $219.33 each, their top brand Toyo. Probably another sales tactic push. I should have asked to see other tire options. Totally my own fault.)

BULLSHIT! It’s an after market service where the shop, not the manufacturer, does a Ginsu on the tires. The manner in which it was explained to me wasn’t clearly stated that it was OPTIONAL. I thought it was a feature of these very expensive tires. I ended up with not 2 siping charges, but 4 of them because they also siped my existing tires, thereby voiding any warranty on them! Total price, $58.

So, what’s my point? I’m pissed off that it was not clearly stated that it was an optional service. I’m pissed off that I was not specifically asked the question, “Now that you know what siping is, do you want us to sipe both your new and existing tires?” Please reiterate to your sales people how important it is for the customer NOT to find surprise charges on the invoice AFTER the work has been completed. I’m just sayin’.

IF THE MANUFACTURER THOUGHT SIPING WAS A GOOD IDEA TO IMPROVE TIRE PERFORMANCE, THEY WOULD ALREADY BE DOING IT TO THEIR TIRES!

This is no different than some pimple-faced geek over-clocking the CPU chip on his computer.

One other complaint, now that I think of it, they never went over the labor charge with me prior to doing any work. I was charged $140.25 for labor for mounting 2 tires. Are you fucking kidding me? I already paid for the siping, spin balance and alignment so what’s that $140 labor charge for? Tool charge? Shop rental? Or maybe the horrible singing from one of the techs out in the shop? That was real professional, by the way. The more I think about this, the more pissed off I get.

I called and spoke to the manager. He straight up told me that siping alters the structure of the tire to give it more traction. I just have to repeat myself here, but when you alter the tire, it voids the manufacturers warranty and you mofo’s did it on my existing tires! I could spit blood. The Attorney General’s office should investigate this.

Click here to read more Les Schwab siping complaints.

P.S. Other than getting siped in the ass, I’m not sure what was left to be pleased about. They could have offered free wi-fi. If they had it, they never indicated it. The chairs in the waiting room were comfortable and had awesome lumbar support. Little did I  know at the time that was going to be a good thing. Something soft to sit in for the ass raping I was about to get for over $600 and all I wanted was 2 damn tires. The waiting area was clean, newspapers to read, but the magazine selection sucked. All macho guy stuff. There was one old June 2011 issue of People magazine… Kim Kardashian got engaged. We all know how that ended.