[gonzo628]

And Discount is a great company (they've never done me wrong)..

("short story")

we've taken a couple cross country trips to visit family / friends in NY.

The second to last NY trip we took in our Sienna, we also towed our old trailer (1998 Damon Camplite 2408 SLE tandem axle pop-up). On the way out, in PA, shortly after we switch drivers and my wife was driving, she says "Hey hon... there is a light on dash..." The low tire pressure light. we had a flat on the passenger-side rear. She pulls over and I unload the back of the van (to get the jack, etc), change the tire and we get back on the road. Fortunately, we were close enough (<10 Mi) to a town in PA that was large enough to have a tireshop that was open on Saturday afternoon. We gtet the tire changed and get back on the road.

After visiting friends in NYC, we are headed to Buffalo, we'd just switch drivers (starting to see a theme here?) and I am settling in to take a nap, when she says "...and they're pulling me over". State trooper does a visual inspection of the rig and says "Passenger. Get out of the vehicle!". I climb out and he reads me the riot act (rightfully so) about the condition of the tires on my van and a challenged tire on the trailer. The van's front tires are slick (good for dragraces, bad for passenger vehicles) and the trailer tires are cracked, with one of them missing a fair chunk of the tread. On-top of that, our trailer's license plate was missing (it had "blown off" a number of years ago and replacing it would have been a challenge given that I did not have valid title for the trailer). Further, I did not have a current insurance card (though I had current insurance) and could not provide proof that I was the owner of the trailer. Somehow, through all that, he let us go, with a warning, advising us that we pull a head to the fairly ample shoulder just down the road, and put our spare tire on the trailer. We did pull ahead to the shoulder and realized that our vehicle jack will not lift the trailer. Fortunately, we were close enough to a tireshop that had saturday hours. They swapped our spare and we were on our way. In Buffalo, I was not able to find anything shop that was more than regional to get the tires fixed. I checked (given that I had purchase the van and trailer tires at discount) and the closest one was in Ohio. I spoke to the Discount Tire in Ohio (explaining our situation, and that we would be on our way home, which would take us right by their shop), and they said not to worry, just keep them updated on our progress and the would get us in.

We call the morning we leave buffalo and advise them as to estimated arrival (per GPS). I update them a couple times en route, and show up to the shop. They pull 5 guys from other jobs and replace 9 tires (4 on the van, 5 (including spare) on the trailer. Because i always by the certificates, the bought the PA tire and replaced the separated trailer tire (warranty), though the trailer tires were 5 years old (per the date stamped on the sidewall). Basically, I got 9 tires for the price of 7 and they did the whole job in 45 minutes.

last trip to NY in the van was without the camper. the whole trip was relatively uneventful, until the ride home. We are on I40 about 40 miles inside the New Mexico Border and get a flat on the rear of the van. Unfortunately, it i late in the day on Saturday and there isn't a tireshop. We decide to continue on to the night's stop (Albuquerque). Unfortunately, about 40 miles east of Alb, we get another flat. Roadside assistance picks us up and brings us to Alb. Our hotel ends up being 1 mile from a PepBoys (they have sunday hours). We drop the van off at pepboys (so they can get it going first thing in the morning). After they replace 2 tires and we get home, I go my discount tire (monday after the trip), and they buy the pepboys tires and put our tires on.

TLDR: Discount Tires will ALWAYS have my business.

(Sorry I hijacked this thread)