Speedy (@stwdirect) auto service out in Lincolnton, North Carolina, has a bone to pick with the way Walmart works on cars. Specifically, how the chain services tires, and he explained why in a viral TikTok.
In the video, Speedy says a tech from the retailer made several mistakes in mounting wheels for a client. The TikToker stated that because Walmart told the client they couldn’t balance their tires that they shouldn’t have even mounted them in the first place. On top of that, they said the store cross-threaded a lug nut, which caused it to get stuck to the wheel.
There were several other users on the app who shared in Speedy’s ire for Walmart’s auto workmanship. However, others said that Speedy’s blanket assessment isn’t representative of all Walmart auto centers.
Calling out Walmart’s workmanship
“All right here’s another Walmart horror story,” Speedy says, holding up a receipt from the Walmart store in Lincolnton. He then rattles off the products he shows on the bill of sale. “These are Radar Renegades, 35125018s,” he adds.
A text overlay in the video details his gripe with the retailer’s service. “Walmart can’t balance these wheels and cross threaded the lug,” he writes.
The camera then cuts to him crouching down on the ground and pointing to the “Radar” text on one of the vehicle’s tires. “Now what is this tire? A Radar, Renegade 35125018s,” he says, pointing out that the model of the tire matches the description on the receipt.
If they couldn’t balance the tire, why did they mount it?
Speedy then begins to explain how Walmart fumbled the tire service so badly. “All right so Walmart mounted the tires and then they proceeded to tell the guy they cannot balance these tires because they won’t fit on their balancer,” he says.
He continues, “Well, I’mma tell you what Walmart, if you can’t balance them, you shouldn’t even mount them. You shouldn’t even told this guy you couldn’t mount if you couldn’t balance them.”
The TikToker went on to say that the situation got even worse, however. “That’s not even half the story let’s go look at this right here,” he says, before zooming his lens in on the rim of the car. “All right so they took the weights off this guy’s wheel. There is zero weight on it. Because they were gonna balance, but of course you can’t fit it on the machine,” he states, highlighting yet another way the auto techs messed up when working on the truck.
Plus, lug nut trouble!
But he says there were even more problems. “Not only that we went to go take the lugs like these were loose right here.” He demonstrates how several of the lug nuts freely twisted between his finger tips. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case for all of the lug nuts. There was one they couldn’t remove.
“We loosened these four. This one here, it won’t come off because they cross-threaded this lug nut,” he says. “Stop going to Walmart trying to save you a couple of dollars all you gotta do is call up here. If we’re not already cheaper which I doubt it, if we’re not already cheaper we’re gonna match or beat anybody’s price out there. Stop letting these guys that don’t know what they’re doing mess with your vehicles.”
And more Walmart gripes
Several Walmart customers have taken to other social media networks to complain about the level of service they received from the popular retailer. In a Just Answer forum, a person asked for legal help after Walmart allegedly damaged their car but “won’t pay the repair costs.”
Local media outlet K8 News also shared a “nightmare” repair story one family had to deal with after bringing their vehicle to Walmart. The damaged car was stuck in the shop with the store promising to pay for the issues it caused to the Stanfield family’s ride.
This didn’t help them in having a reliable form of transportation, however. That’s because one of the family members was undergoing cancer treatments, and needed to be able to get back and forth to his medical center for those procedures.
TikTokers weren’t high on Walmart for auto repairs.
The video has amassed more than 64,000 views since it was posted on July 17. In the comments, users offered a variety of different responses to the mechanic’s post. This included several replies from folks who couldn’t understand why anyone would trust Walmart for auto services.
“Who goes to walmart to get new tires,” one person penned. Another remarked, “Going to Walmart for anything car related is crazy.” Someone else quipped, “His first mistake was trusting Walmart with his vehicle.”
A TikTok user replied that they, too, had difficulties in getting their tires mounted at Walmart. They said that due to the shop’s lack of know-how and/or available technology, what should’ve been a quick procedure ended up taking an inordinately long amount of time. They wrote, “made that mistake once. Bought a set 265/75/16 for my 3500 SRW.. when I got there to have them mounted, took 2hrs because their lift couldn’t lift my truck. Dude had to do each corner at a time.”
Some users defended Walmart
There were TikTokers quick to point out that this wasn’t indicative of the entire Walmart automotive service experience, however. One person penned that other stores were different. They wrote, “Depends on the Walmart. My Walmart in Virginia [has] all the up-to-date equipment to balance those wheels. Some Walmarts are lazy.”
Another took offense at the shade Speedy was tossing Walmart’s way. The user wrote, “It’s not just Walmart. You’re just picking on Walmart because you hate them!”
Someone who said that they work in a Walmart auto service department remarked that it’s not the fault of the mechanics’ that some tires can be mounted but not balanced. They wrote, “I work for Walmart AutoCare. I’ve had an instance where I’ve mounted tires and the machine won’t let me balance them. That’s beyond my control. I tell them, it is what it is, I can mount them but.”
@stwdirect Walmart Can’t Balance These Wheels and cross threaded the lug #walmart #tires ♬ original sound – STW Direct ™️
The Daily Dot reached out to Walmart and Speedy via email for further comment.
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