Sullivan Tire & Auto Service

Updating and upgrading my review. I received an email from the District Manager this morning and he went over the pricing structure with me. The Manager can use their discretion to price a job based on complexity. Low profile tires and bigger rims add to the complexity of the job and can make balancing the wheelset more difficult and time consuming. With that said, he told me to reach out to him directly before my next visit, so I’ll update my review again in the spring. I personally just appreciate that he took the time to contact me and set aside time to discuss.

The employees were pleasant and polite but I won’t be back.
First appointment — after waiting an hour they informed my wife that they didn’t have one of the tires and would have to come back. Mistakes happen, so we scheduled a 2^nd appointment.
Second appointment — no one called to let us know that the tire hadn’t even shipped yet so I got up early (for me) on a Saturday morning for nothing. For my inconvenience the manager offered to take some money off the price. No amount was specified but I thought it was a nice gesture.
Third appointment — the tire arrived and they all were mounted quickly. However, the employee didn’t know anything about the discount offered to me earlier and would only give a discount on future service. There won’t be future service.
Moral of the story — had the employee on my 3^rd appointment honored the discount (even just a token amount), I would have been a loyal repeat customer. Had I not been offered a discount at all, I still might have come back. But offering a discount and then not following through with it just guaranteed they lost my business. Maybe I should have yelled and got upset but it wasn’t about the money — I just wanted them to demonstrate that the customer mattered.

This is the second time I have had new tires installed on my car. I once went to another place and did not receive a fraction of the service I get here. I needed four new tires for a Mercedes ML. This isn’t cheap, but Sullivan Tire was less expensive than the dealership and I also got a rebate. When it wasn’t ready at the time of check in the Manager Matt said he would take care of it and follow up and he did. I would definitely recommend you go here before a dealership. It was professional, fairly priced and I got great service.

Beware. Sullivan recommended $ 1000 in repairs. I was skeptical of their recommendation, so I took my car to a reputable shop nearer to my home. The second opinion? No work needed… at all. Beware of Sullivan.

Discovered a gouge in the sidewall of one of my tires and wanted to get it replaced before an upcoming road trip just to play it safe. The guy insists on creating a file on me before he’s even answer a simple question. He then says he has to go measure my tread since I have an all wheel drive car. He comes back to regretfully inform me that, unfortunately, he’s going to have to replace all four tires. I bought my car brand new and it has 20,000 miles on it — I’m not replacing three relatively new tires because one has a problem. I told him that was not going to happen and he said they really could only do all four.
He looked pretty taken aback when I walked out. I don’t know if he thought he could fleece me because I have a high-​end car, or perhaps because I’m female? But how foolish to let such easy money walk out the door because you’re committed to a silly up-​sale.

Can’t believe people had such terrible experience with this location. No one ever up-​sell me anything that is not necessary. Almost all of their recommendations are spot on. They always torque down my lug nuts with the right torque and put the same air pressure in all four of my tires! I always check those things after tires changeover. Believe me, I don’t let anything slide.
The 4 stars rating is due to greasy hand-​prints. I keep my cars clean and I certainly notice things like that.

Love this plAce the guys always help me, fast, honest.

Pretty simple, this place sucks. The customer service is horrible. The front desk guy speaks way too quickly and has no concern for the customer. Dude, I get it, you want to sell tires, your managers push you to sell tires, sure makes sense. However, when a customer who purchases tires from you along with your roadside hazard guarantee needs service only to be told he has to drop off his car and wait all day to get it back when he shows up at 6am is ridiculous. Also smirking at me doesn’t help. It’s not funny. It’s how you lose customers. As a side note, the Watertown location (way way better service) took me in under an hour.
One more experience from these guys, they told me I needed to have my lights buffed as they were foggy. Guess what guys, I just paid to have that done 2 weeks prior. Did I look that dumb when I dropped it off? They are clear as can be.
I would avoid this location and go with the Watertown location if you absolutely want to go with Sullivan tire. It’s night and day.

Wow. I’m kind of surprised at all of these terrible reviews; I had a great experience here. I found the staff to be polite and efficient. I went in with a broken windshield wiper, and feared that it was going to be an expensive, time-​consuming issue. They replaced my blade, tightened some bolts, and even filled my tires with air, even though I didn’t ask them to (but I do appreciate it, that low pressure warning light was getting pretty annoying). Total cost: $ 13.00. I was in and out quickly, and everyone was very pleasant.

Avoid this establishment. The Tire Pressure Monitor on my car came on after my car hit a pothole. As I was near this place, I drove in and asked that the tire be checked, while I waited in the waiting room. A while later, I was told that the tire had to be replaced, the rim had to be straightened, another tire should be replaced, and there was a problem with the undercarriage that needed to be repaired. The estimate just for the tires and straightening was well over $ 1000. (He did not have enough information as yet to quote a price for the undercarriage.) I did not have them do that work. Instead, the next day, I took the car to Direct Tire in Watertown, where they repaired the faulty tire for $ 25, and found no need to perform other work. My experience resembles that of others on this site, who also encountered the same unethical recommending of unneeded repairs.

Was traveling from Nova Scotia when we got a screw in a tire on a Sat at 4 oclock an hour before close. We were heading back to Nova Scotia that day. Sullivan had us in and fixed within a half hour. I can’t thank the guys at this location enough. Fantastic service and undetstanding.

I’ve been here three times since they are so close to my house. Twice they fixed my spare or mounted new tires I bought online. Tire mounting is $ 25 per tire, including disposal of the old ones.
The most recent time I was here, I had two flats in a couple of minutes and decided it was time for a new set of tires. They had a really good deal on Goodyear tires, buy 3 get 1 free, as well as a mail in rebate. They also discouraged me from buying a fifth for my full spare, and instead they kept my best tire as the spare.
I haven’t had a problem. They call on time and give good time estimates. There is a local shuttle but I haven’t used it since I’m within walking distance. They also have free coffee while you wait which is handy in the mornings, and a spacious enough waiting area with reading material.
Everyone I’ve talked to has been nice. They even helped me put my hubcap center piece back on which I was about to do myself for the spare I had changed — one of the mechanics must have seen me and came out to help :-)
I also had an oil change and fluid top off here with no problem.
I have found another garage where I’ll take my Audi for service, but tires and oil changes here so close to home are a real plus!
I cannot speak to the service complaints others have about repairs, but I’ve been treated well every time with no hassle.
If you’re in the area, check it out!
They do not sell any used tires, I checked, but their deals are nearly as good as tirerack when they have sales, so I went for it.

I sent this letter to Corp Headquarters one month ago– NEVER HEARD BACK!
Dear General Manager:
This is feedback on a very concerning visit to your location on Washington St Newton. Yesterday, [], I dropped off my [car] for brake service. I didn’t discuss any issues, just handed over the keys. This is what happened after that:
a) At 11:09 a.m. I received a call back. The person said there was «plenty of meat on the pads», and asked if I had concerns. I said not really, that it’s been awhile since I’ve had my brakes checked and there was some braking vibration on the highway. He offered to take the car on the highway. I said that was not necessary given the pads are good. He saw that I bought tires at Sullivan and he thanked me for the business, adding that he’d rotate the tires and the car would be ready when I arrived. (I do not remember this person’s name.)
b) At 11:16 a.m., I received a call from Sullivan Tire, the caller was [redacted]. [redacted] said «looks like you’ll need pads and rotors». After a pause such that I would not use every expletive that came to mind, I let [redacted] know I got a call already saying the brakes were fine and I am picking the car up right away. And I did.
Now, take a look at the enclosed receipt. Someone doctored your customer comments to suggest that someone spoke to me about needing pads and rotors and I declined. No such discussion took place, and further the only employee that heard the highway comment that is noted was the gentleman that called at 11:09 a.m.
Bad day for [redacted], or overaggressive corporate attempts to churn business?

Brought my Shelby GT500 in, as there was a bit of a vibration in the front end. They brought me out back and showed me that there was an issue with the wear and that my camber was off. The tire was wearing funny. They re-​mounted and balanced my remaining tires, all for a low price.
I also brought my Acura TSX in a week later for a winter tire changeover, and oil change. I of course was told about the $ 200 in service the car «needed» but i told them i would have it done by the Acura Dealer. They didnt put up a fight. I will say though, the car didnt need those services.

Getting tires replaced isn’t fun, no matter which way you look at it. But I did have a nail in a tire, and realized it was time for replacement at 40K miles. I brought my car to Sullivan and was very happy with everything. The price was reasonable (I’d done some checking around), the service was fine, the manager could not have been more helpful and courteous. And I thought the waiting area was better than most. Sorry to read the negative reviews here, but then again I didn’t have anything done beyond tire replacement.

Wish there was a zero stars button! Came in for oil change and to get «engine» light checked. I was told I needed a new manifold, possibly all three, as it was cracked causing pressure leak. They gave an estimate of up to $ 2300. I paid $ 200 for the oil change and this diagnostic service. Then I went to a real mechanic who found a damaged o-​ring on one of the fuel injectors. Cost $ 200 and fixed everything. They also told me that if Sullivan even bothered to do the smoke test they charged me for, they didn’t know what they were doing, because the problem was «really obvious» according to the mechanic. If you want a «technician» googling possible problem areas on your car, give Sullivan a try. If you want your car fixed, find a mechanic.

Brought my Jeep in there for a specific problem and received a laundry list of ‘danger’ items that needed to be fixed — that was fine, it’s not hard to imagine that an older car would need some additional repairs, so I agreed and decided to phase them out over two weekends.
When I picked my car up after the first phase, there was zero difference in the car — the breaks which were ‘fixed” still sounded and felt the same and a tail light that was ‘replaced’ still didn’t work (didn’t notice until that night when someone else told me).
Additionally, the car was filthy and there was grease all over the steering wheel and leather seats.
Needless to say I didn’t bring it back for phase two and can’t imagine heading back there again… maybe they should just stick to tires.

I have an older car (’97 Honda), and I’ve gotten a lot of work done at Sullivan Tire in Newton over the past year, so I thought it was time to write a review! I went in for the first time to get a flat fixed, and since then I’ve gotten all 4 tires replaced, the alignment done, the front axle fixed, the radiator replaced, and front brake work done.
Everyone I’ve encountered there has been extremely courteous, helpful, and professional. As someone who does not know much about cars, getting my car fixed used to be an intimidating experience. But at Sullivan Tire, they always take the time to explain everything to me thoroughly and politely, and I feel completely comfortable.
Most recently, I went in to get my brakes checked, and they discovered that my radiator was leaking. They recommended that I get the radiator replaced right away, but that I could hold off for a while longer on getting the brakes done. I really appreciated their honest assessment and advice.
I’m moving soon, and even though this Sullivan Tire location won’t be the closest one to my new house, I will continue coming here because of the excellent service. I’ve already referred 2 friends, and I would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone else I know!

If I could give this place zero stars, I would.
I went in for a routine oil change, and decided to get a «systems check» for an extra few dollars. An hour later, I was told that my car needed serious brake work (the phrase «safety concern» was thrown about), two fluid flushes, and a new battery. I was also told that, even though there was nothing wrong with my current ones, some new struts would «improve my ride quality.» All this to the tune of over $ 2000 of repairs for my 1996 Geo Prism.
I’m no mechanic, but I know a bit about cars and I knew I was being screwed over. I promptly picked my car up and drove it to my trusted mechanic (Murph at Car Zone in Kendall Square) where I was informed that there was NOTHING wrong with my car at all. Murph told me that even if that work did need to be done, I could have it done somewhere else for about half the cost.
DO NOT take your car here or to any Sullivan Tire. Even if you are just getting the oil changed, give your business to a mechanic or garage that is trustworthy and honest. I cringe every time I imagine someone else falling for the Sullivan Tire scam. There are plenty of good mechanics around; don’t waste your time or money on the crooks.