My wife called right at the end of work today to let me know she had a flat and needed my help. It occurred to me during this process to share with our readers why I love Hamm’s , located at Carroll and I 30. My mechanic, Jimmy McGee, first told me about it and is the one who noted that it may be Dallas’ busiest tire store. I went because I have an antique car and that was the only place I could find tires for it. The reason I go now is because I am completely fed up with the standard routine at the average retail tire store of taking an hour or more to get a flat fixed or a tire replaced. I no longer have any interest in being shown charges for valve stems and balancing and being offered extended warranties on tires. I don’t want to schedule my entire Saturday around getting a pair of tires put on my car and don’t want to spend this time reading People magazine, drinking stale coffee and having to listen to Oprah on the tv (Sorry, Oprah). I don’t want my grown (more or less) children being told the tire with the slow leak they have brought in to fix won’t pass state inspection so they won’t fix it. Buy a new one or go on your way. It shouldn’t be this hard.
It isn’t. I went to Hamms with my wife’s flat tire and I was in and out in about 7 minutes and paid $7 dollars. About a dollar a minute. That would be the "Hog Wild Service" they advertise. If you just need a couple of tires and aren’t a tire snob, you can get a couple of new tires put on, and I’ve never paid more than $50 a tire, put on your rims on your car, with valve stems and balancing and about 20 minutes total for everything. That’s a lot more than a dollar a minute. Maybe all of their tires are $50. That would be the "No Porky Prices" they also advertise. If you just need a cheap tire to be your spare or just hold a corner of your car up until you’re ready to buy a complete set, they can almost always sell you a used tire of the right size for about $20.
And while you’re there, you’ll have that East Dallas Experience because this is one of those places where Dallas comes together. It doesn’t matter what you look like, not everyone there will look like you. The car next to you could be a 30 year old pickup or a new Lexus. Even an original VW beetle.
A few notes about what Hamm’s is not. It may not be the place to get the Z rated tires for your Carrerra, maybe. It doesn’t have a fancy, comfortable waiting room. It doesn’t have a waiting room at all, but they are generally so fast you don’t need it. It doesn’t have lots of well appointed service bays. It doesn’t have service bays at all, either. All this happens outside, under a tall car port that has been added piece-meal to an old Exxon Station. You pull up, and the service man comes to you himself. Sort of like a Keller’s for tires. Sort of. What’s mostly missing, however, is the bs. Another example of where less is more.
