Lucas Tire

I've been going to Lucas tire for years. After a few bad experiences as a new Chicago resident, I found Lucas tire through a friend's recommendation. The environment is clean and comfortable, service quick and honest, and the staff is very friendly. I've definitely passed the word along!

Posted 10/26/09

Three weeks back i got a flat tire (pothole) while driving on Western.
It was around 4:30 in the afternoon and i had just bought groceries across the street when i felt something was shaking on the front left side of the car.

The front left wheel was slashed so i stopped at Lucas Tire for help.

I know nothing about cars so i was afraid about getting ripped off, but 35 min later and a bill lower than what my toe nails costs me, i was on my way home with a new tire.

just wanted to share a story about a dame in distress :)

Pros: They fixed it :)

Posted 10/20/09

Went to Lucas Tire and had my car fixed in under an hour! Everyone on site was very professional. Will definitely go back for future service appointments. Highly reccomend!

Pros: Friendly and experienced staff

Cons: None

Posted 10/20/09

Lucas Tire has a friendly staff. I had a great experience with them and will definitely go back. Great customer service.

Posted 10/20/09

Rich was very helpful in explaining auto issues to those that don't know a whole bunch about cars. He makes sense of what work is being billed for, the best a client could ask for.

Pros: These guys know the drill

Cons: None really

Posted 09/22/09

Take my car there all the time. Have two sets for my car bought earlier this year.

Whenever i need something I give them a call. They look at my car, give me an estimate, i say OK and they fix it! Nothing to it to be honest!

When it comes to tires these guys are the best!

Pros: They know tires

Posted 09/21/09

I went to Lucas Tire to get some work done on my car, and they repaired it as soon as possible. They even offer you cheap prices and great customer services. If you have any questions on your repairs or you want to see the problem for yourself they'll be happy to show you and explain in greater detail! Lucas Tire is the best! Thank you!

Pros: Best car repairs ever

Posted 07/30/09

On September 15, 2007 I purchased 4 new tires from Lucas Tire. I recently discovered they installed the wrong size tires on my Honda Civic.

When I originally purchased the tires the majority of my driving was short distances on city streets within Chicago. For the last 9 months, the majority of my driving involves long distances on expressways. With the onset of winter my car has handled very poorly in snowy conditions. I assumed I had bought poor quality tires back in September 2007. Today I went to purchase two new front tires from a different tire company. While shopping for new tires, I discovered that Lucas Tire had installed tires that were for a Honda Accord rather than a Honda Civic. I went to Lucas Tire to explain the mistake and he refused to replace the current tires with the correct size tires. As a result I had to buy four new tires at another tire store.

Obviously when I hired Lucas Tire I expected the company to install tires that met Honda's tire specifications. I am appalled that Lucas Tire knowingly equipped my car with tires that caused my car to maneuver less safely in winter conditions which in turn jeopardized my safety and the safety of my passengers.

Posted 12/21/08

I took my Acura TL with about 90,000 miles. I took it there for a new tire, one was leaking. They said that I should replace two of them, but 2 were good. I told them to do what they had to do. They also said that my front brakes needed to be done, routers and all. Again, I just said do it. I did not ask price.... I did not think about it.... The girl on the phone said something about not putting money into a car with that many miles...? I know my car is not new, but I place to have it until I get 150,000. It's a nice car and I would say it is still worth about $10,000. Anyways... They fix the car..... A couple weeks later I was driving it and I notice that it was shaking when I put the breaks on at about 50mph+. I took it back in and they kept it over night and when I called back they said there was nothing wrong with it. They said that they would resurface the routers and maybe that would fix the problem. I thought that maybe it would too... I was wrong.. Same things. I brought it in again and I was told the owner drove it home this night....? Anyways.. No big deal use my car as you personal car, strange, but whatever... He said it was not doing it anymore.... Get the car back and there is an open Coke in my cup holder, still 1/2 full... If you want to drive it home, at least get your Coke out. Long story short. I'm sick of this place, and though I have had several good experiences with them, they do not care if there is an issue. I'm going to take my car to Midas, get the lifetime warranty, and not worry about it. (Oh, and I did have a friend that is a mechanic look at it... He said the reason it is shaking.... They use cheap parts. The brake is actually melting from the heat. Again, I'll need to replace pads and routers.)

Pros: None

Cons: Everything

Posted 08/18/08

I have had two service experiences at Lucas. Most recenlty I had a some work done and new tires on a 1999 Pathfinder. I have found Lucas Tire to be very helpful, courteous, senstive about cost, and trustworthy. They take time to discuss what is needed and why. For example I needed new shocks but upon examination they found I only needed two. I asked for a tune up but they said I was ok with my plugs and wires for a few months since the expense of teh other items was high. They also repaired a damaged mirror for $100; it would have been over $250 at a body shop. I plan to take all my automotive work to them. I highly recommend them.

Posted 06/09/08

hello, my name is ryan and i am an a.s.e. certified technician with 10 years of experience and i am writing this review in response to montaque27 review. i am the technician who worked on mr. cizek's vehicle and i am disgusted at this misinformation presented in his review. i am writing this so people can get the whole story. to begin, mr. cizek brought his vehicle into lucas tires on january 9th 2008 with the complaint of the engine running rough and the check engine light on. this vehicle was diagnosed by me and here i will print exactly what appeared on the estimate " CUSTOMER COMPLAINT OF ENGINE RUNNING ROUGH VERIFIED. DIAGNOSTICS FOUND A FAULTY IGNITION COIL. THIS IS MORE THAN LIKELY CAUSED BY TUNE UP COMPONENTS THAT ARE OUT OF SPEC. RECOMEND FULL TUNE UP AND IGNITION COIL TO CORRECT THIS PROBLEM. DIAGNOSTICS ALSO FOUND A FAULTY ENGINE COOLANT TEMPERATURE SENSOR CAUSING THE CHECK ENGINE LIGHT TO BE ILLUMINATED. RECOMEND REPLACING THE ENGINE COOLANT TEMP SENSOR. " after presenting the facts and pricing to mr. cizek he informed me that he did not want to do all of the work and that he just wanted an ignition coil. NOW FOR SOME TECHNICAL DATA___ when you have a spark plug that is worn completely beyond recognition due entirely to neglect, and you keep driving the vehicle and ignoring the maintenance, the high voltage spark that is generated by the ingnition coil finds the path of least resistance and at this point, the spark plug is no longer that path. the next weakest link in mr. cizek's vehicle was the side of his igition coil. the high voltage spark had burned a hole through the side of it. mr. cizek asked me to replace only the ignition coil and nothing else. i said absolutley not. because the same problem will happen again. mr cizek said ok then just do the coil, plugs and wires and than said , and i quote " as long as it run s good i dont care about
the check engine light. "

Posted 04/07/08

I've been a customer for quite some time, as I used to live near the store, and everyone has always been professional and courteous. You may have to wait for your oil change or tire rotation-as they're always pretty busy, especially on the weekends. I've got no complaints regarding new tires or repairs. There was one experience, though....the mechanic accidentally left his wrench on my front passenger seat. Horrors!So I turned around and brought it back. They were very thankful and apologetic. Very nice people there. Good product, good prices, family-owned and operated. Definitely the way to go if you prefer good treatment from a local neighborhood business rather than a chain store (i've had some bad experiences with those). I often see the owner at local restaurants or charity functions and he always remembers his customers. I moved out of that area a couple years ago and still take the car back to Lucas for work.

Pros: good service, family shop

Cons: often busy--small parking lot, lots of customers

Posted 03/25/08

I had some work done to my car at Lucas Tire and Auto. I dropped my car off and they called me with the diagnostics and estimate. They described around $1050 worth of repairs that should be done to my car. I had most of the work done ($800) leaving filters and 1 small part. The check engine light was still on which I anticipated. I took the car back there a couple weeks later to get the other part replaced and to essentially turn the light off which the technician said would happen. They ordered and replaced the part. The check engine light was still on and they could not tell me why. I was then berated by the front desk lady (who couldn't stop eating her chips and salsa while yelling at me) for having the work done on a Saturday because the "guy" who does diagnostics wasn't there on Saturdays. When I called prior to this day to order the part, they were more than happy to get my business on Saturday. So, in protest I paid, and left with my car with the check engine light still illuminated.

I then realized my cell phone was missing while on my drive home and returned to Lucas Auto to reclaim it as I was talking on it when I entered Lucas Auto. I inquired to its whereabouts and asked the same lady if anyone could have grabbed it so it wouldn't get lost and she said, "I don't know, maybe I ate it." I could not make this up. The gentleman waiting in line behind my burst into laughter and could not believe his ears. A young lady filling out paperwork turned and said, "It?s been like this all day."

I've never reviewed anything in my life, positively or negatively, I just don?t have the time and frankly I don?t care if other people get screwed at the same place that I did. In this case however, I felt compelled to try to warn other Chicagoans to go anywhere else, anywhere, regardless of anything that could possibly make you want to go to this place.

Good luck Lucas Auto, you'll need plenty of it to stay open.

Pros: Abosolutely nothing at all

Cons: Everything you could imagine. Lies, mistreatment, rudeness, unwillingness to work with you

Posted 03/10/08

i called several places looking for a specific type of tire, i called lucas tire and the owner seemed very helpful over the phone, even though they didn't carry exactly what i was looking for, i decided to go ahead purchased four new tires, this was about a year and a half ago, recently my tire started to slowly leak air, so i took it to another shop (the reason i didn't go back to Lucas will become obvious later in this tale). I thought the seal on this tire had been broken or something. to my suprise, the tech tells me the tire has been plugged. What! I told him that's impossible, i purchase these tires brand new a little over a year ago, and have never had them plugged. in fact, up until now i haven't had a problems w/ them. sure enough the tech shows me the plug that is coming out of the tire. Now, in my opinion Lucas Tire royally screwed me!! Mr. Lucas says, well, your wife or kids or someone else must have had it plugged. Well, i don't have kids, have never loaned my car to anyone, and my wife would certainly tell me if the tire went flat and needed to be fix. The bottom line. I must have been sold a used tire. At least that's the way i see it. choose to believe Lucas Tire or believe my story. take your pick. Now, the reason it didn't take it back to the Lucas to begin with was just flat out poor service. My vehicle ended up having some other work done while i was in there (which now i think i was probably screwed on that too), but was still suppose to be completed that same day. i ended up picking my vehicle several days later. also, after looking Lucas up on better bus bureau there seems to be something shady going on. Lucas Tire is 'officially closed' with several unresolved complaints, but there is another tire store with the same address listed. Weird. I suggest you find another place to have your tires done. Good luck.

Pros: none

Cons: untrustworthy

Posted 02/01/08

I took my car in for a tune-up, attracted to the place by their website...they seemed to be a great family business and I wanted to support a local, non-chain business. When I got there, I was inititally helped by the owner, a very nice older man. At some point, his daughter took over my transaction. She explained to me that I would need about $1200 worth of work on it if I had any intention "on keeping my car more than a few thousand more miles." I told her I only wanted to get the necessary work done (~$70) to last me a few more weeks so that I could budget for the main work needed. She told me it would be done in an hour. When I got the bill, it was $350. She had gone ahead and had other work done on it without my permission but claimed that I gave her authorization. She started yelling at me and insulting me (hardcore) in front of the other customers and staff, almost as if she was trying to show-off (very bizarre behavior). I have never been attacked like this in a service, and I consider myself a very passive and calm person. I never raised my voice, but only questioned why it was done. After about an additional 10 minutes of verbal attack, she told me that I would have to now pay the mounting and dismounting fees, which I find to be ridiculous since I had not authorized any of that additional work. But, like an idiot, in the end I paid for the additional work since she was determined not to let me leave without paying for the additional labor. Serves me right for not reading the reviews ahead of time I guess. I will NEVER waste my money and time at this business again. I feel bad for the owner (I think he was her father) because he was so incredibly nice. Too bad one bad staff member taints the whole business.

Cons: Customer service

Posted 01/03/08

So I took a trip down to chicago for a few days, I'm from MN.

As I'm leaving town my car jerks, and all my dash lights come on. Broken Timing belt. So I pull over in to a nearby strip mall parking lot.

I get a phone book and call the first name I find for towing, which happens to be Lucas Tire and Auto (this was mistake number one though I could hardly know it then.) So Guy shows up hooks me up and we go to lucas, which turns out to be a block away, maybe less. He then proceeds to charge me $145 bucks. Ok, I didn't ask how much it would cost, my fault, a gauge but still, I didn't ask.

So I fill out the paperwork and go to stay with my friend. Stranded in Chicago with the clothes on my back. It ends up taking these guys 4 days to change my timing belt and the tensioner. Not the biggest job in the world. They charged me $1200 dollars to do so. They broke a piece off the cam shaft by apparently using the wrong tool. They did NOT set the timing belt properly, something I didn't discover until I was half way home to MN and my car started jerking. Also they put in a faulty tensioner. All of which took them FOUR days to complete. So I end up having to take the car back in when I get to minnesota and the guy has to tear the engine apart again to properly time the belt(chain) and discover that there is a faulty tensioner installed. This only costs me $242 for approximately the same thing the guys at Lucas Tire and Auto charged me $1200 to fix.

As for customer service I believe they lied to me about the amount of time it took to get the part and about the amount of time they were working on it. They were also extremely rude at times.

overall the experience was disastrous, the only thing I got out of it was a little bit of street smarts.

Pros: None, they shouldn't be operating as a business

Cons: Everything, every single aspect of the experience was wanting

Posted 11/10/07

DO NOT take your car to Lucas!!! I had to wait there for 45 minutes while the impolite manager was smoking cigarettes in the back yelling on the phone. Talk about unprofessional!!! So I struck the curb and took my car in for an alignment. They took it to the back, came back to me within 3 minutes and said, "theres more damage than an alignment can fix." So they charged me $25.00 for the "inspection" and told me to bring it back after they order the parts. Instead, I took it to another mechanic at Lee's Foreign Auto where they were more professional and honest. They fixed my alignment and assured me that there was no internal damage. DO NOT go to Lucas!!! Go to anyone else first and be sure to get a second opinion. They have terrible people running the place. I don't want them to steal another dime from anyone! Thanks.

Pros: none

Cons: impolite manager, lazy mechanics

Posted 07/17/07

I have been using their services since I moved to Chicago in August 2006. They are great mechanics! The quality of their service is very high (they do everything quickly and tell you all the info), and although, they could seem a little rough around the edges (in the area of speaking manners), I still like working with them! They are MECHANICS for crying out loud! What do you expect? :-D They are supposed to be able to fix a car - fix it well, quickly, and at a fair price...and they do! So, I like them and I feel safe going to them. Besides, they have some of the best pricing in town for the routine maintenance stuff, as well as for major repair. I recommend using their coupons, those could save you a nice amount of money (depending on what you are having done, of course).

I personally looked for a mechanic who knows his job, and charges good prices - Lucas was it.

Pros: Know their stuff, good prices

Posted 05/16/07

Lucas Tire was somewhat unattractive on the outs, but I think they like it like that.

The service however was GREAT! Their staff have you complete a few forms (which I know may seem weird with computers and all), but I'm sure this makes it very helpful for them to know you.

I've been looking for a mechanic shop, who knows what they are doing (without having to charge you $100 to take a look), reasonable and welcoming. Well Lucas Tire is just that. I was able to use a valuable coupon, get great service, great recommendation and prospects of future discounts, all for under $20.

I didn't rate it a 10 because you have to have patience if you are going to wait, but best of all they take you to your destination (They have their own Enterprise :)).

Thanks Lucas, you are my new Mechanic!

Posted 04/09/07

GET A SECOND OPINION before authorizing them to do anything. I took my car in to get new tires, at which time a mechanic inspected my car and said my brakes were at about 60% life still. A month later my car was making a funny noise. I took it back to Lucas, but this time the newly promoted sales manager inspected it. He said the noise was nothing, but I needed all new brakes for about $750. Of course they could get it done that day too if I authorized the work. Then he asked me for some information and indicated he couldn't find my paperwork from a couple weeks ago. Surprise, surprise - he didn't know that the last guy had told me my brakes were fine.
Well I went back in to pick up my car and took a copy of the first inspection. When confronted, the owner and the sales manager claimed that the first guy was a "tire" guy and not a brake guy. They said he made a mistake. The sales manager/mechanic (conflict of interest?) even took me out to my car and pointed to my brake pads and rotors and claimed I had less than 3000 miles left on them.

At this point either:
a) the second guy was lying to cheat me out of $750 (and a commission I'm sure)
b) the first guy was so wrong about my brake pads that I was in danger of them failing on me before I ever knew about it
c) the second guy was so wrong that he didn't know what he was talking about either

Any option doesn't really look good for Lucas Tire. I realized that I just can't take my car back there because either they lied to me or some or all of their mechanics are grossly incompetent.
Well I finally took my car in for a second opinion and turns out the first mechanic was right - there was NOTHING wrong with my brakes. They estimated them to be at 50% life or better! I would NEVER recommend these guys to anyone, but if you have to use them get a second opinion before letting them do anything to your car. It saved me $750.

Pros: None

Cons: Dishonest sales practices, a sales manager who is also a mechanic

Posted 03/02/07

7:30pm on a Monday night, 4 below temperature, flat tire in front of the store. I walk in - "we're closed, can't help you." Fine, can I borrow a lug wrench (mine had insufficient leverage). "You can't change a tire in our lot, you could file a suit against us" Fair enough, I'll drive it out on to the public street and change it there. "No, we won't loan out tools." You can hold my driver's license and credit card and I'll change it right in front of your window. "No - what do you do for a living? Would you loan out your laptop so I could get on the internet?" Sure, if it would help you out and there's no chance of you stealing it... "No, we don't loan out tools - we have to draw the line somewhere." Helpful. Once I got home I called and spoke to the owner, who referred to late night customers as alligators, since "they always come back to bite you in the a**". He was equally unhelpful, and proceeded to pass on really valuable business advice. "When have you been in Lucas Tire before? How much money have you spent here?" Not sure how that matters in terms of human decency, but I hadn't and I surely won't ever again. "No one else would help you either, just try any business." Actually, the Amoco gas station just north of them did everything they could to help, as did several customers in the parking lot of the gas station. It's nice to know that not everyone has the lack of compassion and/or common decency as the owners of Lucas Tires. I wouldn't give my business to this place if it were the last one on the planet.

Pros: None

Cons: Complete lack of common courtesy as a human being.

Posted 02/04/07

I went to Lucas Auto and let me tell you these guys are really good.
David was very helpful. He kept me in the loop about what was happening with
me truck. Not only did he go out of his way to help me,but he was able to get my truck fixed right the
first time. Being a woman who knows nothing about cars, I really felt David was honest .
I beleave he did his job. Ladys if you want your car done right take it to lucas tire and ask for David

Pros: David is great and the work is top of the line

Posted 01/23/07

The people at Lucas Tire are very helpful.
I took my car to Lucas Tire last week and they were great. I've
had my car at other repair shops and this is the only place i
will ever bring my car to. Ther are frendly and know their stuff

Pros: Costomer service best auto tecs good deals

Posted 01/22/07