@#%* Dealership...gotta vent

[Beer Belly]

For the past 9 months, whenever I brought my truck in for an Oil Change, I'd ask to have the front end checked because it feels a little loose....and everytime, they'd say it is fine....so I figured, the truck is getting up in mileage, and figured it's normal wear. This past service, they said "you need rear shoes and a R/F axle seal"......I let them do the brakes.....3 weeks later, I go in for the seal....what do they tell me....."You need inner tie rod ends....you must have felt it, it cupped the hell out of your front tires....we recommend the tie rod ends, align, and a rotate to move those bad tires to the rear".....I just about lost it, and told them "how could this be, everytime you tell me it's fine, now I have torn up tires"....no answer....$513.00 later, I'm driving with what I hope is a shimmy from the tires being rotated without balancing....but it does feel tighter....just not happy with the way this unfolded. Why do I go to them ???....they have helped me in the past with discounts, and even doing extra work for no charge.....but this ticks me off.

[AGT]

That would bother me a bit too. Especially now that the tire is worn

[C-Dub]

As bad as this sounds, it doesn't surprise me a bit that a dealership's lube guys can't diagnose bad steering components. Those guys are making nearly minimum wage and have nothing to gain from you having tight suspension or not. However, I do believe you can't blame them entirely for your tires cupping because that leads me to believe in 9 months YOU have also been slacking on checking out your tires. It doesn't take long to look down and check the tires for proper wear, and should be a no-brainer if air pressures are checked on a regular basis.

[Beer Belly]

As bad as this sounds, it doesn't surprise me a bit that a dealership's lube guys can't diagnose bad steering components. Those guys are making nearly minimum wage and have nothing to gain from you having tight suspension or not. However, I do believe you can't blame them entirely for your tires cupping because that leads me to believe in 9 months YOU have also been slacking on checking out your tires. It doesn't take long to look down and check the tires for proper wear, and should be a no-brainer if air pressures are checked on a regular basis.

 

I did, once in a while, look at how the front tires were wearing....should of ran my hand over them to feel them also. I did notice they were wearing and were due for a rotate....so yes, I do accept some blame....but c'mon...3 oil changes and check the front end, and no mention of the condition of the worn parts. Even worse, there has been a shimmy since I got it back (highway speeds), likely balancing....just called them, they said "We'll recheck everything, and if you need a balance, it's $89.95".....I cannot wait to get there in the morning

[C-Dub]

Glad you didn't see me as coming off harsh as some would on here. Do you not have another tire shop in town that could do the balance a little cheaper? I don't pay that much for balance on my 33's/20's...

[Beer Belly]

Glad you didn't see me as coming off harsh as some would on here. Do you not have another tire shop in town that could do the balance a little cheaper? I don't pay that much for balance on my 33's/20's...

 

You weren't harsh.....you were correct, and I'll admit my mistake. If it does need a balance, I will take it to the local tire shop for sure.

[Doug_Scott]

Simply rotating tires will not change the balance of the tires, unless the tires were balanced in place as opposed to off the vehicle.

As for blaming cupped tires on worn inner tie rod ends, don't understand how that can be. Cupped tires are generally a result of bad shocks, bad as in not controlling the rebound of the spring correctly. Once a tire is cupped, it will continue to get worse, even after repairing the cause of the cupping in the first place.

One thing I could see happening though is just about the direct opposite of what the shop is saying. The cupped tires can wear out inner tie rod ends faster due to the constant vibration of the tire. This assumes rack and pinion steering. On rack and pinion steering the inner tie rod ends are basically a cup and ball that is being pushed/pulled on a different plane than the traditional tie rod end like the outers are.

[alitterit]

Sorry to hear this and hope it all gets worked out for you.... but $90 for a tire balance is insane, shop around the corner from me does it for for $10/$12 a tire. Id check with some local spots about the balancing befor you got back to the dealer.

[brainpause]

Bad tires should be on rear axle. Counterintuitive, but that's what manufacturers recommend.

[brainpause]

Bad tires should be on rear axle. Counterintuitive, but that's what manufacturers recommend.

 

 

I suppose to be accurate, I should say new tires should be on rear axle. I guess that opens the debate about ongoing tires and their placement. Seems to me, however, with the same reason as in video linked below, that the better tires still need to be on rear.

 

http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/infoTiresRear.dos

 

[Beer Belly]

We back to the dealer this morning....told them I needed the front end rechecked due to a simmy....I told them "It is likely balancing, and if thats the case, I'm not paying $89.95 to have it done, I'll take it to Firestone down the road"....1/2 later the service writer came in....I must of gave him that look....he told me "They haven't looked at the truck yet, so don't get excited.....if we need to do the balancing, we'll do it for $20...better than Firestone"....I told him for $20, go ahead. Service manager came out about 1 hour later saying the truck is ready and they balanced the tires....I explained my story of having the Front End checked continuously over the past months, then suddenly "its really bad, you must of felt it", and that I paid $500 for the work to get done, and they couldn't balance the tires during the rotate ???.....he then told me he'd cover it. Last time I was at this dealer (about one month), I had rear brakes done, seems that the tech screwed up my drums, and I had to return the next day to have them sent out to get cut....every one service, turns into a "go back and fix it" the next day, so I think he took mercy on me

[Mikeb52r]

Sorry to hear about all you had to go through with your truck, but really glad to hear that they will refund your money and cover it. Sounds like you might have a place that will take care of you.

 

Anyway, my question is, did the service manager write up your oil change tickets with the addtional remarks about the front end being loose? I know things do wear out, and yes you should have been watching for tire wear closer, but if you asked it to be checked out multiple times and it was always good then all of a sudden its bad, I would think that the service department should have helped you out with it in the first place.

 

That is why I always look at and keep the service records (your copy) for the life of my vechiles. So I could show a trend if needed.

 

Am I thinking in the right direction here? And by no means am I trying to start a debate or agurment here.

[Doug_Scott]

Bad tires should be on rear axle. Counterintuitive, but that's what manufacturers recommend.

 

 

I suppose to be accurate, I should say new tires should be on rear axle. I guess that opens the debate about ongoing tires and their placement. Seems to me, however, with the same reason as in video linked below, that the better tires still need to be on rear.

 

http://www.discountt...foTiresRear.dos

 

 

The reason for having the better tires in the rear comes from the logic that understeer is preferred. With poor tires on the rear, you will likely end up in an oversteer condition and for some reason that is not the preferred condition. I first heard this "logic" in the 70's when front wheel drive was something that only big Olds and Buicks had (and oddly enough, those two vehicles were also about the only ones on the road that would "bump steer" if the castor was way off).

Personally, I would prefer the new tires on the front, but I would not be likely to panic or be caught unaware of sudden oversteer.

[Doug_Scott]

We back to the dealer this morning....told them I needed the front end rechecked due to a simmy....I told them "It is likely balancing, and if thats the case, I'm not paying $89.95 to have it done, I'll take it to Firestone down the road"....1/2 later the service writer came in....I must of gave him that look....he told me "They haven't looked at the truck yet, so don't get excited.....if we need to do the balancing, we'll do it for $20...better than Firestone"....I told him for $20, go ahead. Service manager came out about 1 hour later saying the truck is ready and they balanced the tires....I explained my story of having the Front End checked continuously over the past months, then suddenly "its really bad, you must of felt it", and that I paid $500 for the work to get done, and they couldn't balance the tires during the rotate ???.....he then told me he'd cover it. Last time I was at this dealer (about one month), I had rear brakes done, seems that the tech screwed up my drums, and I had to return the next day to have them sent out to get cut....every one service, turns into a "go back and fix it" the next day, so I think he took mercy on me

 

 

I don't understand something here, did the shop send the drums out the first time to be turned, or did they do them in-house? You say they sent them out the next day, but unless the tech doing the brakes machined them in house when he did the job, how could he have screwed them up?

 

I also wonder about the logic of having the dealer pay for the repairs completely. If the truck was under warranty when you first reported the issue, and by the time they found the problem it was out of warranty, then I can understand wanting the repair for free. And if the tires were not worn (cupped) when you first started complaining about the steering, I can understand asking the dealer for some compensation regarding the now ruined tires, but, if the tires were already cupping, and the front end parts were already worn out, and the dealer did not recommend replacement on the first couple of reports, why should they be expected to replace/repair the front end parts for free? I am not trying to start something here, just wondering how it can be the dealers fault that they did not recommend repairing it from the first report? It is not like it would have been cheaper, it would have been the same repair, and the same cost. I am not defending the dealers action or inaction, I am just wondering what the logic is when wanting the repair for free thats all.

[Beer Belly]

We back to the dealer this morning....told them I needed the front end rechecked due to a simmy....I told them "It is likely balancing, and if thats the case, I'm not paying $89.95 to have it done, I'll take it to Firestone down the road"....1/2 later the service writer came in....I must of gave him that look....he told me "They haven't looked at the truck yet, so don't get excited.....if we need to do the balancing, we'll do it for $20...better than Firestone"....I told him for $20, go ahead. Service manager came out about 1 hour later saying the truck is ready and they balanced the tires....I explained my story of having the Front End checked continuously over the past months, then suddenly "its really bad, you must of felt it", and that I paid $500 for the work to get done, and they couldn't balance the tires during the rotate ???.....he then told me he'd cover it. Last time I was at this dealer (about one month), I had rear brakes done, seems that the tech screwed up my drums, and I had to return the next day to have them sent out to get cut....every one service, turns into a "go back and fix it" the next day, so I think he took mercy on me

 

 

I don't understand something here, did the shop send the drums out the first time to be turned, or did they do them in-house? You say they sent them out the next day, but unless the tech doing the brakes machined them in house when he did the job, how could he have screwed them up?

 

I also wonder about the logic of having the dealer pay for the repairs completely. If the truck was under warranty when you first reported the issue, and by the time they found the problem it was out of warranty, then I can understand wanting the repair for free. And if the tires were not worn (cupped) when you first started complaining about the steering, I can understand asking the dealer for some compensation regarding the now ruined tires, but, if the tires were already cupping, and the front end parts were already worn out, and the dealer did not recommend replacement on the first couple of reports, why should they be expected to replace/repair the front end parts for free? I am not trying to start something here, just wondering how it can be the dealers fault that they did not recommend repairing it from the first report? It is not like it would have been cheaper, it would have been the same repair, and the same cost. I am not defending the dealers action or inaction, I am just wondering what the logic is when wanting the repair for free thats all.

 

I never asked to be compensated for any repairs....just upset how the front end can go from "no problem", to "You should of felt it, it is so bad' in 1000 miles, when I've been asking for them to check it for the past 9,000 miles at each Oil Change. The Drums were cut in house....they claim that the Lathe was screwed up.....how they didn't feel that pulsation during a road test I'll never know.....when slowing, the last 15MPH, you'd be rocking forward from the pulsation.....not sure how much meat they had to take off to fix them, but the brakes are fine now.......I also ran the truck up to 90 mph....not a shimmy, or a shake.....drives like new