Life lessons and lying auto techs.
 

So, i have an 18 year old step son that needed an alignment on his truck. I told him why and how it's done and to have them rotate his tires prior to aligning the front end to make sure it's done right. I also told him to max out the camber so that the truck ran straight down the road with ease.

The Tire dealer had the truck for four hours today and charged him for the work. I asked him how it drove and he said that it pulled to the right still.

I walk out to my son's dirty truck and the front wheels are still the break dust covered front wheels that where on the truck in the morning and the Left front tire that has a wear from improper alignment is still on the left front.

Tomorrow he get's to go in and politly talk with the manager about the fraud that they have pulled. If they don't make good on it he'll go to corperate and let them know plus yelp, facebook and twitter.


They also gave him a list of $850 worth of stuff that needs to be done on the truck. Think that we should trust them?:p

typical tire store. they like to upsell bigtime.

When I was 19, I paid a very hard-earned $250 to get a valve adjustment.
I was afraid of moving mechanical things.

Bike died across town the next day.
I pushed the 600# beast back to my apt, up and down hills.
Opened a valve cover port and there was a freaking nut sitting in the spring.
Called the shop.
They said they'd tow it for $50, then decide if they wanted to charge me more. Plain rude.

Dad stepped up, talked to the manager, and got some of the money back.
Bonding incident which lasted a lifetime.

Teach them how it's done.
Take pics. Explain rationale, proper steps, and why it should be done that way.
Go from there.
Once I was a ACE certified Master Mechanic (which doesn't mean squat) and could provide a professional opinion for legal matters.

Good luck.

After an alignment I was quoted ~$900 for new brakes on my Mini. "Unsafe" was their word. I ordered brakes online and figure I would put them on over the weekend. Of course once I pulled the wheels off the brakes had plenty of meat. This was about a year ago. Also, parts were $150 tops.

Crooks in my book.

I agree with the dirty wrench, but part of it is also your son. He needs to tell them and pay attention to what's going on before and after to see if they swap out the tires. I always tell people twice. I work with trades people enough that I know for a fact that they need to be told twice (sometimes more).

I just don't understand not doing the job that you're paid to do.

He called them and he said that they told him that there was another Ranger in the shop and they must have worked on the other one and thought it was his.

its just something we just have to accept or go to another place. I stop trying to understand these things. As far as maxing out the camber, I am sure that isn't done?

Onc I find someone good, I stick with them.

Well two things could have happened here. 1) Somewhere in the short chain of communication, the 'tech(s)' never looked at it and someone thought it was finished.
2) The 'tech' did look at it, and billed for the job but never did it, hoping that you would not care or notice.

BTW, it's 2013. All alignment equipment can give and print out: OE Specs, before and after readings of all measurements. Most places where I have worked in the past the tech had to present a valid 'before' and 'after' print-out for that vehicle with date and time stamped to get paid for the job.

another thing. just because the tires and pointed straight at the time of the alignment doesn't mean the car will drive straight. if there's s bad suspension bushing, a bad steering box, or even a dragging brake caliper, that'll do it as well. the shop will say "well we did an alignment, the wheels were straight"

+1

However, given the lack of rotation, its possible the truck was never worked on.

Life lessons and lying auto techs.
 

TireMeister? ;)

Als, wouldn't you want to max out the castor to get the most self-centering effect?

Last time something like this happened to me, I talked to the owner of the shop and mentioned I was seriously considering laying out all the details on Yelp.com.

While his story didn't change, he quickly refunded my money.

My '87 Carrera came with a receipt for a recent clutch job at a very reputable shop. A year later (2001-2002), when I needed a new clutch, imagine my surprise to find the engine had never been out of the car, the shaft/fork update hadn't been done and the clutch disc I pulled off there was stamped "12/86." Previous owner paid $2700 for that job that was never done.

Yes, I meant to say castor not camber.

so they fix it ..
t'was a mistake..
BS...
on to the next victim..

Rika

We're not all bad. Some of us try to be honest, professionals. It can be a rat race. I wonder if they set the truck up for alignment on the rack, and then found bad front end parts, that would not allow them to align it , until they were replaced, then billed you for the set up time on the rack? Just a thought.

Nada on the front end being bad the work that they wanted er recomended to do was all the oils ect, We did the diff a year ago and marked the date on it they wanted $90 to do it again.

I always like to give people the benefit of the doubt, but I will be honest when I say, that I have met some of the slimiest people I have ever known that are in this biz.

Because, in this instance, not doing the work on one car is free profit while they work on another car.

In the inside automotive world that term is: Flat-Rating that job. IE: "Man, I drove that truck, steering wheel is straight, doesn't pull. I'm parking it on the alignment rack to 'marinate' while looking for other good work"

Part of how someone can bill 15 to 18 labor hrs a day consistantly.

I used to hear managers brag to me on how much money Tech Joe-Bob is doing, averaging 15-18 hrs a day. My retort is: "Well has to be one of the two "L's"............................................. .Lying or Living there (12 hrs a day/6 days a week)+

So which one is Joe-Bob doing?

It's called a "Wall Job."

I wouldn't "max" out the caster. Do it to spec and the truck will track well but turn well at speed. What kind of truck? I've had alignment issues and arguments about my '89 Chevy 1/2 T since new. Lasts guy that worked on it took it to the max in one direction and let it be at that. It needed an offset bushing kit. I asked why they didn't just call me and tell me they needed a kit. Instead, they gave me back a truck that pulled as it has always done.

Got the truck back to them a few days later for the kit install and realignment. It ran straight. A few months later I rotated the tires noticing some bad wear patterns on the fronts. Put the square tires from the back on the front and guess what?

It pulls again. It's become a beater truck, so I've quit putting money into it. One day it's going to stop somewhere on me and I'm going to call a cab and call the junk yard. Or maybe if CA has a program to take 80's cars off the road, I'll soak them for the 1500 credit. I think that came back for certain situations.

But, I digress.

Jim, what type of shop/tire dealer did he take it to?

All of our alignment work has always been done by a solid, highly-recommended independent shop that our solid, highly recommended independent repair shop sends us to.

Some auto people are Lying scum, Some plumbers are, some contractors are, Some hedge fund
managers are, Some insurance execs are etc. etc. People are people auto techs are no different
The vast majority give it their best shot day in day out sometimes for crap pay in a dirty shop

You are right. This is a tough profession. Dirty working conditions ,chemicals, physically taxing and mentally challenging. Being an Auto tech that is. Other occupations are less taxing and they earn twice as much.

Ask around for a good shop and take your vehicles there, and only there. Don't shop on price, find a good shop and stick with them. I've had fantastic luck with a Firestone Store that's a block from my house, I use them exclusively for the few things that I don't DIY like tires and alignments. Prices are fair and they do great work, they even request to take extra time with the more expensive cars to reduce the risk of damage.

Clean with solvent and rag. Mark date/chemicals with paint pen. Spot of rattle clear coat.
Or use a punch set.
Done.

Yup, I had a place that did good work, owner died, chain store buy out - work went to crap. I started DIY as much as possible. The local dealer has hired a guy who used to run his own indie shop that I also trusted - but was too far away. Now that he's working on my car if I take it to the dealer, the dealer has been the place I go. Although I do most of the work meself these days anyway.

Even with chains, each shop has its own crew and manager, and it can vary.

my BIL's girlfriend came to me in a panic. her "free" rotation brought a life threatening situation to light. her brakes were on the verge of failing!!

she got new pads and brought them to me. i asked her if she kept the receipt so she could return them if needed. took off wheels, and held the new pad next to the old ones..hahahha..i bet she burned 30-40%. i buttoned it all back up and sent her back for a refund.

shops love messing with women.

one shop told my wife her camry brake rotors were more expensive because her car came from the mexico factory. the rotors were different. i told her that was a lie. i got the rotors and she asked me if they brought up the mexico thing...nope. she got on the horn and blasted that guy. it was awesome.

They don't make Camry's in Mexico, they make the Tacoma there....

That's a good I've though, why in the heck would the location of the factory matter?

We aren't all bad, some of us that turn wrenches are still straight up honest. Yes there are bottom feeding pond scum in my industry, but please don't think we are all like that.

I had an alignment done at a local tire shop on my old Jeep truck.
Charged an extra .5 hour to remove 4 bolts on a skid plate.
Truck pulled just as bad after the alignment as it did before.

I dropped in every day at the beginning of the day while people were dropping off their vehicles for service and loudly complain about the poor work and ask for my money back.
After 3 or 4 visits they gave the money back for the alignment but wouldn't give back the .5 hours for removing 4 bolts on the skid plate.
Push....

Took my MDX to a chain tire store to have tires remounted. I noticed an out of balance wheel that was shaking and asked them to rebalance it. I got it back and looked at the inside of the wheel with a flashlight and low and behold, no wheel weights. :confused: I only use someone I know any more.

Firestone, whats up, is pep boys not cheap enough:D I'm glad you have had luck with this place, but on my end, Firestone, Pep Boys, NTB, Mr Tire, Sears, Monroe can all be lumped into one avoidable place. If it means anything, the Acura dealers also did a *****ty job. Only when I found my own mechanic that will do this personally, have I had tires that balanced.

Yup, there were two guys at my old shop that were good, took their time to do things right, the new owners/management frowned on that. :(

I took my business else ware, and steadily started acquiring tools and space to do it myself.

My advice, as insurance regs may not let you in the shop - is to stand in the bay door where your car is being worked on, and watch what's going on.

This would of solved the OP's problem if they never worked on the car!!!