as noted, liability. my local independent shop says they will no longer install customer supplied parts. they said a customer took them to court over some sort of brake failure with parts he supplied. i think the parts were not quite correct.

anyway, between getting sued, and having cars stuck on a lift because the parts are wrong, they are saying no. sure there will be exceptions for special cases, or maybe OE parts.

I just take my wheels and tires off and take them to a local shop, costs me maybe $20 to have them swapped then I just give away the old ones. My local shop would probably mount and balance a potato if I asked him to, I’d bet half the tire business around here is mounting nearly bald used tires on newer diesel trucks

I had a Costco higher up tire guy say to me, who mounted your 265-70-16. I told him Costco mounted the tire on my 16" 5 star rims.

He said they (Costco) shouldn't have done it because inside the door sticker spec is 15 inch rim. And your rim is aftermarket and Costco shouldn't have touched it.

I said look around, for the 3rd gen 4runners, and your see those rims on them as they come like that from the factory. He didn't believe me, but I knew better.

As I walked out to my 4r, another higher up tire guy comes running out apologizing for the guy. I told that guy your co worker really needs more education on his craft. Being on his level, he should know better.

I go to another Costco location, no issues.

That what I usually do, this case I'm not gonna squeeze 8 into my Audi S5 coupe it don't have a hitch either.

That what their up against here having to hire from bottom of pool.

My 4Runner I bought last year has one noticeably different lug nut on each wheel and the little hubcap that is around the lug nuts is all scarred up. It looks like when the previous owner bought a set of tires the person changing the tires used the wrong size socket, probably too large, and ruined some of the lug nuts and replaced them with whatever used ones were on hand.

Worse yet... A previous car I owned, a Mercury Mountaineer, identical to a Ford Explorer, when I bought it the seller told me it had a new catalytic converter, which it had. Later I noticed the check engine light never came on. Bulb had been removed. I put in a bulb and of course the light came on. Checked the code and an oxygen sensor was bad. This particular sensor has to be replaced from above. I had to take out the front seats, remove console, cut the carpet, and access the oxygen sensor through a trapdoor in the floor. Replaced sensor, light went out, no codes, car ran great. Here's what happened, I'm sure. Tire store "mechanic" checked the code and then found out he was unable to easily replace the oxygen sensor, so he took out the check engine light bulb and sold the owner a new, unneeded catalytic converter. By the way, the same tire store had replaced the shocks and ripped out the front splash shields and threw them away

Ironically the best work by tire mounters I've experienced has been at Walmart! I've watched them and they always carefully torque the lug nuts with a torque wrench as the last step.

Folks like that I've palmed em a $20 don't happen often any more.

Sounds like it had wheel locks and no key.

I'll bet that's what happened. Good thinking.

A friend and I have found that a tip when none is expected often pays off big the next time a service is required. Plus, it's fun to see gratitude from a service worker or waitress who obviously needs the money. When I was young (about 60 years ago!) I had a paper route. The good tippers always got the best service, and a tip was always appreciated.

I hated those things kept key & proper socket in truck.

Amen, a while back was in a pub ran a tab got lit time to pay tab with card cash for tip, unknowingly I reached too far back in wallet. Go back few days later waitress's on me like white on rice. Ha I had reached into the benjamin's, didn't mind young single mom going to college.

I like this anecdote. And cold, hard cash for the tip always makes a hit. Cash they can spend right now, and tips on the card aren't available until their next payday. Also no tax withholding on cash. Who knows, your tip may have been groceries for her family that day.

I had my local Toyota dealership throw away the rubber guard on top of the distributor on my '89 pickup when it was only a couple of years old, then try to blame it on me. They also didn't tighten the fan belt after they did other work and it squealed as soon as I started it up.

Same dealership, on my '04 T4R when it was new, threw away the rubber access guard over the oil pan access. Years later they threw away the fender splash guards and never told me about either of these when I picked up the car. On other regular maintenance items and recalls they threw away a lot of those plastic clips and necessary screws on whatever they were working on.

I hate dealerships. From the time you walk in to get your car until the day you sell it, they are the biggest disappointment. I've had people tell me that my local Toyota dealership constantly wins service awards. They must lie about their services.

Always made me wonder, when I see a tire tech do a full send on the lug nut with an impact, still pressing that impact trigger for a good 5 seconds after the lug bottoms out and stops turning.

Then follows up with a torque wrench, assuming set at the proper 83 ft lb setting.
The tech goes to torque the lug, and the wrench clicks without the lug rotating to arrive at the final torque.

Or could be that the impact (without using torq sticks) he's using is calibrated to arrive at the proper 83 ft lb?