Do you let tire shops/service shops drive your vehicle?

[cordrayj1]

Because I absolutely hate it. I have an aussie and I know it takes some finesse to drive it "right".


What do y'all allow?

 

[Millerad1651]

I don't mind with mine, but my dad drives a Wrangler with a 327 and a B&M shifter, and the last time they did, they ruined the shifter because they didn't operate it correctly. It wouldn't shift when he went to go pick it up. I'm sure as I start to do more, I'll be a bit more leary.

 

[Stick Figure]

Well for the most part no I don't, but then I don't let them wrench on my vehicles either. Only thing my 4runner has ever been in a shop for is the alignment, and tires. and yes they drove before an after the alignment.

My question is if you trust them enough to wrench on it, how can you not trust them enough to drive it?

 

[Millerad1651]

I'm just talking about the tires. We do all the work ourselves, but have to take it in for tire work.

 

[Stick Figure]

I'm just talking about the tires. We do all the work ourselves, but have to take it in for tire work.

I found a small tire shop like smaller than my home garage. I drive it up, they swap the tires where I park, and I drive it away. The key is to find a smaller independent shop that doesn't have min wage employees that don't care what happens to the company.

Of course another option is to put it on jack stands in the garage and take the tires in off the vehicle. That's what I do for the other cars, I just can't with the 4runner because nothing else is big enough to fit the truck tires.

 

[sportscarfan]

I do all I can to my own fleet. 22 years of driving, I've only had a "car in the shop" one time for warranty work (not manufacturer), and a handful of times to the dealer for recalls (yay Audi!).

In the case where I can't do the work, I bring the sub-assembly to a shop. For tires, most everything I have has 2 sets of wheel's tires (summer/winter) so I haul the loose set to the tire shop for them to work on.

Twice I have witnessed shop employees moving someone's vehicle in/out and managing to hit something (once another parked car, once a pole placed to keep the building from being hit).

I've also had many friends and acquaintances share stories about oil change places not tightening drain plugs, not checking that the old oil filter seal was stuck to the block before threading on the new filter, and my personal favorite - cross threading the oil drain plug into the pan. Get 'er done!

To feed my fear of careless others costing me, I bought a lift 2 years ago to make the DIY life a little more comfortable.

 

[cordrayj1]

ok. to clarify.

this is for getting my tires balanced. i didnt even let them put the new tires and rims on my rig without me driving it in the bay and watching. i also do all of the work on my vehicle, and like to know when something goes wrong, that i caused it . . . .and usually i already know whats wrong, and how to fix it.

so with that being said, i cant remember the last time i actually paid someone to touch my vehicle with a tool in hand other than new tires/balancing.

i mean, i dont even let them test their alignments. i do it. and let them know how bad they screwed it up (because i swear no one can align a toyota truck the right way)

 

[cordrayj1]

I do all I can to my own fleet. 22 years of driving, I've only had a "car in the shop" one time for warranty work (not manufacturer), and a handful of times to the dealer for recalls (yay Audi!).

In the case where I can't do the work, I bring the sub-assembly to a shop. For tires, most everything I have has 2 sets of wheel's tires (summer/winter) so I haul the loose set to the tire shop for them to work on.

Twice I have witnessed shop employees moving someone's vehicle in/out and managing to hit something (once another parked car, once a pole placed to keep the building from being hit).

I've also had many friends and acquaintances share stories about oil change places not tightening drain plugs, not checking that the old oil filter seal was stuck to the block before threading on the new filter, and my personal favorite - cross threading the oil drain plug into the pan. Get 'er done!

To feed my fear of careless others costing me, I bought a lift 2 years ago to make the DIY life a little more comfortable.

dude i am very jealous.

 

[J-money$$$]

I know what you mean. I have a rear lockright and its likes to bind and buck in parking lots. I use to deal with americas tire, and tell them it has a locker. Generally they will just tell you to drive it into the bay.

But now im just over them, Tire shops suck and they rip you off. Well at least the americas tire in hesperia. the people in there really irritate me I will just deal with that stuff on my own. I buy tires and have them shipped to the house. If i want em mounted and balanced ill take them over to a local shop with the wheels. Next time im going to get real ghetto and try the air soft pellets for balance.

But to answer you question. I warn them. If some Jerk off drives my truck and fries the rear end after i warn them i guess they can buy me a new one

 

[Pikeman]

I only deal with a few select shops that I have been dealing with most of my life. I do 90% of my own work but for the things I let others do, I take to people I know and trust. I am not sure what you are talking about driving an Aussie on the street taking finesse. I dont drive any differently with my Aussie then I did before I got it. Take that back, I wont stomp on it to turn left into a shopping center to make a small gap between cars. I just wait for a larger gap and regular throttle, that is literally the only change I had to make.

 

[cordrayj1]

i even told them specifically: "whoever drives this truck, you need to have it in neutral while turning in the parking lot (even tho i backed in a space in front of one of the bays so they could drive straight in . . . ). and by neutral i mean not just your foot on the clutch, THE STICK IN NEUTRAL WITH THE CLUTCH IN.

adhd, adhd. adhd, adhd. . . .

SOOOOOOOOOOOO i just called them...they are def bout to piss me off.

dude said they test drove it. which i SPECIFICALLY TOLD THEM NOT TO DO. theres no way they would feel the off balance without going on the interstate, which i told them, as well as the exact speed when it starts. so WTF is the deal with these places. why do they suck so much dong.
im ripping the weights off to see if that does anything.....then taking it to someone i trust. only thing that sucks is its 100 miles away. good thing i have a wedding to go to near there this weekend.

 

[J-money$$$]

i even told them specifically: "whoever drives this truck, you need to have it in neutral while turning in the parking lot (even tho i backed in a space in front of one of the bays so they could drive straight in . . . ). and by neutral i mean not just your foot on the clutch, THE STICK IN NEUTRAL WITH THE CLUTCH IN.

adhd, adhd. adhd, adhd. . . .

SOOOOOOOOOOOO i just called them...they are def bout to piss me off.

dude said they test drove it. which i SPECIFICALLY TOLD THEM NOT TO DO. theres no way they would feel the off balance without going on the interstate, which i told them, as well as the exact speed when it starts. so WTF is the deal with these places. why do they suck so much dong.
im ripping the weights off to see if that does anything.....then taking it to someone i trust. only thing that sucks is its 100 miles away. good thing i have a wedding to go to near there this weekend.

Rip those weights off and try a full 8 oz glass of airsoft pellets in each tire. Break the out bead with a highlift and someones bumper and pour them in.


I know these tire places are a joke. My tires have never been balanced from Americas tire.... I looked one day and was surprised to see about 45 OZ of weights glued to the inside of the wheel. It was those little flat weights. glued to in about an 8 inch long row. 3 or 4 wide and 4 tall.. Its got layers of weights.....

 

[cordrayj1]

I only deal with a few select shops that I have been dealing with most of my life. I do 90% of my own work but for the things I let others do, I take to people I know and trust. I am not sure what you are talking about driving an Aussie on the street taking finesse. I dont drive any differently with my Aussie then I did before I got it. Take that back, I wont stomp on it to turn left into a shopping center to make a small gap between cars. I just wait for a larger gap and regular throttle, that is literally the only change I had to make.

what transmission you running pikeman?

 

[Pikeman]

I have the Auto and yeah when slow speed tight turns in hte parking lot it binds and pops. Can't tell you how many times people have tried telling me my diff is blown up.

 

[cordrayj1]

I have the Auto and yeah when slow speed tight turns in hte parking lot it binds and pops. Can't tell you how many times people have tried telling me my diff is blown up.

next time you wheel or hang with someone that has an aussie/lockright in the rear diff and has the 5speed w a V6, give it a whirl, will see what im talking about.


and Jmoney. ill def try that. i saw that on the expedition portal site i think.

 

[sportscarfan]

I had a balance issue with my Duratrac 285's after about 1000 miles. At close to 60mph, it had the shakes pretty bad. Soon after, doing some routine maintenance, I decided to rotate the tires in an X pattern. Like magic, the major shakes at highway speed are gone. I didn't mess with the weights, although on one tire I want to every time I look at it.
One wheel has 4 of these lined up on the outside...

 

[LittleCaesar]

Cordrayj1,

Take it to Joe's Alignment down Savannah Hwy for the best alignment in Charleston County; they are past McDaniels Acura/Audi on the left, I think before Hankel. They will work with ya.

For James Island, the Firestone in Merchant's Village is a coin flip whether they can get it right or not, depending solely who works with the car.

 

[Pikeman]

next time you wheel or hang with someone that has an aussie/lockright in the rear diff and has the 5speed w a V6, give it a whirl, will see what im talking about.

I drove a 92 Chevy 1500 Reg cab shortbed with 350 V8 5 spd combo on 32's and a Lock-Rite for a few years. Man do I miss that truck sometimes.

 

[brian2sun]

I don't like shops driving my truck either, but I hate someone else working on my truck even worse!!!!! And I seem to have the worst luck with shops. It seems like I have to bring the truck back to the shop about 95% of the time because something isn't right.

I try to do most of my own work to my 4runner, but the few times I've brought it in to get major stuff done like engine rebuild and gears and lockers, they've fubar'd it. I had to take the truck to 4WheelFarts 4 times before they got my front locker install done correctly. And I took my truck back to the engine rebuilder 5 times (failed oil pump, valves needed to be re-adjusted, 2 rear main seals, and the last trip I made down there was to get my refund check after I threatened to sue them (which is not something I would normally do unless I was getting hosed).

I'm also seriously thinking about buying a Harbor Fright tire mounter and a bubble balancer and never paying someone to mount and balance tires for me ever again. It seems like they barely ever get them right anyways. I would trust myself with primitive tools more than a trained monkey with the latest gadget, lol.

 

[Stick Figure]

Like I said before small shop is your best bet. There is a good chance at a small shop that you are going to deal with an owner, or partner or someone who's life is dramatically effected by the outcome of the business. There is also less of a chance that you will deal with a service writer that doesn't know ____ about a vehicle.

At your average tire store you are going to have someone driving and working on your vehicle that is very much new at mechanical work. When I started at Firestone (way back when) they show you a video and then hand you over to a bunch of bitter grumpy techs that don't want to show you anything. Don't forget they are making minimum wage, so even if they like cars they probably aren't excited about being there.

Thats who's done most of the tire work for me the last few years. $40-$50 a vehicle for four mount, balance and disposal. Sure they barely speak english, but I have yet to have a problem with them.