Sucks man. I've come to find that dealership tire guys are the worst. I don't think they hire quality in that department, or its a starting area for new guys. I now go to a dedicated tire shop for any balancing or mounting work.

The final straw was a similar instance with the dealership for my wifes car. New tires, need to be mounted and balanced. I even removed all the wheel weights prior and cleaned the rims - cause some guys are lazy and just add more weight to the old ones.

Car comes back with two tires on backwards. Freakin backwards. Come on. $900+ Michelins.

I get that tires are one of the lowest skill sets required when performing car maintenance. But they are high when it comes to safety - its literally what connects the car to the road. How many customers are driving around with backward, un-balanced, over or under torqued tires??

 

Well Im at the dealer right now waiting on my truck to get fixed. It's been fun so far. After speaking to the service manager he agreed to fix it right away. I asked him for 2 things in addition to replacing the broken stud and nut. 1, I don't want the same tech working on my truck again and 2, real balance the tires because I don't trust the work the first guy did. Again, he agreed.
What's got me ready to punch the crap out of someone is I've been watching the tech from yesterday who cross threaded the lug nut continuously go back and forth between the service manager and the guy who's now working on my truck obviously running his mouth about this isn't his fault. It's just obvious and it's ticking me off something fierce.
Well hopefully the new tech does a good job.

 

What's got me ready to punch the crap out of someone is I've been watching the tech from yesterday who cross threaded the lug nut continuously go back and forth between the service manager and the guy who's now working on my truck obviously running his mouth about this isn't his fault. It's just obvious and it's ticking me off something fierce.
Well hopefully the new tech does a good job.

lol... if it was not his fault, then whose was it? That would be interesting to hear.

 

Sounds like one of the hourly tech kids or lube techs as I call them...the ones that use an 1/2" impact gun and sit there for a minute straight on the trigger tightening up the lug nuts. I scream at them across the shop to use a effing tq stick. Always use torque sticks or properly torque them with tq wrench. The studs are not the hard of a metal so they break easy if cross threaded.

 

Well the last part of this adventure ended with the different tech who "fixed" my truck trying to make it seem like cross threading the lug nut wasn't a big deal.
He decides to tell me how they replace broken studs on the rear of Xterras and Frontiers all the time. Some with only a few thousand miles on them. He proceeds to say they must be a weak design because they just snap off left and right. My response was simply "then you guys are doing something wrong cause I have 130,000 miles on my X and all the studs are (well were) original. He just gave me a dumb look.
Well of course the first thing I did when I got home was check the lug nuts one by one to make sure no more were cross threaded. None were but none of them were torqued correctly either. That's the best way to deal with a pissed off customer after you screwed up I guess. Half ass it again. Just unbelievable.

 

I've been buying all my tires from discount tire for several years. I bring my new tires, and load up the old tires/rims to a shop 3 miles away from me to mount and balance. I'm the only one who puts them back on the vehicle. Never a problem.

 

In 37 years of driving I just tighten them arm tight and havent had a problem. My 94 Trooper's studs always broke when the impact gun monkeys installed the wheels

 

Reason 1038492 I hover over the guys in the shops when they align/rotate/balance my rig. I've built up a good rep with one of the Tech's at my local Firestone.