Rant time: I hate having other people work on my rides

[Jroc]

And I usually don't, but when you need an alignment done then yeah I don't really own an alignment machine so I have to.

3 weeks ago I put new ball joints, tie-rod ends, and idler/pitman arms on the L.(did it myself) So obviously I now need an alignment done. My old tires were worn and I had bought some new Nitto 555's. So anyway I see where Tire Kingdom is open on Sunday so I call and make an appointment to have them mount/balance my new tires and align my truck. Somehow those SOB's determine I own them almost $200 for that because of them installing cam bolts on it, but whatever. So I go to leave and I start hearing this soft popping/click coming from my wheels. I pull over and started examining it and I thought it must gravel/dirt off the road sticking to where the stickers were on the tires as everything else looked fine and it started to rain and the noise went away. This noise would come and go for the next 1.5 weeks, but it was more annoying then anything. Then Wednesday 1.5 weeks ago this annoying little noise turn into a WTF really loud noise and the floor board and side of the truck where the E-brake petal is was vibrating pretty bad. The noise would get faster with speed and it was like someone put a big zip-ty on one of my wheel spokes. So I pulled over on the side of the interstate and couldn't find a damn thing wrong with it, and I'm crawling under the truck and everything. So when I got to work I called the Tire Kingdom as this shit started when they got a-hold of it, and they said to bring it in and they fix whatever it was.(BTW my job and the TK I used is probably 50/60 miles apart) So I'm about 5 miles from TK and the noise just up and stops so the TK people wouldn't look at it then. They told me to come back and get the alignment checked about 3 weeks after I first had it aligned to allow the new components to wear themselves in and my alignments warranty would cover the adjustment. So this weekend was 3 weeks and I took it to them yesterday and when I left I noticed my E-brake warning light on my dash was on. I pulled the E-brake lever and it didn't pop up or anything. So I got home and started looking and couldn't find anything wrong, and today I noticed the E-brake was slightly down and I pulled the lever to release it and nothing. So I pulled the level and lifted up on my E-brake petal and it's like it's connected to nothing.

Here's my theory:
When I took it in to get it aligned and whatnot they did something to **** up my E-brake cable and that's what was making the bad noise, and so then it must of just broke is why the noise quit, and yesterday one of them probably tried using the E-brake, and it didn't work and that's why my E-brake light was on, but the mofo's didn't want to say anything when they knew I was having a weird noise problem after they worked on it, as I told them to look to make sure nothing was wrong and see if they could figure out why it was making that noise when they were re-aligning it yesterday and they said they would.

I mean these dumb MF'ers can't even do the simple task of aligning a F150 without ****ing stuff up. This is an easy task to do with the right equipment. When I was in automotive class I aligned plenty of vehicles on the alignment machine, and never messed anything up. Even for a butt F'in student in school it was easy to do so when you're someone who's career is to align vehicles there should be no reason for stupid **** up's like this.

 

[rotor_powerd]

This is why I found someone that I know that does alignments. Last time I took a car to get aligned, it was a VW Jetta and they put two of the three bolts for the ball joint through the control arm and had the thing crooked and had the third one not even in the control arm. The place didn't own up to anything and blamed it all on me. I hate having other people touch my stuff.

 

[Jroc]

This is why I found someone that I know that does alignments. Last time I took a car to get aligned, it was a VW Jetta and they put two of the three bolts for the ball joint through the control arm and had the thing crooked and had the third one not even in the control arm. The place didn't own up to anything and blamed it all on me. I hate having other people touch my stuff.

Yeah and the thing is it's like this is y'alls job and it's not that hard, and for people doing this every day these issues shouldn't happen. It would be like a cop not knowing how to read someone their Miranda Rights. It's just part of your job and what you do everyday to make money. Still these mofo's looked like they don't really give a shit about what they're doing, and like to take too many cigarette breaks, and trips to the Chick-Fil-A right by the TK. When I went and got my tires mounted, and truck aligned the first time it took over 4 hours, and yesterday it took over 3 to have it re-aligned and checked for the noise it was making. Both times I called in days ahead and made appointments also.

 

[DaleM]

Makes you wish you had gotten that GED and hung out in shop class more ofter for sure.

Unless I know the mech I try and stick with the dealership, yeah I know it is a raping.

 

[Richter888]

I feel ya

When I was putting my Toyo R888s on my extra cobra wheels at my auto hobby shop, I ended up being unable to finish the last wheel due to the machine crapping out on me. So i brought the last wheel and tire to a Firestone. I thought these guys should be able to handle 1 simple tire change and balance, as I have done it myself many times in the past.

Fast forward. I'm BS'ing with the manager and some of my friends outside the back of the store. We walked out there because the installed the tire and then set it out in the sun. They say its to help seat the bead. I suddenly hear a light pop behind me from where the wheel was sitting. Then it pops HARD and there was suddenly a MASSIVE bulge in the sidewall and its growing fast.

I screamed for a valve stem removal tool before the manager even knows whats going on. The other employee runs up real quick and removed the valve. It took a god awful long time to let out what I though would be 40 psi.

I then asked, "Hey, how much pressure was in that tire?"

He responds, "About 110 psi."

I started flipping my lid. I asked who the **** puts 110 psi into a passenger car tire. He says he does it all the time and he has never had a problem. He then tried to tell me the tire must have been defective. This really got me steaming. I walked over to the tire and pointed to the portion that said DO NOT EXCEED 52 PSI. He seemed almost stunned and then pulled back into the, "Well i know the tires bad because I've done it to tires with less max pressures. Way to dig himself into a hole huh? You can imagine how many customers of his are probably driving around on tires with broken cords in the sidewalls and they don't even know it.

I have NEVER in the past needed to bring the pressure higher than 50 psi. If the bead doesn't seat, then break the bead and restart. He was just lazy. Needless to say, I got my moneys worth for the tire and a free tire out of the deal. I was heated. I still go back to my auto hobby shop and change my own tires. Havent had a problem to this day.

I feel your pain man. I do as much work myself as I can. Pretty much the only things I cant do is alignments, welding, and fab work. Thats why I can afford the mods I have on my car now lol.

 

[Jroc]

This is cute.

 

[thomas91169]

lawl

And people wonder why I find time to do my own shit.

 

[Robert Francis]

When we had the cruise control harness recall several yeras ago on the Lightning, I took it into my dealer to do. I took my hood pins out and told the service rep "not" to put them back in. 30 min's later, they're done with the recall and bring my truck around. And sure enough - they put the hood pins back in - "backwards!"

 

[mrlrd1]

I've done hundreds of broken/seized F150 cables. Rather than rant about something you don't know shit about (you admitted it), own up to the fact that you've got an old truck prone to problems. You most likely never use the parking brake. Tire Kingdom set the brake during the alignment, like any other shop (compentent or not) should have. That broke the chafed cable.

 

[shanezt]

hmm, don't see them having any need to be at the rear of the truck. you ure they caused this?

 

[Jroc]

I've done hundreds of broken/seized F150 cables. Rather than rant about something you don't know shit about (you admitted it), own up to the fact that you've got an old truck prone to problems. You most likely never use the parking brake. Tire Kingdom set the brake during the alignment, like any other shop (compentent or not) should have. That broke the chafed cable.

STFU you dumb ass. Don't act like a hard ass over the computer because I guarantee you don't talk like that to someones face because you're probably not stupid enough to risk having someone going across your face for talking shit. I'm actually a pretty decent mechanic for someone who doesn't do it for a living. Look at the pictures slick. The cable was hitting the wheel weight that they installed 3 weeks ago and it ended eventually cutting through the cable.

The only reason I was having them work on my truck is because I don't own an alignment machine. I rebuilt my frontend myself in a day with my truck on jackstands so it needed to be aligned, and I had them mount my new tires will they were at it, and they can't even do that right without dicking something up. I mean it's a tire shop. That's what they do.

 

[Jroc]

hmm, don't see them having any need to be at the rear of the truck. you ure they caused this?

Yes they installed 4 new tires when they first aligned it 3 weeks ago.

 

[leo2hot4tv]

I've done hundreds of broken/seized F150 cables. Rather than rant about something you don't know shit about (you admitted it), own up to the fact that you've got an old truck prone to problems. You most likely never use the parking brake. Tire Kingdom set the brake during the alignment, like any other shop (compentent or not) should have. That broke the chafed cable.

Yea a seized cable won't do that. I had a seized cable, the rear pads will burn the **** out from the friction but it won't snap like the pic. The damage is from rubbing from the outside, not internally.

 

[ZIMxxZUM]

I've done hundreds of broken/seized F150 cables. Rather than rant about something you don't know shit about (you admitted it), own up to the fact that you've got an old truck prone to problems. You most likely never use the parking brake. Tire Kingdom set the brake during the alignment, like any other shop (compentent or not) should have. That broke the chafed cable.

STFU you dumb ass. Don't act like a hard ass over the computer because I guarantee you don't talk like that to someones face because you're probably not stupid enough to risk having someone going across your face for talking shit. I'm actually a pretty decent mechanic for someone who doesn't do it for a living. Look at the pictures slick. The cable was hitting the wheel weight that they installed 3 weeks ago and it ended eventually cut cut through the cable.

The only reason I was having them work on my truck is because I don't own an alignment machine. I rebuild my frontend myself in a day with my truck on jackstands so it needed to be aligned, and I had them mount my new tires will they were at it, and they can't even do that right without dicking something. I mean it's a tire shop. That's what they do.

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[leo2hot4tv]

BTW, this is the reason why i'm picky as hell as far as who touches the car. I only take it in for things I can't do or refuse to. Even stealerships are garbage. I had a Nissan stealership leave an oil cap off once, and left the crankcase plug loose to the point of losing drops of oil at a time. Additionally, either the same stealership stole my spare tire wrench or a Tire Kingdom did; can't accuse any as I figure out after they both touched it and way after.

 

[Jroc]

Yea a seized cable won't do that. I had a seized cable, the rear pads will burn the **** out from the friction but it won't snap like the pic. The damage is from rubbing from the outside, not internally.

Agreed the metal tubing the cable rides in is beefy as shit. It's surprisingly thick. I kept getting a clicking noise and I couldn't find what it was crawling under my truck on my back until after the cable broke and it became obvious as it was dangling. When I took the truck to get it re-aligned under my warranty(which they recommended I did after 3 weeks as I just put new ball joints/upper control arms, tie-rod ends, and idle/pitman arms on it and they need some time to wear in properly) and I asked them to try and see why my truck had been making that noise and they said they would, and they obviously tried using my E-brake so it should of been obvious to them. As soon as I saw my E-brake line on and my E-brake wasn't releasing I said to myself that maybe I should check the cable. That's common sense even for someone who's not a mechanic. They also told me that I need to use cam-bolts and I said fine, but then they only used cam bolts on the right side of my truck so WTF is up with that? I mean that's why this was suppose to cost $200 is because they said they needed to install cam-bolts.

I never really use big franchise shops like the TK, but I did my frontend on Saturday, and need to be about to drive back and forth to work the next week and TK is the only shop I new that was open on Sunday. I figured mounting some OEM sized tires on some OEM wheel, and align the truck should be something that they could manage without goofing other things up.

 

[zpstang96]

I too have had some fun with an alignment shop. There was a short wait for the alignment machine (understandable), so we drop the car off and wait. A short time later I hear the guy revving the shit out of my car while bringing it into the garage. Some people have no respect. Sorry to hear about your situation, GL

 

[mrlrd1]

STFU you dumb ass. Don't act like a hard ass over the computer because I guarantee you don't talk like that to someones face because you're probably not stupid enough to risk having someone going across your face for talking shit. I'm actually a pretty decent mechanic for someone who doesn't do it for a living. Look at the pictures slick. The cable was hitting the wheel weight that they installed 3 weeks ago and it ended eventually cutting through the cable.

Hitting the weight caused that? :rollseyes It hit the weight AFTER it broke from chafing - which was a problem BEFORE the alignment. No hard ass acting going on here. All I saw was an unfounded rant do to lack of education. Mo-chanic.

Yea a seized cable won't do that. I had a seized cable, the rear pads will burn the **** out from the friction but it won't snap like the pic. The damage is from rubbing from the outside, not internally.

1. You obviously didn't read my post.
2. A seized cable doesn't affect the brake PADS on a F150.

 

[Jroc]

Hitting the weight caused that? :rollseyes It hit the weight AFTER it broke from chafing - which was a problem BEFORE the alignment. No hard ass acting going on here. All I saw was an unfounded rant do to lack of education. Mo-chanic.



1. You obviously didn't read my post.
2. A seized cable doesn't affect the brake PADS on a F150.

Will you please keep you're stupidity, shit talking, know-it-all, but don't REALLY know-it all posts out of my thread? You're obviously a piss poor mechanic that's in here trying to save face after flaunting that he's some expert, but you're making yourself look stupid as you're wrong so you should just go ahead and quit. BTW if you're a mechanic for a living you should stop insulting my education as you have a more flunky boy career than me.

Actually the weight did break the cable. The loud interrupted noise was the weight hitting the cable eventually breaking it. The TK didn't believe me until I took it in there today for them to look at and now they're doing a lot of apologizing, and kissing a lot of ass. That is not the result of a broken cable dangling and hitting the weight so quit trying to say it was when you're stupid, ignorant, and wrong on this subject.

I promise you a dangling cable didn't do this.

And I promise you that a broken cable wouldn't be able to break the beefy cable housing.

 

[mrlrd1]

Ok... WHY did it hit the weight? Or better yet, how Tire Kingdom CAUSED it to hit the weight?

PLEASE enlighten me. Where did the end of the cable go?