So you loosen all the lug nuts that the torque wrench clicked on before rotating the lug nut just to retighten again???
Most bigger shops now use torque wrenches to hand torque wheels down to the proper tightness… I even make my daughter even knows to hand torque wheels… lol
How accurate is your torque wrench, the company I retired from swaps out the Snap-on torque wrenches every 6 months to have them recalibrated and we normally had at least 6 per shop, and the Area managers even have a torque wrench gauge thingy to do random calibration testing …
I understand checking to make sure all are tight, but once the lug nut is over torqued, if any damage to the wheel stud/lug bolt is done it’s done… Kind of like stabbing someone and pulling the knife out to make sure it is sharp… Of curse being way to tight can/will cause the threads to stretch, stressing them to the point of failure, so maybe you are onto something…
But I guess finding that out sooner is better than later…
I take my vehicles to the their specific dealers, the Toyotas to the Toyota dealer, the Honda Fit to the Honda dealer, the Ram Truck to the Dodge dealer, all in the hope that their technicians are trained to a level higher than one might find at a generic repair shop; alas it’s not to be…
The Midas Brake Shop forgot to put the master cylinder cover back on after refilling the master cylinder after a brake job.
A Toyota Dealer did not refill the radiator properly after a radiator flush and the car overheated on the way home…
A dodge dealer balanced the rotated the tires back onto their original locations.
Same Dodge dealer did a State Inspection and an Oil Change and it took over four hours (I knew would have to wait, but…) but the truck got a 23-mile “road test” for lunch (the seats, driver and passenger were both moved, the radio was on a station I did not listen to and there was fresh mud in the wheel wells.). I demanded and got a free oil change, State Inspection, and a tank of fuel (Diesel). Never went back to this dealer…
A Honda dealer did a state inspection, oil change and tire rotation. All four tires were missing the valve stem covers when it was returned.
And this really got my goat, last year when I had the state inspection on my 2019 Toyota Corolla. The windshield wipers failed, they had apparently tore ever so slightly after I had done a walk around the day before… But what to do, the wipers were torn, I could leave and buy them somewhere else and come back or I could just have them replace them and have done with it…
Well, below is a photo I took when I went outside to pick up my car. I do not know how this is even possible… Oh, I was steaming, I drove my car right back in, parked it right in their entrance, blocking the entrance completely and went looking for the General Manager (I took the key fob with me, I know the car would jam up any one else coming in for service… But I was pissed, I had just paid $40 for those wipers and they put two of the same size on, both 28". The driver’s side takes a 28" and the passenger side takes a 14".
Now, remember, it was the Licensed State Inspector’s who put those wipers on (not some car jockey hired to move cars…) and he just dropped the wiper blade onto the windshield and never noticed that it was hanging off the side of the car…
I told the GM (the service manager was now present, looking for the fob so he could move my car, but I was not giving it up yet…) I wanted an explanation, how a could a “licensed” state inspector do this, how could I trust anything he did?..
Their excuse was the Pandemic and that they had a hard time hiring qualified personnel… Bull………
Ultimately, the GM told the service manager to have the correct wipers installed and to refund the cost of the wipers… There is little wiggle room at this dealership, I already get state inspections, oil changes and tire rotations for life, they also guarantee the drivetrain for life…
This is the same dealership my wife bought her '85 Toyota Corolla from and they are still giving us free oil changes and state inspections. That’s almost 100 oil changes and 37 state inspections… They have also done some courtesy work knowing they are on the hook for that drivetrain that has over 230,000 miles on it…
So No, I do not trust a “technician” whose only job is probably changing tires with properly torqueing the lug nuts…
Point taken…
I think I would just ask to watch the tech when it is time for him to torque the wheels and to see the torque wrench setting to make sure it is set to the proper torque spec… If the lug nut turns before clicking then you know it is torqued properly…
This is probably true, but the other consideration is not leaving an overtorqued nut that might be a big pain to remove on the side of the road with just the lug wrench in the car.
That is a strange one.
Quite a few years ago, I ran over something that made a very loud sound when it hit the car’s undercarriage. Because it was an area where it was safe to pull over, I stopped, and found that the object in question was a nearly-new hammer. I guess that it must have bounced-out of a tradesman’s truck, and it gave me a new resident for my toolbox.
New car with a jack? Whaaaat?
That looks like one of those “you had one job to do…” humorous pictures. I probably would have had a similar reaction. Who does that and thinks it’s OK???
The fact they had a lame excuse just reminded me of the time I was running an Engineering test department back in the late 70s and one of the techs came to me with an entire batch of controls that he could not turn the potentiometers on them. We both went over to see the QA manager and he said the inspectors must have greasy hands. Seriously?!? Unfortunately, he was…
I addressed that also… lol
Yeah 1975. Bumper Jack with the slot.
That’s quite a story ! …amusing to those of us who didn’t have to experience such a bizarre incident ourselves … I was reminded of the time I asked a chain parts store staff person for some 3/8 inch ID hose. They brought me some 7/8 " ID hose. When I asked if they really thought the hole was really 3/8 ", the reply: " It must be, it was on the shelf marked 3/8 " … lol …
I guess because you are so self centered that you inconvenience people who had nothing to do with your problem .
It is always confusing whether the label is for above or below. There should be a law.
Yeah, that’s me, the Glorious B@5+@rd who hit that “Big Old Stop Button” that probably caused a complete rethink of the “Pride in Work” of that dealership. I took my complaint directly to the General Manager, who really dumped on the Service Manager to get that Service Department in line and do the job that they are paid to do and perform the job the customers expect and deserve.
When I did that, it put the whole service department on notice and it did not go unnoticed by the customers who were waiting to for their cars… The Customers that you commiserate for having to be inconvenienced also heard what the holdup was caused by and they are probably much happier with knowing the dealership got caught performing shoddy work and did not get away with it…
So, instead of lambasting me for standing up for myself and all the customers who pay their hard earned money to get their cars repaired, you should be thanking me… Obviously, since your only complaints deal with my actions and those of my ilk, it is obviously you have never had poor quality service. It is people like me who have made it possible for you to stand back and “Kevin” us…
A real top-of-the-heap position.
If you can pass the written exam and pay $15, you also can get a $12 per hour job as a lube tech/safety inspector and possibly make a difference in the repair business.
The dope installed the blades while the wipers were in the “up” position, then got into the car, parked the wipers and rushed the vehicle to the customer.
You could walk to the customer’s parts counter and purchase new wiper inserts for $20.
Kinda like being a notary in Minnesota. $50 and the price of a stamp pad and you’re in. Just have to find a notary to stamp the application. Very convenient to have a couple around.