Tire guy snapped off a brand new stud!

[belfert]

At the half way point of my recent trip we decided that one of the tires was wearing really badly and should be replaced.  (I thought it would last one more trip.)  Love's tire shop had a cheap Chinese 11R24.5 in stock that would work.  $308 out the door.  (Plan is for new steer tires next summer with old ones to tag axle and move this tire to the spare.)  The only reason I went to Love's tire shop was I was pretty sure no other tire shop would be open on a Sunday afternoon at 3 pm.

The tire guy had a bad attitude and was working about quarter speed.  It took him 20+ minutes just to fill out the paperwork.  He did the work and I walked back in the shop to see him standing there with someone else.  I immediately noticed he had broken off one of my brand new studs.  The store manager on duty was there in case I got upset about the broken stud.  They didn't have a way to fix it, but they said I could go to Speedco to have a mechanic there fix it.  I was pretty sure Speedco wouldn't have the right stud so I declined.  I am sure he overtightened my brand new studs with the impact before he checked with torque wrench.  Now I have to replace all ten of the wheel studs again for $100 for the studs and three or four hours of labor.  (He probably overstressed other studs.)

I called and talked to the tire shop manager on Monday morning.  He said I was the second person to complain about that worker from Sunday.  After a bit of back and forth they ended up refunding me the $40 labor charge.  I wouldn't have called about the bad service had they not broken off my wheel stud.

[windtrader]

Brian,


Sorry to hear about the incident but glad you shared it as it's always a great reminder to be cautious about where and who is wrenching on the bus.

If still local, the only way it would be settled with me is full replacement of the stressed parts on their coin.
Maybe a lesson here to think twice before replacing the spare or checking on a regular basis. lol - me

[Busted Knuckle]

Let's see 1/2 way would be either SD or WY, so making them make it right will mean many phone calls and them dodging you every way they can before you head up the corporate ladder.
I would send an email straight to corporate about it letting them know the name of the shop it's going to, and that you expect them to pay the bill!
Corporate will send you a quick email letting you know they got yours and will follow up after they get with the store that did it and find out what is going on from the shops side of the story.
Long story short stand your ground and you may or may not get reimbursed!
Keep us posted and let us know how it goes.
  BK 

[belfert]

If still local, the only way it would be settled with me is full replacement of the stressed parts on their coin.
Maybe a lesson here to think twice before replacing the spare or checking on a regular basis. lol - me

They gave me $40 back.  Love's doesn't have their own repair shop here in Minneapolis for them to do the work not that I want them to do it.  I suppose I could try Love's corporate to get more money, but is it worth the hassle?  They'll probably claim it was me or someone else who worked on the vehicle that overstressed the studs.  They already claimed it was my fault because I used 500 ft pounds with my torque wrench when they said it should be 475 ft pounds.  Like an extra 25 ft pounds applied by hand is going to snap the studs.

I have a spare tire.  I checked the tires before I left and thought the tire would last one more trip.  The tire had been on the front when the shocks were bad and had a really crazy wear pattern from that.  The tire looked much worse when at our destination so I had it replaced.  The new tire looks great after 1,800 miles.

[belfert]

Let's see 1/2 way would be either SD or WY, so making them make it right will mean many phone calls and them dodging you every way they can before you head up the corporate ladder.

It was Fernley, Nevada which was basically our destination.  We got the tire replaced before we headed home.  I made just one phone call to Love's tire shop while we were camped to confirm they had a tire that would fit.  I am surprised they carry 11R24.5 as a lot of shops have to order that size, but have as many 11R22.5 as you might want.