I took my car to Firestone in Moon Friday morning for the state inspection/emissions. I said to myself, it’s only an inspection, what could they possibly fuck up?
Well, it failed as my front brakes were worn too much (I verified today). I told them I’d do the brakes myself and come back for the re-inspection. Saturday comes and I get all my shit together and start to loosen the lug nuts. They were on so tight I had to make a breaker bar to break them loose. I have a wheel lock, and the key started to twist and slip.
I said fuck it and took it back to them this morning and politely explained the problem and asked if they were willing to fix it. They said no problem. I told the guy that I was going to buy regular lugs because the locks looked goofy and were starting to rust. A few minutes later the guy comes up to me and said the removed the wheel locks and they have 4 new lugs being delivered as we speak. That was pretty cool of them, taking care of the problem.
He asked if I had any problems with the rest of the lugs, and I said not really (I had loosened all of the lugs on the drivers side except for the locks). I get back to my house and change the brakes on the drivers side with no problem. I then go to the passenger side and this is where the fun began.
I weigh 160lbs. The tire iron started to twist between the end and the middle. I have 3 like this. I’d be pissed if I had a flat on the side of the road. They would definitely get the tow bill.
Looks like I’ll be waking up early tomorrow to pay them another visit. I’m also going to pick up 20 new wheel studs, just to be safe.
Cliffs: Firestone torqued the lug nuts so much that jumping up and down on the iron would not break them loose, and it actually twisted the tire iron.
what assholes lol but ya i would definently buy new studs lol but i can honestly say once i wasnt paying attention putting lug nuts back on with a gun and tightened one so much it did break the stud so just buy the studs to be safe :finger:
hah you think you had it bad? i broke 2 high strength rachets and a big ass breaker bar trying to get the hub nut off of my old nissan…snapped them all under my little bit of 157+jumping…bought an impact and it was the best investment i ever made.
Unacceptable. Make them fix it and tell them to use a fucking torque wrench. A real torque wrench set to the factory recommended setting. Hell, bring one with you and make them use it.
Sucks…I know the feeling. There are times I struggle and I weigh 220 lbs. I had the classic of them (Sams Club) stripping the shit out of lugs. Ohh well sometimes you get goobers and then sometimes they are so rushed they fuck shit up.
i’ve never used a torque wrench to put lug nuts on. with that said… i dont use an adjustible gun on them. i use an el-cheapo and it never overtightens them unless you sit there and hold the gun on. poorly trained mechanics using the wrong equipment mixed with the lack of common sense will get those results.
thats what you get thou for useing a chain… everyone thinks the local guy is gonna rip them off… to the contrary the small local guy may charge more but he needs ur business back to stay in business… the chain doesnt, they just wait for the next shmuck. my dad has stayed in business for 28 years because of his loyal customers… a lot of times those fringe customers he has will come back becuase some other place fucked something up and he has to undo what they did.
With the aluminum wheels used today, use a torque wrench for christ’s sake. Why risk bending a wheel?
I only take my car to get inspected by people I know and if I do have to take my car in to a dealer or chain, I watch the entire time to make sure it’s done right. I caught a douchebag at a midas forget to put the drum on the rear brakes of my wife’s car. He started to put the wheel on and I stopped him and asked him where the drum was, he said he was getting to it :rolleyes:
So many people try jumping on a short bar and it does nothing. Get a proper basher…i mean, breaker bar and pull up instead of jumping down on it. Thats how shit gets snapped :hsugh:
At least you got that far My girl went to pepboys for tires …came home with only 1 new tire she said they couldnt the the lugs off because the key was rounded and the stripped all the lugs but the one wheel…So now Ill have to easy out all o them since they are trashed …buy another set then go back and watch the moron put the key in an impact again then tell me they were messed up before it got there…
thats cause they crank their gun all the way and hit it. its like having 1000 hp on street tires, you just gonna blow them off. if you have a low speed impact gun you shouldn;t strip the lug nuts. sometimes the low speed gun doesnt even crack them loose.
i see overtightened lugs all the time at work. thats why we have a 2’ long breaker bar on the truck and only use the impact gun to “run” the lugs on and off… (weak little things can’t break them free or tighten them up even close enough)
Its nice to see I’m not the only one with this problem. The pipe I used was about 1.5 feet long. I was pushing down, up, and horizontal. I was sitting on the ground, feet pushing on the bottom of the 4-way tire iron, hands pulling the top, and I could see the bar twisting between the end and the middle. The chrome was starting to crack and flake. I guess it’s time to invest in an impact and air tank.
Who here can do inspections/emmisions? For future reference.
overtightened lugs don’t harm shit anymore. you’re not going to ruin a wheel or warp a rotor by going an extra 10-20 or so ft/lbs. all it does is inconvience you when you can’t get the wheel off, simply put you use a breaker bar
I’ve never torqued a lug in my life and what’s resulted from it? absolutely nothing. run them down til it stops then go around and tap once more, theres your torque spec. problem with idiots at chain stores is they don’t know when to stop and they don’t know how to keep them even
