I took my Venture to the dealership to be inspected today. The guy called this afternoon to say that I needed 2 new tires and new outer tie rods.
I had the tires rotated there 3 weeks ago with no mention of needing new tires.
The van has around 32,500 miles on it and I can't imagine that it needs new tie rods.
I'm taking it to another place to see what they say, but I wanted to see if anyone here had heard of such a thing, or if anyone has any words of wisdom for dealing with this.
TIA,
Tracy
I've seen newer GM tie rod ends die at disgustinigly low mileages. If you're still under warranty, take it to the dealer next. They'll fix the tie rods if they're worn (and under warranty).
So far, from what you've said here, I have no reason to doubt the inspector.
This was at a Chevy dealer -- not the one where I bought it because that's in another state. The van is just out of warranty.
I doubt it simply because when I was in there the other week, they didn't say anything about the tires needing to be replaced. If they overlooked that, I feel suspicious about their other work. The van also drives perfectly fine, with no vibrations or anything, and the alignment is still pretty darn good.
Thanks, Tracy
"Tracy L. Cramer" wrote
It sounds to me as though you initially had just the tires rotated. This type of work is probably done by an oil change kid who might not have paid attention to the tires and any problems that might have been occuring.
Then you take the van back in to be "inspected". Usually, a more experienced tech will have a look at the van, possibly the front end tech will inspect the front end and would have more knowledge and know what to look for regarding loose front end components and tire problems.
Front tie rods wearing out on late model GM vehicles is very common.
Ian
Just curious-- what state was the inspection in?
You should also be aware that items may fail state safety inspections for highly technical reasons that are often of little consequence. This is possibly the case with the tires. I'm a state inspector in Maryland and have had to fail vehicles because they had Virginia inspection stickers on the windshield. It is not allowed in Maryland to have anything applied the bottom center of the windshield which would block vision.
As for the tie rod ends and tires both, shiden_Kai is probably right. The dealer won't have their best technician doing work any of their technicians can do.
| I'm a state inspector in Maryland and have | had to fail vehicles because they had Virginia inspection stickers on | the windshield. It is not allowed in Maryland to have anything applied | the bottom center of the windshield which would block vision. |
Yea, we wouldn't want the driver not to be able to see the top of the hood. :-)
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