Ever been in that situation

I have a two-foot piece of pipe, pounded a little flat on one end so it nicely fits on my socket drivers.

I used it to prop up a trailer with a broken spring to get to a place to replace it and it got a little bent. Turned out the bend was exactly right to clear fenders!!

Custom tools are great!!

Pete

Yep. Been there many times. Actually split the socket on the factory lug wrench on one car trying to get a wheel off. I think it was at either a Home Depot or a Payless Cashways about 25 years ago that I found galvanized gas pipe precut in 4 foot lengths. I got two. One went to holding up the mailbox. The other has been used on the end of a 1/2 inch breaker bar many times on many bolts. Makes 100+ lb-ft torqued bolts child's play.

As long as they work OK for you, you just beat home made Tools. cuhulin

Ya it's the latest sucker play! They hammer the damn things on so tight they warp the rotors so you have to come back for a brake job.

They are supposed to use a torque wrench on modern wheels and rotors.

Mike

They ought to be sued for getting them on there too tight.I wish I could weld all of their lug nuts up. cuhulin

The few tire shops in this little town do exactly that. Lugs go on with an impact wrench, as tight as they can hammer them on. I have started removing the wheels at my home garage, taking the tire to them for repair, and then refitting myself with a torque wrench.

And yes, they should be sued.

I agree, it is a blatant rip off.

As tire techs we were taught to use torque wrenches on tires way back in the 70's when 'mag' and aluminum rims first came out.

The Jeep shops I have used use the air gun to seat them, then finish with a torque wrench, anything else is negligence or a rip off attempt.

Mike

How about a 95 pound woman? She knows how to change out a flat tire/wheel thingy.But, she can't get that blanky blanky blank thingy off of there! Yes, I say,,, Sue the tire shops. cuhulin

And once they're out of business, where you gonna get tires from?

A shop that doesn't do 'repairs' or 'installs' with future damage intended.

Or one that actually gives the tire tech 5 minutes of training and is honest.

I know, an honest mechanic is almost a contradiction in terms, but they 'do' exist, really!

Mike

the Tire Rack. and I'll just buy a tire machine from one of the places going out of business. Sounds like a win-win to me.

Very, very few places, in my experience, mount and balance tires properly. My apologies to those of you who may be reading this who actually do do it right.

nate

Mike Romain wrote in news:47dc1d2a$0$3987$ snipped-for-privacy@unlimited.newshosting.com:

I think that one is the key. I am certain this is why so many people have tire vibration problems. Most tire monkeys seem to be hacks: Mount it, slap some weights on and out it goes. Persistent vibration? Must be a faulty tire.

How many tire shops actually ensure their tire monkeys know to make sure a tire spins true before balancing it? How many tire monkeys know to make sure the beads are seated evenly all around? How many tire monkeys know the meaning of those colored dots on the tires (and wheels)? How many garages have ANYbody on staff who knows how to mount a tire properly? How many tire shops use proper tire mounting lube instead of dish soap and water?

BobJ wrote in news:waXCj.26019$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe19.lga:

Nate Nagel wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news2.newsguy.com:

There's only /one/ place I can go where the job gets done right, first time, every time. This is the same place where the owner explained to me all about tire dots, mounting lube, bead seating, trueness and other arcana, showing me exactly how to mount a tire and exactly why the monkeys get it wrong /all/ the time.

It's fairly simple once you know, but nobody knows. Or seems to care about knowing.

Tegger wrote in news:Xns9A62B6A056F13tegger@207.14.116.130:

Found the wheel dot thing:

Tell me about the colored dots on the tires and rims...

That shop doesn't exist anymore because he couldn't afford the insurance premiums from all the lawsuits against other shops.

You can't train out lazy.

Not really.

I like to think so.

I dont know.I think there is some good reading there. cuhulin

I think some of them have been getting sued after those overtightened and overstressed studs break and the wheel departs. The shops I use have been using torque wrenches for five years or more.

Dan