Dealership Service Experience & Tire Issue Question
 

So today I took my FR-S in for a scheduled oil change and tire rotation to a dealership service center. I also asked if they could check my brakes to see how much life they have left. Everything went smoothly from what I could tell. I leave the service center and everything seems fine till I get about a mile down the road and pull into to grab some dinner. As I turn I start hearing this knocking sound, not from the engine but from front tire/suspension area. It got MUCH worse when I cut the wheel all the way to the left to park. I call the service center back and they tell me to bring back.

I bring it back and at first I think they thought it was as simple as lose lug nuts. The first guy comes back in and says we are taking into bay 1. About 20 minutes later the front desk lady comes back out and says we have to put you in a rental. They say that one lug nuts is on way too tight and they cannot get it off without damaging the stud. They don't have any studs in stock so they say they have to order the one and won't be able to fix it until Monday. I ask if the over tightened lug nut was causing the knocking noise and they said yes. I say fine whatever, give me the rental.

A few minutes later she is like we are going to put you in a tC. Now I am guessing they think since I have an FR-S I am a Scion fan or something and think I would prefer another one as a rental (I wouldn't.) At this point I am too annoyed to care and say fine OK. Then I remember seeing one of those god awful 9.0 series with the two tone paint job and realize that's what they are giving me. They hand me the keys to it and say "This is the closest thing we have to you're car, enjoy." I just laugh, take the keys, and walk out. Now I am stuck driving (embarrassingly) around in this gem until Monday.
http://i.imgur.com/wm8dYHt.jpg


Anyway, my question for everyone here is: Is what they told me sound legit? Could an over tightened lug nut cause the knocking noise? I could of swore I heard her on the phone moments before talking to me asking if they could order a tire rod. I'm not the most car savvy person out there so I have no clue how much you can screw up with a tire rotation and checking the brakes.

"tie rod", not "tire rod".

Well, that's an aggravating situation..........:(

How many miles on your car ..??

I don't reckon an overtightened lug nut would cause a noise. I figure you could twist that puppy off and as long as the rest of the lug nuts on that wheel were tight, it still wouldn't make a noise.

A tire rotation is a tire rotation, just take em off and put em back on. A visual brake inspection is usually just a look see deal.

What actually happened is anybody's guess.

I'll guess they bent the tie rod jacking the car up ...... :iono:

Well, that loaner ain't all that bad ...... at least it keeps the miles off your car.

Please keep us posted.


humfrz

My (wild) guess would be that someone tightened the lug nuts before the wheel is properly put on, on somehow the wheel or stud ended up crooked.

By the way, what kind of dealership is that? You need to ask them to check your brakes? Mine does it every time, together with a bunch of other things, from fluids (which they top off) to tire tread depth.

And that tC... there is one that parks often at my workplace. It looks funny, but not that bad imo.

Is THAT all ya got ....... :slap:

:D


humfrz

As a dealership technician, my advice would be to let them do their thing. Yes, your loaner is an ugly tC, but at least you have one. Situations like these are generally escalated, and they most likely have a more seasoned tech overseeing the problem. Drive the loaner and wait for their call back. Mistakes happen even during simple service. Just be vigilant for anything strange after you pick your car up.

HEY! I LIKE the tC RS9!!!!!!!!!!
It brings out my inner ricer.
In fact it was that very car that I was in the Scion dealer to see if they had one to look at when I stumbled over my FRS.

Well.... Sounds to me like they forgot to torque down a few lugs. The knocking sound could be the wheel just being loose.

Over tighting lugs cause no knocking sound. My guess stand corrected cause they orderd new studs. Cause the losses ones damaged the studs.

Yaaaaaaaaaaaa!...............Tcoat surfaces ......... :cheers:


humfrz

does the tC have a stick? if so gg im jelly

Hey my expertise is in IT, not cars haha.


This is my first time driving a tc and it definitely makes me appreciate my fr-s more. About the only thing I like is the flat bottom steering wheel it has. I thought the sun roof was going to be nice but it sounds like your in a hurricane with it open. My mom's sunroof in her camaro is nothing like, nice and quiet.

I wonder who at Toyota even thought this two tone job is a good idea.

I had a similar situation a month or two ago at the Scion Dealership in Santa Monica CA where I go in for my 15k checkup. Everything seemed great, it was just a 15k checkup/oil change. I get maybe 5 blocks and I hear this clunking noise from my back right near my wheel well and lots of vibration. Pull over and see that every single lug nut on my back right wheel is loose. I could spin every one with my fingers, two of them had actually fallen out and were lost (they found one but never found the second and had to replace it with just another black one that looks kinda similar to my aftermarket lug)

Call them up and wait 30min on hold, they ask me to drive back which I of course couldn't do as my wheel was near falling off and 2 lug nuts were gone. Wasnt gonna risk damaging my car. Needed to get it towed back and instead of helping me with the tow company they use the chick said I had to call them and scheduled a tow since they dont call for customers.

Get it to the shop, fucking pissed but I try to keep my cool as I am worried there is damage to my car and I want that fixed. Talked to the manager and the tech, was given a rental car while they worked on my car and made sure no damage was done to the wheel, struts or lugs. Told them I wanted to see photos when my wheel was off to make sure there was no damage as I was not about to take there word for it which they assured me they would.

Which of fucking course they didnt do at all. Got a call back the next day to pickup my car. Both managers that worked the previous day and tech conveniently didn't have work that day so had to go through a huge run around with a new manager on duty to get them to jack up up my car, take the wheel off and show me no damage was done.

Thankfully no damage was done but holy fuck was it an awful experience, really nothing was done for me or to make me ever think I could trust these people again and now I am gonna need to be paranoid about checking my lug nuts, my gas gap, my windshield wipers, really anything before I drive off a lot when picking my car up.

Never would have thought I needed to check to make my lug nuts at a dealership for a routine inspection but there you go. Lesson learned.

Should I go through this forum and pull pics of wrapped roofs, hoods and trunks?
The marketing guys that send surveys and read forums gave people what they wanted they didn't pull the idea out of their ass. Just because some don't like it doesn't mean there isn't a large part of the population that does. I personally like the two tone on some cars since it can make them look lower and sleeker.
In fact of the 30 or so cars I have owned my second favorite ever was a two tone.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dZlsPEKYu0E/maxresdefault.jpg