Quote:
Originally Posted by yoshiharadesign
But to the general public who dont really notice or pay attention until they notice tires are worn unevenly, they are out of a set of tires. And as manufacturers, they receive countless claims trying to say that the tires were bad when clearly it is resulting from no alignment after tire swap... So would a blanket overkill statement to recommend alignment after each tire swap be necessary for the general public? I would imagine that to be the responsible thing to advocate even if the vehicle conscious crowd feels its overkill....
|
And this is why I can't stand most service advisers. Who cares what you suggest to people that have no clue and actually need the service done, why would you suggest the same thing to a person who is clearly more into their vehicle than the average driver AND would have had an alignment just a couple weeks prior? It's the blanket statements that are really just used hoping people fall for the bait and pay for something they don't need.
Bit of a story...
Four years ago a Toyota service adviser told my wife her camry needed new pads/rotors all around, I told her eff them, just get the part numbers and we'll buy parts somewhere else and I would replace them. She grabs the parts on the way home and I go look at the car. Two HUGE mistakes by the service department.
1) They gave part numbers for a V6 (rear discs), her car is the I4 with rear drums.
2) When I pulled the front wheels off the pads had at least 75% of the material left. So much that 4 years later they're still not down to the squealer bar on the original pads.
I called the service adviser asking how they could be so off base and his answer was basically "well the car is a few years old, we just assumed they would need to be done". They didn't look at the odometer to see how many km's were on the car or even look at the brakes, but they *knew* that it needed pads/rotors at all corners.
I've had mechanics tell me I needed to flush my transmission fluid in previous cars just days after I personally flushed and filled the transmission with new fluid, when I asked what car they pulled the dirty fluid from they finally confessed it was just old engine oil.
I had a tail light replaced under warranty because it was growing a storm cloud inside it and the tech suggested I replace my brake pads because the brakes squeaked a bit when he pulled the car in and they were worn out. I had JUST put my new pads in like a week earlier, again they didn't even pull a wheel off just assumed because it squeaked they were worn out. When I asked the service adviser how much pad material was left he backed down, then asked how I was so confident they were fine.
I'm not saying all shops are like this, but throwing out blanket statements like you always need an alignment when changing tires angers me beyond belief. Tailor the advice to the situation, it's WAY better customer service.