15k Service mistakes <sigh>

Some of the very reasons I do my own service now !

 

got that right.

 

I just bought a PIP, tires were at 26-28 PSI...............

 

What dealer/ service place did you go to? Giving the name is important for two reasons, first it will alert those people to pay attention and ask questions, second no one wants to see their name on this site in a light that is not favorable.

 

I had exactly the same issue with a dealer rotating tires and over-torquing. I was fortunate to have a flat that appeared when the car was in my garage where I had access to a 3/4" drive breaker bar.

 

I broke a Harbor Freight 3/8" breaker bar trying to loosen a tire lug after the dealer over-torquing. I realize that a 1/2" breaker bar is the correct one for this application but I have never had trouble loosening a lug nut with the 3/8" one.

I have since bought a 1/2" breaker bar for use with lug nuts if this ever happens again.

 

Then there are the "tyre experts". Took Pearl in for tyre rotation to a Kal Tyre store. They pride themselves on "full service". When the car was ready I drove home noting the cardboard hanging from the rear view mirror with the tyre pressures written on it. Funny, because the actual tyre pressures I measured showed that they had indeed put the fronts on the rear (they had 40 PSI in them) and the rears on the front (they had 38 PSI in them). The placard had the pressures from the door sticker on it!
They have never properly pressurized the tyres on any visit I've made to them!

Sell sell sell, but don't bother to service!

 

Oh great. I probably just had my 20k at the same dealer! I bought my '12 in York, PA!! I have grease all over my dash too. Now that free maintenance is over, I'll get to doing all my own, as long as the hybrid system stays happy. I've had good luck with Hanover Toyota service on previous cars though, they just couldn't beat the deal York gave on the car this time. That's the only good thing about "highway" dealerships!

 

Torque sticks are not known to be extremely accurate, but are good enough for lug nuts. I use an orange accutorq 80 ft-lb stick with my monster 780 ft-lb impact gun and the lug nuts are not outrageously overtightened. Just ask F8L...I think he was able to remove his tires just fine using hand tools after I installed them.

It sounds to me that the tech did not use a torque stick at all, and only tightened them with his impact. This can be OK if one knows the output of their impact, but clearly something was not right here - as all of them should been equal in tightness in order to prevent brake rotor runout.

 

Why do you accept your car back with grease on anything? That's the first thing I look for as I walk up and open the door when I go out to get in. Not saying I've never found a problem, I have several times, from not resetting the service minder, to grease on the wheel covers, even found the oil cap laying on top of the engine after an oil change once.
I don't think I'm picky, I'd have the same attitude with my 20 year old truck if I brought it in. Every time I've shown them a problem, it's been corrected ASAP. Times sure have changed!, remember when they washed the car and vacuumed it out after a service?

 

The last time I took wheels off was following body work: the rim on the impacted corner was really overtorqued, really had to lean on the nuts to break them lose. Of course this was a third party suspension repair place.

 

I always ask a shop if they use a torque wrench - at least then they know I'm paying attention. Not interested in having rotors warped due to incompetence.....