Hello,,, I recently fitted new struts, bottom arms and track rod ends then took the car to a garage for new tyres and tracking,,,today I've taken the wheels off for a quick inspection before its mot,,,see before and after pictures,,,it looks like the boots have been turned and turned till they have split,,, how is this possible,,, I'm mystified ... They were in excellent condition before going to the garage for tyres and tracking,,, ???
What has happened here,,,???
- Thread starter sonofrob
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Yep, they've totally ****ed them by adjusting the wheel alignment without loosening the clips. Idiots and they've given you an instant MOT failure. Go back and show them the before and after photos and demand they put it right - preferably by paying someone else to do the job who knows what they are doing. Based on that evidence, I'd be surprised if they got the wheel alignment right in the first place!
How incredibly incompetent.
As mattylad - insist they use the proper boots, it shouldn't take them long, if you have pulled it apart recently..
As mattylad - insist they use the proper boots, it shouldn't take them long, if you have pulled it apart recently..
This is what you get when you go to tyre places for "skilled" work to be done. Many years ago, I took my Corsa to have two tyres fitted to the front wheels. While the wheels were off, I saw the front pads were pretty well worn, so I asked the manager of the tyre place for a price to install new pads. His price was acceptable, so I said gp ahead. The fitter proceeded to start to remove the bolts holding the brake caliper mounting bracket to the stub-axle. I asked him what he was doing. He replied that this was how he had been told to do the job. I told him that those bolts were "single use" and if removed, had to be replaced. The correct method was to remove the bolts holding the caliper to the mounting bracket, never the mounting bracket itself. Needless to say the manager got involved, and heated discussion ensued. I am a time-served skilled car mechanic, and made it plain that their way of working was totally unacceptable. I just paid for the tyres and the pads, and went home and did the job myself!
..And one tyre fitter put me a new front tyre on, tightened the wheel nuts with his windy gun, but the compressor was turned off. Very little pressure left, just enough to run the nuts up and declared the job done. Half a mile later, I almost lost the wheel.
Scary how some people can be so stupid.
Many of them protesting as anti-vaxxers it seems.
I've had the opposite problem, wheel nuts grossly overtightened.
That just beggars belief. They must have known what they had done, and thought they could get away with it.
Yes, that's why I always insist now - that they just run the bolts up and leave the tightening to me. If it's planned, I have my torque wrench in the boot ready to final tighten to spec., or use the tool supplied with the car to tighten them - which is generally a lot less tight than the gorillas in those places assume.
If they were turning the adjuster, the winding up boot would be right in front of them - impossible to no see what was happening. I have never known those boot clamps applied so tight, that they couldn't be turned by hand without releasing them. They are only intended to keep dust, dirt and grit out.
In most cases the garage will do a free alignment check, the place where I buy my tyres does. They tell me the alignment error, then with some simple trigonometry the correction can be done at home.
This doesn't help the OP though, and some garages can be remarkably stubborn about accepting blame, so he has my sympathy.
This doesn't help the OP though, and some garages can be remarkably stubborn about accepting blame, so he has my sympathy.
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Unfortunately now that you've had it apart and taken the bits off, it's unlikely that they'll want to know; they'll probably try to shrug it off as something you or someone else has done in the time since and trying to blame them.
Interested to know how this goes for you.
Interested to know how this goes for you.