I hate Thursdays (1 Viewer)

[canucksafari]

Had the full Sopel experience of being passed by your tire while you're driving down the road this afternoon.

I had to head out to Staples and get some office supplies. Last night when I took Sarah to soccer practice the truck felt different. Strange vibration that had me thinking u-joints. I had a quick look outside and under but nothing seemed out of place. Was planning to have a look at it on stands after work. Anyways I got about two blocks, stop at a stop sign and turned the corner and next thing I know I here a bang and I watched a tire that looked too familar go by. Was only doing about 30-40 k. The rear LHS dropped and then the sound of my rotor on pavement. The tire headed off towards the top of the hill to Gladys on George Ferguson heading West. I had a quick nightmare it was going all the way into that busy intersection at speed from the hill. Luckily it hit a bump in the road which ran it to the right where it bounced again across to the other side of the road. Had it not been spring break it could of been a mess, because the raod and side walk would be very occupied if it weren't. A couple peopel stopped and search the nearly two blocks and found all the nuts.

My wife happened by as did a couple neighbours. We got a jack on it, got it lifted did some quick screew driver mods to get the tire back on and off to the tire shop to give you know what. The rotor, and dust plate are toast as is the rim inside when the rotor dropped on it. The rear fender is bent and the guard is wrecked. I guess that was from the tire exiting the hub. The tire tagged the LF passenger door and chipped the rocker. That was the bang I heard. The tire shop owners said he would have it taken care and my neighbour came as a witness. Mechanic shop says he will have a look at it. Tomorrow it goes in but I am out of wheels for who knows how long. At least I know where to get these parts. Then there is the body work. Just glad it didn't decide to break loose on Tuesday on the Freeway or when I was out with the club on the weekend.

Lesson: I'll never trust a tire shop again and will torque my tires myself. But I realize that it could have nbeen much worse.

 

[brownbear]

how long ago did they put on your wheels?

Most tire places say it is the customers responsibility to re-torque the wheels after a certain distance. Generally 150 kms.

Sorry to hear about that, very glad no one got hurt.

 

[kim]

Geez John, that really sucks. I'm glad that no one was hurt.

I guess there is a lesson in this for all of us!

 

[Canuck]

Holy crap man, that's crazy! Glad to hear everyone was unharmed. That's gotta be scary as hell to experience.

 

[trooper+]

how long ago did they put on your wheels?

Most tire places say it is the customers responsibility to re-torque the wheels after a certain distance. Generally 150 kms.

Sorry to hear about that, very glad no one got hurt.

your supposed to re tourque after every time you re mount a wheel. no one does but supposed to.

 

[kim]

your supposed to re tourque after every time you re mount a wheel. no one does but supposed to.

When I change a wheel, I tighten every second lug until tight enough to spin the wheel, then drop the vehicle on the ground and then torque using the same procedure.

Is this what you mean?

 

[Deny]

Retourqe means after a certain amount of kms after your tires are put on you have to torque them again, since after running them a bit there is a chance things loosen up. Every shop should be telling you to come in for retourque, which you don't really have to come in, you could do yourself, but if things go wrong, they will tell you it was your fault.

 

[Fantom]

I'm glad you (and others) were uninjured, shame about the truck and damage.

Had the full Sopel experience of being passed by your tire while you're driving down the road this afternoon

I love it - I guess from now on loosing a wheel will be renamed to "I had a Sopel happen"

 

[canucksafari]

I guess I am use to Kal Tire and always retorque around 500 kms as that's their rule for retorquing. I still hadn't got to 500 kms. The front tire wheel nuts were tight the other rear wheel nuts were at varying degrees of looseness. Obviously, the rears had not been torqued at all.

There is no doubt they will fix the mechanical problems. He didn't make a commitment to fix the body damage. Neighbour said I should make a report to ICBC, just incase he decides to be problematic about fixing the body work. I hate dealing with ICBC.

 

[canucksafari]

how long ago did they put on your wheels?

It's been just over a week since they put them on. Like I said, the front tire wheel nuts were tight when I checked them all after getting the run-away tire back on the hub. The guy that happened along was a mechanic and witnessed it. He was not too impressed and gave me his number in case it went to court. It was pretty obvious that the rear wheels were forgotten. I remember the manager at Kal Tire going balistic on a kid last year when he caught him almost releasing a car without torquing the wheel nuts properly. I thought it was excessive then. Now, I realize how bad it could have been. The wheel nuts were found over about a block and a half by another passerby who stopped to help. I was going strait at the time. What would have happened in a corner and with more speed I don't want to know.

 

[Enigma]

I've had a few wheels come loose in my time, always an interesting experience. At least you're lucky you can blame it on someone else, me....not so much

 

[kim]

I've never had the experience, thank goodness.

 

[canucksafari]

Started out okay. Took the truck to the mechanical shop as directed by the tire shop owner. They bent back the dust cover, clean up the studs and got one new wheel nut. Checked with Nissan for the rotor. Nope, not selling JDM parts. ATEB has a couple rotors but wouldn't sell him one. John Hamilton at Rocky Mountain wasn't answering but it is a part time business. The shop though the rim could be fixed. It has metal inserts for stud holes so they were not damaged. He suggested I could contact John Hamilton and pick up the rotor this weekend and I agreed. He called up the tire shop and explained that they would get me mobile and I would get the rotor and the tire shop would re-imburse me. So they swapped rims and tires and got me mobile and sent me back to the tire shop so he could send the rim out to be fixed and discuss getting the body work done. He tells me not to worry as the tire shop owner is a good guy and will do right by me.

Okay, now everything is still good. Got to the tire shop and the owner start balking about paying to fix things. He said he didn't have my name of phone number. So gave him all the details. Then he says that because on his invoice it says they are not responsible for wheels, wheel nuts or hub caps that he is not responsible even if his assistant did not tighten up the wheel nuts right. I told him he never gave me an invoice and just a receipt when i paid for it. When he said that he supposed that i want the whole truck painted, I said all I wanted was for him to fix what was damaged and make it right. Well things went down hill form there very fast. After a bit of arguing, I grabbed my rim and told him I would let ICBC deal with it.

So called in and set-up a claim and Monday I now have an appointment with ICBC. I still don't get it. The tire shop guy could have made it right without involving the insurance companies and it becoming a legal issue. Well he still has some time adn he has my number.

Good news is the truck is drivable now for around town and I got a good chance to do my own underside inspection while she was up on the hoist. Bad news is wheel damage to the body and flare makes it look kind of sh*tty. Also, with the rotor out of balance, it probably should not be driven on the highway.

 

[kim]

I don't understand why some people don't stand behind their work and take responsibility.

I hope that the owner sees the light and bucks up.

 

[brownbear]

.
Then he says that because on his invoice it says they are not responsible for wheels, wheel nuts or hub caps that he is not responsible even if his assistant did not tighten up the wheel nuts right.

This disclaimer s*** they say on an invoice I hardly think clears them legally. There is no way just because you sign an invoice and let's say theoretically you go on the highway the same day or 5 days later, your wheel comes off at 100k and goes thru the windshield of a minvan and kills the mother. Do you think the tire shop will be sued? Fack yes. Disclaimers and statements on invoices do not hold water.

No way a disclaimer or waiver of such is going to be tight enough not find a error that allows suing of the business. What stops most cases like yours is the lack of spending stupid money to sue them for damages.

Post up here and on the BC 4x4 forum the name of the business and how you were treated.

They have their waiver, you have audience of "by mouth" advertising, either negative or positive.

 

[canucksafari]

BB, I will post up the name of the business next week if they don't come clean. I am firing off a letter to the head office. This business is one of their franchise shops. The franchise company is not a small one and is throughout BC and Alberta. No it is not Kal Tire. Funny thing, I googled the owners name and found out he is in one of the local organizations I am in, so we will run into each other again. If he does the same, then he will figure it out too.

As for the disclaimer, I did not sign any invoce before the work was done or when I paid for the work. But like you say, even then in a court it would not stand. I had a brief look at the Supreme Court decisions related to this and like you say, they would still be liable. So, both ethically and legally speaking, I haven't a clue what motivated his about turn.

 

[Enigma]

I haven't a clue what motivated his about turn.

money

 

[canucksafari]

money

Guess I was a bit slow on that thought. Perhaps he is not thinking in the long term. Or maybe he just took a calculated risk that I would not follow through with going to ICBC, the head office of the company or let people know about his business practices.

Anyways, I contacted Rocky Mountian and John Hamilton said he has the parts in stock. They have everything except the dust plate, which they would have to order from Japan.

 

[canucksafari]

Heard back from ICBC, the local tire shop who mount the tires has refused to accept responisbility giving ICBC the same line of s*** he gave me He told the ICBC adjuster that is not responsible for wheels, wheel nuts and hub caps following off. So if you want to go to a tire shop which will stand by their work then DON"T GO TO Tire Craft - especially in Abbotsford. ICBC is still going after him but until they recover the money, I pay the deductable and it is a collision claim for me. I'll be firing off a letter to Tire Crafts head office this weekend. Lets see if they'll do the right thing or is all the stuff about honesty and integrity on their web site BS.

The truck is half way fixed but H&R sent it back to me anyways. The rim is not fixble. H&R has Rocky Mountain scouring Japan for a rim. Apparently it is a discontinued JDM LC rim so it may not be easy to find. May have to cut a cash deal with ICBC. I know the new Nissan alloys are $1,000 AUS each. H&R also has a new flare on order from Japan (in 1-2 weeks depending on customs). I can see they messed up on the paint. The door they shot is a slightly different shade of grey compared to the rear quarter panel they shot. I better tell them about that tomorrow.

 

[brownbear]

Heard back from ICBC, the local tire shop who mount the tires has refused to accept responisbility giving ICBC the same line of s*** he gave me He told the ICBC adjuster that is not responsible for wheels, wheel nuts and hub caps following off. So if you want to go to a tire shop which will stand by their work then DON"T GO TO Tire Craft - especially in Abbotsford. ICBC is still going after him but until they recover the money, I pay the deductable and it is a collision claim for me. I'll be firing off a letter to Tire Crafts head office this weekend. Lets see if they'll do the right thing or is all the stuff about honesty and integrity on their web site BS.

The truck is half way fixed but H&R sent it back to me anyways. The rim is not fixble. H&R has Rocky Mountain scouring Japan for a rim. Apparently it is a discontinued JDM LC rim so it may not be easy to find. May have to cut a cash deal with ICBC. I know the new Nissan alloys are $1,000 AUS each. H&R also has a new flare on order from Japan (in 1-2 weeks depending on customs). I can see they messed up on the paint. The door they shot is a slightly different shade of grey compared to the rear quarter panel they shot. I better tell them about that tomorrow.

Steel land cruiser 6 bolt rims in the 16 inch size cost me 80 bucks each at Toyota. Might be a good time to go to 16 inch.