Careless tyre fitter, thoughts?

[geeman237]

I’m just looking for a bit of PH collective thoughts on a relatively minor but nonetheless annoying incident.
I took my ‘boring’ 2017 VW Golf estate into my usual local tyre shop to have a small puncture repaired.
I’ve got home and found they didn’t replace the valve dust cap, had inflated the tyre to 40psi v factory 33psi and worst of all they jacked it up poorly and completely shattered part of the underbody plastic tray.
To me this is inexcusable. I’ve called them back and they said the General Manager will call me back. I’ve a mind to ask for a new under tray because I take care of my car.

[Chamon_Lee]

You’ve done the right thing. I’d excuse the dust cap and psi as annoying as it is but not damage to under tray.


Value of the car is not important. They are paid to do a job right irrespective of what car it is.

[TeaVR]

Yep - stand your ground on that one!

[stevemcs]

I'd be disappointed if one of our guys did that, we would expect them to let us know they had damaged it so we discus it with the customer. The same applies to the pressure and valve, tyre soap is another thing that should never be seen,

[Pica-Pica]

I would expect them to overpressure the tyres a bit to seat and settle them, but I would expect them to advise you on that, to take it easy, and tell you to adjust them later. The dust cap is slackness. The damage is unacceptable.

[InitialDave]

I'd expect them to make good on the undertray, the pressure and valve cap I wouldn't be as concerned about.

Out of interest, have you checked that the wheel bolts are at an appropriate torque?

[stevemcs]

Pica-Pica said:

I would expect them to overpressure the tyres a bit to seat and settle them, but I would expect them to advise you on that, to take it easy, and tell you to adjust them later. The dust cap is slackness. The damage is unacceptable.

Some take 90psi to get popped onto the rim, we check pressures against what’s on the car unless it’s something like a vow transporter which nearly always has the wrong wheels, we will inflate and tell the customer what we have set them too.

[Chubbyross]

InitialDave said:

I'd expect them to make good on the undertray, the pressure and valve cap I wouldn't be as concerned about.

Out of interest, have you checked that the wheel bolts are at an appropriate torque?

Yes, I’d certainly be checking the bolts. This sounds like shoddy work.

[biggbn]

Careless fitter? Didn't George Michael write that....?

[lrdisco]

Your damage is bad but it really annoys me that on my Volvo the local garage lost the nut cap and replaced it with one that looks completely different.
No offence but tyre fitters aren’t employed straight from studying Physics at university are they?

[steveo3002]

seems the norm around here to damage your car for the cheek of wanting a tyre fixed

i only run old cheaper cars , but jack them up at home and remove the wheels myself and take them in , limits what they can damage then , had a pair of tyres done the other day , one was 30psi the other was over 40psi, just pig ignorant "i dont care " if you ask me

[KAgantua]

biggbn said:

Careless fitter? Didn't George Michael write that....?

They sound like a bunch of bad boys

[Ed/L152]

Chubbyross said:

InitialDave said:

I'd expect them to make good on the undertray, the pressure and valve cap I wouldn't be as concerned about.

Out of interest, have you checked that the wheel bolts are at an appropriate torque?

Yes, I’d certainly be checking the bolts. This sounds like shoddy work.

Presumably there's a message on the invoice advising the torques are rechecked after 50 miles, even if the OP wasn't told orally.

[InitialDave]

Ed/L152 said:

Presumably there's a message on the invoice advising the torques are rechecked after 50 miles, even if the OP wasn't told orally.

I'm not as worried they might be loose as I am that they have been put on with many many braps of the air gun.

[steveo3002]

InitialDave said:

I'm not as worried they might be loose as I am that they have been put on with many many braps of the air gun.

always interesting watching them gun the nuts on to 200+ ft lbs then go around wit a battered old torque wrench and confirm they're set to 80

[Hereward]

steveo3002 said:

InitialDave said:

I'm not as worried they might be loose as I am that they have been put on with many many braps of the air gun.

always interesting watching them gun the nuts on to 200+ ft lbs then go around wit a battered old torque wrench and confirm they're set to 80

So true

I always take my wheels off the car at home and drop them off at the fitters so no risk of underbody damage or bolts torqued to 5,000 nm.

[E36Ross]

I worked part time as a tyre fitter..... I was the type that would line the center cap logo up with the valve, would actually tighten wheel nuts properly with a bar

But 99% of the general public couldn't give a st and just want a new tyre as cheap and quick as possible.

Often wonder if there's enough of a market for a specialist fitter who charges properly and actually takes pride in his work. Quality over quantity so to speak.

[anonymous-user]

E36Ross said:

But 99% of the general public couldn't give a st and just want a new tyre as cheap and quick as possible.

Often wonder if there's enough of a market for a specialist fitter who charges properly and actually takes pride in his work. Quality over quantity so to speak.

I think the vast majority of people don't care and just want the cheapest tyres possible. I don't really understand why it is so hard to line the red dot up with the valve, not scratch the alloys, jack the car up in the correct place, use hidden stick on weights and torque the wheel bolts correctly.

It is more of an issue that the companies are quite happy to employ people who really don't give a st about their job or other peoples property.

It reminds me of someone I work with who has a company car and needed new wiper blades. He took the car to Halfords and the person changing the wiper blade let the arm ping back and smash the screen.

Seriously, how hard is it?

[Krikkit]

Joey Deacon said:

I think the vast majority of people don't care and just want the cheapest tyres possible. I don't really understand why it is so hard to line the red dot up with the valve, not scratch the alloys, jack the car up in the correct place, use hidden stick on weights and torque the wheel bolts correctly.

That all takes time, which means less money made in the inevitable race to the bottom.

[bristolracer]

E36Ross said:

Often wonder if there's enough of a market for a specialist fitter who charges properly and actually takes pride in his work. Quality over quantity so to speak.

Can you imagine what some of the customers who seek out such a service might be like ?