I am really pissed off about this and felt like writing about it.

In April 2005, I bought 4 new rims at my local Saturn dealership and was looking to buy all-season tires for the summer. I am the type of guy that likes changing his own tires twice a year, because I can inspect my brakes myself, and make sure everything is done right... but of course, since I have to buy and install the tires on new rims, I had to have someone else do it for a change... I have just found out the hard way that you are ALWAYS better off doing it yourself...

So what basically happened is that in late April, I went to Canadian Tire for... you guessed it... tires. They were the only guys that had my tire size in stock (Saturn NEVER makes anything normal...). So they remove my winter wheels and install the tires on the rims and put them on the car, and screw on the hubcaps (Saturn hubcaps use plastic nuts in the cap to screw on the wheel lugnuts, which does make it easy...)

I leave Canadian Tire, and right after the first curb, I lose the left-front F#@*#@# hubcap, and drive over it. The frickin 18-year-old pimple-faced moron mechanic "forgot" to tighten the hubcap. After turning around and speaking to the manager, they finally agreed to buy me a hubcap. Case closed... or so I thought...

Today, I proceeded to remove the all-season wheels and put on my winter wheels back on. I start off with the wheel I lost the hubcap... I loosen the plastic nuts on the hubcap, and notice that 2 nuts are turning A LOT before they let go of the cap. I had the surprise of my life when I finally got the hubcap off... 2 lugnuts came off with the plastic nuts!!!! And the 3 others were barely tight!!! MY HUBCAP WAS PRACTICALLY HOLDING MY WHEEL ON!!! ALL BECAUSE THEY NEVER TORQUED THE LUGNUTS!!!

I have done round trips to Toronto and Ottawa many times this summer, and have driven around with my pregnant wife all summer, and could have had a serious accident because of that moron!!!

My advice to all of you? If you mUST go to a Canadian Tire garage for a repair or simple F#@*#@# tire change, MAKE GODDAMN SURE that the mechanic has done everything right!!! For them, it is 8-10$ an hour. For you? The safety of friends and family. No compromises.

Never.

Never again.



Sparky

TAB%&?%$ !!!

im not riding in that saturn again :p

That a$# could have cost u or your wife`s life!!No excuses I`d go back and let them know what happened and demand an explanation on why they were not double checked.
I learned my lesson a couple of years ago.Was at Wally World and needed an oil change.,damn 19.00 and I`m shopping anyway sounds good right.Well I`m on my way home get on the 401 and the F&*^%%ing hood pops open.Scared the sh#t out of me.\
NO MECHANIC NO TOUCH THE CAR no technicians<(exactly what is a technician) no BS my family`s worth the extra money hands down.STEEL OUT...

You just can't put your failth in anyone these days, 'cause it's all about the bottom line.  What suffers?  The proof is right here in the pics!

I had a similar thing happen to me last year.  The body shop that repaired my car when I got hit installed my summer wheels didn't tourque the wheels down to the right spec, and on my way home the front right passenger wheel came loose.  I was freaking out because at first I thought it sounded like the tranny.  Once I got home I whipped out the torque wrench and all was good.

Thanks for the heads up Sparks, always a good reminder to re-check things like this.

Doug

I'd never take any of my cars to Canadian Tire ever, even before reading this!! If those guys were good mechanics (if they are mechanics) I highly doubt they'd be working at Crappy Tire in the first place.
Just to add to this, my good friend just had tires put on one of his work mini-vans at a brand name tire shop, and he had the same thing happen, he was driving down the highway and the truck started to shake like crazy, he got out and only 2 nuts were holding the wheel, he called the shop back, and they said "OH really?? these things can happen" thats it?
It's kinda like when all those wheels were flying off the trucks on the 401, it took a bunch of people getting killed before anything happened.

Ya is sad that some people won't take 2 seconds out of their life to double check something. I guess its like Sparky said, thats what you get for $8-10 an hour mechanic.

So next time you go to a mechanic that is well known for good great work and he gives you an estimate that is higher than the other "unknown" places just remember.......you get what you paid for (most of the time). Just because they are a higher price doesn't mean they are trying to rip you off.

Is the same with the two big trucks I run with my buisness. One is a 10-wheeler and the other is a single axle 6-wheeler truck. I use to go to a "cheap" mechanic to get work done (this was when money was a little tight). Well after getting several jobs redone (like an oil leak which they supposedly fixed 4 times), I now bring it to the Freightliner. Yes they do cost quite a bit more, but I know that the job is well done, and if anything is wrong they will fix it again at their cost (happened only once where they had to re-adjust something on the truck).

As is life I guess