I went to Goodyear b/c I wanted the Comfortreds.. and they are riding very nice btw..

However, after 3 years of owning my 02 I haven't let any other person touch the car.. I've done everything that needed to be done.. all fluids.. whatever..

So I dreaded having a tire tech touch the car and I was right.. They chipped up my wheels during the install then handed my car back to me with a bad creaking noise that you could hear over bumps at low speed.. creaking from the driver side rear. I was pre-occupied with the new cigarette smell in my car.. so I didn't go back in immediately.. I brushed it off because I know they really don't care anyway.

After thinking I suddenly had suspension problems, coincidentally after going to Good year, I took my rear wheels off to put on snow tires.. I could not get the lugs off with all my body weight.. The dipshnitz torqued the lugs on with superman strength.

After finally getting the lugs off with a friggen breaker bar and re-tightening to proper specs.. the creaking sound was gone.

Moral of the story is don't let anyone touch your ride if possible. I think an investment in a tire installation device with balancer would be well worth it.

 

Or you could go to a better tire shop.

 

Right away, sir. Thank you!

 

I normally go to Discount Tire. Their prices are a bit high but I've put 1,000 miles on a set of new tires and had them switch the tires for a different set for free.
Moral of the story is to take pictures of your rims before installation and remind the service manager that you are paying attention.

 

I stay away from Goodyear, NTB, and Firestone tire and repair shops. Many years ago these places were pretty good. In my personal opinion they currently seem to use the same type of low paid labor and to make matters worse seem to reward their managers based on how much upselling they do. I personally think these places provide questionable at best quality repair work and may try to sell you extra work and parts that may not be required. If it were me, I would not let these outfits (or any quickie lube place) ever touch my car.

 

Ditto... I totally agree.

 

If you ask around, I am sure good recommendations in your area will come up. TireRack has a great list of recommended installers all over the country.

 

Just kidding I had the Comfytred V's for many miles bought new driven to 5/32's and they where comparable to MXV4's V's. They had prettty good rebates on them when they came out but when they where rated neck and neck with the MXV4's on Tirerack and folks realized they where a good tire prices went up.

I just take everything to the dealer like oil tires and brakes tires though I do have a couple of side mechanics I trust. I got the Comfortreds from Sears. Techs did not tighten the rear wheel enough, thought I had a driveline issue, they where clueless. Toyota techs charged me 50 bucks for diagnosis and tightening, Sears paid the bill.

Enjoy the Comfytreds they are a nice cruising tire. I actually thought they where a little crisper handling than the MXv4

 

Not to slam Firestone GY etc but in todays world who wants to sling tires all day. It must be hard to find good young help you can train when you see Help Wanted signs everywhere. The new generation of good employees I understand are hard to find.

I made 7-8 bucks an hour out of high school in in 1977 working at steel, paper mills before I went to school to be a brain surgeon, lol. Chevy Vega was 2600 bucks new. Houses where 30 grand.
Now 40 years later a tire monkey makes $10-12 to live in poverty because everyone wants cheap tires and there is little money in the actual tires. The older techs prolly get tired of the entitlement attitude of todays workers.

 

For the "normal" tires to commute on we have had fairly good experiences with Costco for mainly Michelin tires. The last two sets on the LS430 came from there and they are pretty diligent about taking care of mounting/balancing on the chrome wheels and using proper torque on the lug nuts. Pretty straight forward.

On the SC300, however, that is a whole different deal with coil overs, lowering, wide staggered setup and racing tires. The research of a reputable suspension/wheel shop was well worth it and while not always the lowest cost option but the piece of mind balances out the expense. That shop now is the only place to take the cars for any special needs.

 

I had a similar problem that I thought was A Discount Tire issue, turned out it wasn’t.

However, no excuse for the chipped wheel, the smoke smell in your car or and the over torque, I too would have gone to the high side on that.

Discount Tire's are the only people besides me that have touched MY 2001 LS with 214K on the clock.

I took a tire off about a month ago to check brakes. I ended up snapping a stud to get the lug off. I went ahead and replaced that stud and lug. Took it back to Discount to have a very one sided conversation not about that it happened when they put the tire on but that they didn't tell me there was an issue.

I only replaced the snapped stud and lug, and when I put the lugs back on (I’m not your average DYI guy) I know that I didn't cross thread and torqued to spec. When I was putting the tire back on, I did have a lug that didn’t want to go on, I took that lug back off, hit with a bit of lubricant and it went right back on as it should have.

After the one sided conversation with Discount, the store manage stated that they are starting to see some of this on older cars, face saving on his part I thought at the time. While Discount was rotating the tires they had an issue with the lugs on the left front that I had put on. They brought me out into the shop and I watched them snap another one off. So I know that it wasn’t them, as I put that tire on last.

I think being that LS owners are so faithful about rotating tires, we are or will start seeing more studs and lug nuts not getting along/failing in the future. After snapping 2 studs off on the left front, I went ahead and replaced all studs and lugs on that wheel. I have the replacements for the right front sitting on the toolbox, just haven't got around to doing it yet... And wondering if I should not do the rear as well, as an ounce of prevention.

My advice, if you have one stud fail on a wheel, replace them all on that wheel. They (Good Year / Discount / whoever, me included) do not put the lugs back on the same studs they come off of, so if a lug or stud that has a screwed up thread, that issue goes to other lugs and studs on that wheel as rotations happen.

I do agree with your moral of the story, if you want to know that it’s done right, the only way you will truly know is to do it yourself. With the exception of this I have had great results with Discount adding this wasn’t their issue, it just happened….

 

I've had good results from Discount Tire for 10+ years across 3 vehicles.

zapola6, have you ever changed the front wheel bearing hub assembly? (hubs come with new lugs of course) With 214K miles, if you're still on the OEM front hubs, that's quite good. While it's usually a no-no to put any lube on dry torque spec bolts, on old wheel lugs, I have placed a little grease on them to prevent seizing and lug breakage. A little extra torque that may/will result from the lubed lug will not be of any consequence.

 

Still on 4 OEM hubs. They are giving no sign of play or being rough. Lube on dry torque, ya I know... It was just the one lug and I did a little past the click on the torque wrench just for giggles.

Didn't even think about new hubs, guessing at some point they will be in my future. I think I will wait and see what things bring me in the way of how long the hubs last before I replace and more studs.

Good Advice and thanks for the input.....

Steve

 

Add Sears to your list....but of course it's always the individual tech who puts his hands on your car. Even new car dealerships can f..k up a brand new car. I like to watch the tech but can't always get that chance. Wish I could still do the work myself, but not always practical and I'm too old... ...

 

Sucks about your experience, but this part makes no sense to me. How in the world would over tightened lugnuts would cause a creaking sound?