Tire change experience from hell...

[Quad T]

Originally Posted by Quartz

Can someone fill me on on what road force is?

I have yet to find a great article explaining it, but I suspect the Tire Rack web site must have something about it there. Basically as I understand it, road force can be measured on a special machine, it's a machine much like a balencer that spins the tire/wheel but there is a roller that pushes up against the tread of the tire and measures the force against the roller. As the tire revolves you want an even reading, thus the force against the tire is the same all the way around.

Because manufacturing is not perfect a tire can have a "softer/weaker" spot and at that point the road force changes. A tire with a bad road force can be mounted and balenced perfectly but when driven the vehicle will vibrate, the vibration is basically up and down, not side to side.

Tires can be checked for their degree of roundness and basically a road force that is very changable on a tire would be like having out of round tires mounted to the vehicle.

That's the best I can describe it. I also believe this becomes more of an issue on large tires and especially large tires with big sidewalls, thus trucks are perfect candidates for these types of issues.

[Quartz]

Thanx Quad. BTW, I love your 2000. I've tried to get my wife interested in one, but she's hooked on the Infinity G35 coupe.

[cneary812]

Man I am so sorry for your loss. I hope that the tech who crashed your car was fired, if not I would request that he is. The reason I say this is because he, and anyone else back there who was directly involved in the accident covered it up and in fact if im not mistaken could have broken the law. You should be able to get whatever you want from this company and they should be thankful that you dont take them to court.

Its a shame that most people now a days dont care about other peoples stuff and a majority of Tire techs are very young and inexperienced.

[Quad T]

Originally Posted by Quartz

Thanx Quad. BTW, I love your 2000. I've tried to get my wife interested in one, but she's hooked on the Infinity G35 coupe.

Thx right back Quartz

That G35 Coupe is one sweeeeeeeet ride too!

[Quad T]

Originally Posted by cneary812

You should be able to get whatever you want from this company and they should be thankful that you dont take them to court.

That's my hope...

[Quad T]

One of the body shops said they would remove the entire bed from the truck so they could repaint the front edge of the fender. The other body shop said they would remove some trim but not the bed because they can paint right up to the front edge of the fender.

For some reason I'm thinking I would end up with all sorts of bed noises if the body shop actually removed the entire bed and then put it back on.

Does this sound strange to anybody other than I?

[Clint]

Originally Posted by Quad T

Thanks to everyone for their replies, I appreciate the insights and the motivation.

Estimate #1 was done this morning. 3 to 5 days to fix, and it totals out at $1,045.00. The body shop said there really is no need to replace the whole fender, and they could pull the fender out and end up with very little fill.

I don't want to push too much for an all new fender, because that would lower the diminished value and I want that to be high enough to cover the all new Bridgestone Revo Deulers.

I'm going to try to get out today to get another couple of estimates.

A new panel would increase diminished value because the truck was cut and re- welded. It also is more prone to rust at the seams like my Maxima did, and the shop did a perfect repair at the time. Better to fix what you have if you plan to keep the truck for a good long while.

Clint

[AgTitan06]

Originally Posted by cneary812

You should be able to get whatever you want from this company and they should be thankful that you dont take them to court.

Whatever you want might be pushing it, but you certainly should get your truck fixed, plus any diminished value in cash, and a refund for your original tire purchase.

[ArmyAviation]

If that happen to me there would be shots fire and all those tire employees scattering for cover. It happen to me years ago with a 1997 stratus, the tire tech dropped my rim and damaged it-put the car on the lift wrong and damaged the swaybars, so I stopped payment for the tires to get there attention to fix my car.

[Quad T]

Stop payment? That's interesting, I never thought about that. I did put it on my Discover card...

[Quad T]

I stoped at the dealership that has been doing all of my service work.

They said if I was trading the truck in within a year the diminished value would be in the $500 to $1,000 range.

I just need to get one more estimate and then it will be time to call the regional manager.

[cneary812]

Originally Posted by AgTitan06

Whatever you want might be pushing it, but you certainly should get your truck fixed, plus any diminished value in cash, and a refund for your original tire purchase.

well you know what i mean within reason

[baranx4]

Sorry to hear about this happening to you. They should have told you when it happened. It does seem odd that your truck paint wasn't anywhere to be found. Not even on the ground below. I would have thought a few chips would have remained.

I wouldn't be surprised if they were going to cover it up. "Sir, I'm not sure what your inferring but we as a pillar to the community would never consider hiding anything from our customers. All of our employees are skilled and have driven thousands of vehicles into their bays and lifts without me being able to recall one problem. It must have been there before you got here. I'll check the techs note to see if he noted any damage."

Think about it, if it's your word against theirs who do you think they would believe. It's a good thing you noticed it right when it happened. If they didn't take the blame I would have started looking around for their security cameras.

Years ago when I worked for my father during breaks between semesters, one of his company vehicles fell off the dealers lifts onto the drivers side. I wasn't there when it happened but was the one that got dropped off at the pontiac dealership to pick it up. When I went there they wanted me to sign a paper which basically said that they were free from any future liability. I called my father and he told me to ask to take it for a ride and check it out. I did only thing was I never came back sure enough within a month problems came about and it came back in. The second time I was sent to get it and they sent a tech to go for a ride with me. Since the tech had the papers showing no charge I took them and when I got to the first light I told him to get out or he'll need a ride back since I was heading back. He left said he was going to call the police. Obviously they didn't.

After that we never purchased any other vehicles from them. Ironically, when we turned the lease in a few years later at the dealership they actually tried to charge us for damages on the car.


Try to get the Revo's their great, I had a set installed yesterday. I noticed the ride is softer and there seems to be better cornering.

Good Luck with how this turns out. I never would have paid for the tires after the accident. If you paid by credit card file a claim seeking loss and devaluing of truck. If their using their insurance it will now show up in any car fax reports plus today when trading in a vehicle they ask if it's ever been in an accident.

[Quad T]

Last Wednesday I went back into Dunn and they replaced the right rear Kumho KL78 with the 5th tire they brought in. After a test drive I found the vibration to be less, but clearly not gone, therefore yet at least one more Kumho would be required to give me a smooth ride back. Obviously based upon the whole driving my truck into a wall and not being honest about the actual road force reading on the Kumhos I threw a little fit when they suggested bringing in a 6th Kumho.

This Saturday they will be putting 4 brand new Bridgestone Revo Duelers onto my Titan, they can take back these Kumhos because the ones I have received are inferior quality. Now I'm not saying all Kumho KL78s are crap, but clearly the ones I got are. The irony here is the Revos are the tire I most wanted to put onto the truck but I thought I would give the Kumhos a shot for the savings. My goal of course is to have them not only put on the Revos, but to give me a 100% return on the Kumhos. I figure a free set of tires will help to even out the fact that I have a diminished value of $500 to $1,000 because of the body damage.

And regarding the body damage, I have picked a body shop; the estimate came in at $1,380 to repair the panel. In total I went to 6 body shops and nobody saw the need/could justify the price to replace the entire side of the bed. I'm okay with this fact because if they did indeed replace the whole side of the bed my diminished value might be less, thus I might not be able to make out with the free set of 4 tires.

The body shop I have chosen has done work for me before, over $2,500 damage when I demolished a deer with my '95 XE-V6 4x4 KC Hardbody. They are good about standing behind their work and guarantee their work for as long as I own the vehicle, which I think is very impressive.

Oh, and by the way, I just put nearly 850 miles on the Kumhos this past weekend running down to Philly for a wedding. Guess those miles weren't on my tires.

[AgTitan06]

I hope they give you the refund!! Let us know!