In spite of the pecuniary wealth of Clarksville, the area is generally destitute when it comes to…read moreautomotive knowledge. The River Hill Sunoco preys on this ignorance.
Late one night, my girlfriend got a flat tire. As I have done dozens, if not hundreds, of times in my life, I removed the old wheel/tire and put on the spare using nothing more than a scissors jack and lug wrench. As I replaced the lug nuts, I threaded them and tightened by hand before using the lug wrench for one last fastening.
As it turned out, there was a hole in the sidewall of the old tire, so Sunoco ordered a new tire that was expected to arrive in a few days. In order for us to commute to Baltimore on the spare, "John" the technician tightened up the lug nuts. "John" did so with an air impact wrench (also known as an air hammer, pneumatic impact wrench, etc).
A few days later, we took the car back for Sunoco to install the new tire. This time, the Sunoco technician had difficulty removing one of the lug nuts, and one of the studs snapped. After replacing the tire, Sunoco capped the broken stud and offered to replace it at a cost of approximately $100. Through an apparent miscommunication, Sunoco never ordered the new stud, so we took the car elsewhere for repair.
At the other garage, my mechanic had to use a breaker bar to remove two of the lug nuts because Sunoco had over-tightened them (see attached photo showing metal shavings from the other over-tightened lug nuts next to the broken stud). Due to the numerous damaged studs, we replaced the entire wheel hub assembly. Naturally, this cost more and caused major inconvenience as the car could not be driven for several days.
An objective analysis of the facts leads inescapably to the conclusion that Sunoco over-tightened the lug nuts, causing the catastrophic failure (breaking) of one stud and the effective destruction of two others.
When the first stud snapped, Sunoco did not mention any issue with any of the other lugs or studs. The vehicle was entirely within the control of Sunoco, and it was Sunoco that once again tightened the lugs after they replaced the tire. The thing speaks for itself: only Sunoco could have caused the damage to the second and third studs, and the circumstances strongly suggest Sunoco's fault for the first.
Through its manager, Adam, Sunoco has enumerated several excuses to absolve itself. First, Sunoco alleged that I "cross-threaded" the lug nuts when I put on the spare. I reiterate that I hand-tightened the lug nuts, and this excuse does not account for the destruction of the second and third studs, which happened after Sunoco replaced the tire. When confronted with the issue of the additional lug nuts' destruction, Sunoco then blamed me for not making the lug nuts tight enough after the tire change and alleged the wheel was "like a loose tooth" when it arrived at Sunoco (which, of course, undercuts its "cross-threaded" theory). Admittedly, I did not have a torque wrench, but to think the lug nuts had come loose on the short drive to Sunoco strains credulity. If it were true, why then did Sunoco not note damage to the other studs at that point?
Oddly, Adam denied knowledge of any technician named "John" employed at Sunoco, though he admitted a technician with a similar sounding name does work there (other social media posts about the River Hill Sunoco, e.g. Anglie's List, mention an employee named "John."). Just so there is no confusion, "John" is the technician who has family in the south of France, though I'm sure Adam knew exactly who I was referencing.
