I normally do not write bad reviews but here, I feel a duty to warn you if you are thinking of…read morehaving them do any job that involves removing or installing tires on your vehicle.
On November 22, this shop put my winter tires on my vehicle. This past Friday (December 12), I got a flat. When I went to change the tire, it took all of my body weight standing on the lug wrench and rocking up and down while holding the side of the car to loosen the first four wheel bolts, and I am not a small or weak guy by any stretch.
Unfortunately, the head of the last lug nut was stripped and thus impossible to get off, as the lug wrench would not grip it sufficiently to apply the 1,000 ft/lbs of torque or whatever was needed to loosen it. I thus had to have the car towed to a shop to remove the wheel bolt and put the spare tire on. In decades of driving and getting multiple flat tires over the years, I've never not been able to change one. Last Friday marked the first time.
My theory is that in the interest of speed, as well as post-COVID staffing shortages, many shops, including this one, have inexperienced and untrained employees using an air wrench to tighten the wheel bolts. Wheel bolts, however, are supposed to be torqued to a specific specification - usually 80-120 lbs/ft, depending on your car. Air wrenches, when not properly used, can apply massively more torque than this.
Overtightening wheel bolts may not sound like a big deal. Tight is good, yes? Well, doing this causes multiple problems. For one thing, unless you are an athlete with a lot of strength, you won't be able to change your tire if you get a flat and you will be stranded. Hopefully you are not in a remote area, it's not very late at night, or it's not freezing cold when that happens - and when else would it happen? LOL!
Excessive torque from an air wrench can strip the slightly rounded heads of wheel lug nuts and bolts. See attached pictures of my stripped wheel bolt. If that occurs, then the wheel bolt isn't coming off and you will need a tow to a shop, and hopefully you are near one when you get your flat tire! Overtightening can cause stress fractures in your rim, warp your brake rotors, and crack or damage your wheel studs if you have a lug nut/stud setup. If you have wheel locks, an overtightened wheel lock bolt can break your wheel key, and you will spend hundreds of dollars getting the lock off. Thank God that did not happen to me on Friday, as my wheel lock bolt was one of the ones I was able to wrestle off, but it easily could have.
My recommendation is to avoid this place and torque your own wheel bolts. If you are not in a position to do that, then find a reputable shop with good reviews and ask them if they use a torque wrench or an air wrench when they install wheels. If they use an air wrench, or you get a vague and uncertain answer, go to a different shop that will torque your wheels down to their proper factory specifications. Your life may actually depend on it!
