Tyre fitters being careless

[Martin]

Hello all,

I got my 2 rear tyres replaced, and the tracking checked, yesterday. However, a minor crease appeared on the nearside front wheel arch, as well as a small area of paint being chipped off in on the rim of the same wheel arch. They claim it wasn't them, but anyone who has seen my car can see how well I look after it myself, and I would know if it had this crease before I handed it over to them.

I asked if I could see their camera footage (as they are quite a large operation) but they said they dont have any cctv. They claimed that the paint chip was not fresh so it couldnt be them. They said there is no way they could have caused the crease. I asked how do they think the crease appeared and they said probably from a stone in the road.

As I was getting weighed down with the amount of wool being pulled over my eyes, I decided to go to a trusted, local bodyshop specialist. He said the paint chip is very fresh, the crease could in no way have been caused by stones on the road, and that the crease is in all likelihood the result of carelessness by the tyre fitter.

I phoned the tyre fitter afterwards with details of my conversation with the bodyshop. The tyre fitter simply wasnt interested.

Luckily, the damage is minimal, but as I am sure any NSX owner on this website can understand, the frustration with the tyre fitter is greater.

I have been put off going to this tyre fitter in the Micheldever area competely by this experience.

Has anyone got any advice, or had a similar experience?

[Andy]

Hi Martin

I had my rear tyres replaced recently by a mobile unit. The chimpanzee they sent at first tried to jack the car up under the suspension arm, causing me to rush out frantically to stop him. When he could not get his hydralic jack under the side of the car due to the low ground clearance he was stumped until I suggested he use the toolkit jack first (at the front) to raise the car sufficiently for his jack to fit under the rear jacking point.

No problem in the end but a frustrating and momentarily heart stopping experience. I am glad I was watching the whole time!

[Flinty]

I think i may have had a similar problem, altho again i can't prove it.

The local cheapo tyre place replaced the two rears - okay job on the face of it. After a bit of investigation into some weird handling, the rear n/s suspension arm was found to be bent.

Luckily it was a new part and HondaUK kindly replaced under warranty, but it is possible that damage was done by the tyre fitters.

My advice in hindsight is 1. use a trusted garage, or 2. find the time to watch them do the job, or 3. specifically instruct them to use the jacking points.

Monkeys..... :roll:

[TheQuietOne]

Hi,

Anyone have a basic diagram of where the points are on a 2000 model. I',m off to get my trusted local garage to fit 4 as discussed on another thread, but I wouldn't mind giving them a bit of guidance, as whilest they do a lot of nice cars I have a feeling it will be theri first NSX!

I've never seen under mine so I haven't got a clue!

Cheers,

Matt.

[Kevin]

There are three jacking points down each side of the car. Look at the plastic sills, and you will see arrows indented into them. These are a giveaway clue that the jack point are located there. The jack points are 1/4inch bars welded to the sills.


The middle one will raise the side of the car, so a front and rear tyre can be done at once.

[Clive]

I had the same experience once but with a big scratch down the middle of a spoke. The tyre shop manager merely asked the fitter if he had done it, When he said "No", and the manager shrugged his shoulders, I paid and never went back. Given that he was an independent, I thought he would value having an NSX coming in for new rears every three months. I was doing big commutes at the time. His loss: I hope he's gone bust.

I now go to Protyre for all my bike and car tyres. I trust them as much as anybody, but still watch them like a hawk and endeavour to be with them all the time. With the NSX my latest strategy is to take the wheels off myself and ask them to fit the tyres onto the loose wheels.

Incidentally, I use a Taskmaster 2 tonne low entry jack. Fantastic and no need to pre-jack the car with the one from the boot.

Clive

[TheQuietOne]

Hi,

Thanks for the advice guys (as usual), I'll cross my fingers they don't get it wrong!

Cheers,

Matt.