Tough times to want good service

What is happening with craftsmanship? Lately it feels like there is no shop I can trust. I know for a fact that there still is good mechanics and technicians out there… finding them is the problem. Recently I purchased 5 Raceline wheels and 5 Mickey Thompson 35x12.5x17 Baja Legend EXP. You would not believe how hard of a time I had finding a tire shop willing to install these tires on the wheels. I am not exaggerating. Literally tried 5 different discount tires and all of them had excuses as to why they could not do it, with one manager even stating he had no technician present (Must have been 8 techs there) that he could trust to perform the job and not damage any of the wheels during the installation. Finally, I found a side of the road tire shop that was willing to mount all the tires. Got that done and declined the installation part of the service because I personally do not like lug nuts at 300 ft lbs of stud stripping temper changing torque that comes standard with technicians in these times. (Blasting the pneumatic impact). Finally, I got home and began the wheel/tire swap on my tundra. Everything went as expected and I even found a way to mount the 35-inch full size matching spare in the OEM spare location. Everything is good. Months went by with no incident, miles stacked up with rotations at every oil change (Done by me, for the same reasons as stated before). Finally at about 20,000 miles on the tires I decided it was a good time to re-balance the tires, and, well, that went as expected. First, I went to a local tire shop and well, they tried but could not properly balance the tires. Then I went to a second side of the road local tire shop, they got all the wheels balanced and it turned out good. Of course, I had to break all of the nuts loose at home and re-torque them back to spec. Am I the only one that feels that the quality of care has been lacking in recent years? I do not even take the new highlander we bought to get serviced at the dealership, the first-time maintenance was performed at the dealership and that was the last time. Upon receiving the vehicle and inspecting, I was shocked at the lack of quality of the maintenance. The hood was covered in oily, greasy fingerprints as well as the wheels. When I opened the driver’s door, I found dark grease stains on the arm rest and seat as well as the center console/hand rest. It’s just shocking for a dealership to have such horrible service. Have experiences by boat load as to bad service experience both at dealerships and third-party shops. I have made the commitment and investment (Extensive service/repair tools) to perform all maintenance and repairs at home. I’m even thinking of buying a secondhand road force balancing machine. Am I the only one that struggles finding techs/mechanics that care about what they are doing? And that know what they are doing? It feels like I cannot trust anyone anymore. “You want something done right, better do it yourself”.

 

I share your frustration. Luckily, we have a lot of local tire shops around this area. Love that wheel and tire combo, looking to get something similar in the future.

 

I knew i wasn't the only one suffering. lol
Here are the wheel specs just in case (17x8.5 - 0 Offset)

 

This is so true, and sad. I think most (not all) people couldn't care less about your car or truck. It's just a job, get em in, get em out. Quicker the better = more money. It's very hard here as well. When I do find a good shop or technician, I generally tip them for a job well done & definitely go back.

 

Yeah, I really do understand the whole quantity over quality = more money. But when repairs/maintenance is being done incorrectly to help the bottom line.. Well all one can do is perform self maintenance. I have a 3 year old daughter and often wonder how the world will be in 20-30 years. I cringe even thinking about it, good work will be very hard to come by for sure.

 

When they saw you were doing white letters out they knew your truck would look cooler than theirs so they refused to let that happen.

 

You might be on to something!

 

Don't know about all the "feels" but I certainly believe there's very little pride in what many people do these days. We're blessed to have a honest and very capable Mechanic in our local area.

 

Luckily for me, the area I live in has plenty of off road shops (mostly Jeepers) so having this sort of work is easy.

There has been a few shops who won’t install 37s just due to the size itself, but I can see why. These can possibly break their machines since they only handle mostly small cars and light truck tires.

 

Yeah, I can see that being a problem. I just called Costco out of curiosity to see how much wheel balancing runs there. To my surprise truck tires run for $5.00 a tire, with the technician even stating 35's should be no problem. Local tire shop ripped me a new one and charged me $25.00 each.

 

I was an entry level tech for 2 years. Don’t do it anymore because the hours, pay and benefits are horrible. The set up you have is awkward, expensive and heavy and nobody wants to do that. The master techs aren’t doing that, the bottom feeder lubies get that job and a lot of the new young guys have zero work ethic and or pride in their work. Most of it is due to low pay that isn’t a livable salary, back breaking work and always working Saturdays which sucks. I was always the quality over quantity guy and I treated everyone’s vehicle like my own. I’m clean, neat and not a dummy. However the boss wants it all fast, hurry, hurry we have 99 more appointments that need to be done within the hour. The auto industry is screwed. I found a local independent shop that I take my tundra too. Look for one of those.

 

Dually noted, OP.

Find a former Toyota technician who has opened his own shop. It takes a lot of leg work to find, but they are out there.

As far as tire techs, find a shop that works on customized vehicles (custom jeeps/trucks or lowriders) . They'll take care of you.

 

Haha…Here in MA, some shops won’t balance and install tires if they don’t match the size stamped on the door jamb stating the default tire size due to liability reasons. It’s sickening.