until you've seen your skylark or GS dragged up onton a wrecker while the left side is resting on your brake assemmbly. i just had complete seperation of the hub from a front drum as it tore the lug studs through and bounced the wheel 30 feet away. if this hadn't have happened while i was backing out of my drive, i don't know what i would have done. i'd probably be in the hospital with the skylark totalled or badly wrecked. i don't care if it needed work, i don't care if it had rust. what a sxxxxy thing to watch. i'll give an update once i find something else out...and this is a few days before i was going to buy another car and retire the skylark for a major teardown.
Sorry to hear that David! Glad you weren't doing any better than 2 mph when it happened though, that would not have been much fun on the highway . I hope the mustang deal works out so that you have some transportation, I guess the timing could have been a lot worse....
It feels like a family member got hurt when your Buick is damaged! I had a 75 Skylark that got totaled I thought I was going to puke every time I looked at it.:gt: Jason
David, glad you were not at cruzing speed while that happened. I think the skylark just gave you a huge hint! good luck and hope the repairs are minimal as possible.
David, I just fried the 455 on the Century that's been with me 14 years, know what you mean. Hey, now you've got an excuse to put some extra $$$ into `er...
oh god, i'm gonna shoot someone. when it happened i brought the jack out to see if i could get it up and rolling. after seeing that the studs had all seperated and that there was no possible point at which to jack it up, i gave up and called the tow truck. well, in my anger i never recovered the jack that i had left in the driveway. you know where it went? either someone saw it and figured they'd load it up in their car (doubt it), or the ****ing GARBAGE MEN took it. these silly shits won't ever take ANYTHING not in the can, and half the time they still leave half the trash, anyway. for some reason, today they figured they'd go out of their way, walk up the drive and haul off a 60-70+ pound floor jack. between this and the now possibility that the tire place won't pay to fix their own shitty stud work, i'm about to go take a baseball bat to something.
David, Did you say you just had work done on the car??? If so, they need to call their insurance company RIGHT NOW and report the claim. No if and's or but's about it. RIGHT NOW. Demand it. Get the name of the company and report it yourself if they won't. They (should) have Garage Keepers Liability coverage for just such a problem. If not, there's always lawyers & court if they want to play hardball. Let me know how that comes out, would you?
You must have had your work done at _____ (ex. JIFFY Lube). My co worker calls me on the phone two days ago. She said, Phil my car is making noise. I told her to stop i heard the noise on the phone as she drove. So i say stop the car and check your tire it is either flat, broke a belt in it, or the lugs are not tight. She tells me well I had my tires rotated and oil changed at _____(ex. jiffy lube) finding out that the the tire was not flat. I told here to go slowly to the nearest service shop. 5 minutes later she gives me a call. phil my tire fell off. I gave her the number for _____ (ex. jiffy lube). and she demanded the repair and a tow truck. believe it or not they are repairing here car quickly. and gave her a rental. the manager from ____(ex. Jiffy lube) asked to take her to lunch. She said and I quote, your A(*& should have been here yesterday when i was stranded and starving. What a woman huh!
brad - i had tires mounted a bit ago, and they snapped the studs somehow on multiple wheels...claimed they were crossthreaded. my ass. they were nice enough to restud them at no cost, so i figured no biggie...this was a month or two ago, and yesterday i heard kind of a click during the drive home...though nothing of it, checked everything to be safe, didn't see a problem. today the aforementioned incident occurs. how the heck 5 studs all get yanked through a hub, i have no idea. the hub did not look broken or mangled at all. i got a call a little bit ago, and they asked me to bring the wheel and drum that had seperated up there (the tow company left it). then i got into it with the guy on the phone when he asked me about having any work done....i tell him i did my own brake job since the tires were mounted, and he proceeds to imply that I must have done something wrong. i'll be going up in an hour or so to drop off the wheel on my way out to somewhere else, and i'll get to here what they have to say. i think i was being pretty nice, and i even told them to just make it drivable so i can transport it...i was going to get another car to drive and change all the front end parts out on the lark, anyway, right? i could by all means tell them i want the entire front end redone becuase of the strain put on it by the wheel removing itself, make them buy a new wheel to replace the one which now has the outer rim all rashed up, ect...
3 words: MAKE THEM PAY! 3 more: TEACH THEM a LESSON! I'll prettymuch bend over backwards before I let anyone touch my car except me. Why? Because every single shop unless solely owned and opperated are nothing but a garage full of morrons. With prices to match! Follow up on what Brad suggested. I doubt they'll call them up. I'm sure they're paying a premium for it already, so make 'em pay more and maybe they'll learn something. Doubtfull, but at least they didn't 'get away' with it... I feel for ya, and am also glad it happened in the driveway instead of in town or highway! I'll say this then step off this soapbox. I spent yesterday pulling, checking and repacking bearings because the guy I took it to for a brake adjustment didn't repack the bearings. And the tire place that fixed a couple tires toqued the hell outta the lugs. Now I'll give the tire place that 'stupid card', but the mechanic I didn't expect it from... Hope everything works out in the end for ya.
well, the situation is, as far as i can tell, they say i have no case against them. they say that they restudded the right side, not the left, which is what broke. however, when i did my brakes, i had the shoe assemblies done, but i then bought new drums after the old ones were deemed unturnable. that meant i had to yank the hubs and set them in the new drums...i wasn't watching sides, so i'm 99% sure i switched them. i can go down there and show them that that one hub has different studs from the other three, and prove that it was THEIR stud job that broke. yet i know they will still argue (as they did today) that i'm at fault becuase i removed the wheels afterwards. the story they gave today was that i must not have torqued the lug nuts enough, and the studs had room to wiggle and eventually worked their way out....bullshit. a) i torqued the the lugs extremely well, b) even with minimal torque, with a good stud job this WOULD NOT HAPPEN, and c) i ALREADY brought the hub back to them when i first did the brakes, becuase the studs were so loose some of them would fall out if i held it upside down...they supposedly fixed it, and this STILL happened. plus, i have multiple people who can testify that when the lugnuts were loosened for the first time after the tire/wheel change, it took a crossbar and absolutely no force to remove them. if i didn't do the brake job this probably would have only happened sooner. i was almost ready to accept fault until i remembered the hubs were switched. i can't believe i didn't think of it earlier when i was down there... i will make them pay.
by the way, i have a question for those of you experienced in something like this: if i threaten court, what would you guess their reaction to be? common sense says if they fix it, they're out very little, but if they bother with a court case, whether i win or lose, i cost them money. not everyone has common sense, though...
Listen to Brad Conley. They probably have GKL insurance. If you threaten legal proceedings, they will become defensive or even worse, offensive. Send me a PM and let me know which shop we are talking about.
just some food for thought.. If I were a judge hearing this case and you went to the people who failed you in the beginning to really fix it, I'd call you a ______. If you took it somewhere else to have it properly fixed, then sued, or even sued before fixing with quotes from other companies, I would think "smart idea". Then sue for the money you initially spent with them, and for monies spent correctly fixing everything, inconvience, etc. Just think, "What would Marlyn Millian say" (for those who don't watch daytime tv, she's the judge on Peoples Court)
Deja Vu David. I just had the same experience with ______ (i.e. Firestone in North Platte, NE). Had a set of used tires put on the Dodge for a real good price. I thought! However, they didn't tighten the lug nuts on the frint driver's side. I was lucky when they did go 'cuz I was in a parking lot turning into a parking slot to the right. Barely moving and I didn't jack the tire into the wheel well plus the tire hit the curb and I didn't have to chase it down, or worse, hit somebody else. It did do some damage to the truck though. When it landed, it warped the rotor pretty bad and broke the front axle u-joint. Also, ruined the aluminum rim, studs and, of course, I needed new lugnuts. All totaled, over $700. Just waiting to here from their ins co. Keeping my fingers crossed for both of us. Scary s*&t is, I was on the interstate doing around 85 or 90 just the night before. Would have killed me and probably a few others at the same time.:stmad: good luck to you buddy.
David sorry about the mess. A similar thing happen to me in a 66 Impala and with my 1 month old son. I had the whole entire suspension rebulit front & rear, everything was replaced even the mounting hardware and bolts. also had new tires put on. It happened while crusing along and going to make a stop , Well a loud Thumping noise was heard and the the car wouldn't stop straight, and was pulling very hard to the left. Well I went through the intersection, lucklily no cars, and ramped over a curb , cleared a drainage ditch a landed in a parking lot. Found out after everthing settled down that the right front studs , all 5, sheared off. Damage was done to my fender and my fender well,my front brake drum and it's componets, and my right ft tire. Now before this happened I felt a vibration that caused me to stop and investigate , at that time I found nothing, this was an hour and half before the incident. Got the car towed back to the shop thinking they would fix it and cover everything. ALL HELL broke loose........ no they wont fix or cover anything , it wasn't their fault. and ect and ect..... Well we had to pay at least the tow bill, because it was a BIG CAR the tow copany would only tow it with a rig for towing semis so the billl was $120. plus 1 nites storage, ( they didn' want to tow it 41 miles that night.uzzled: Anyhow I approached them in a good manner several times about fixing the car, I had another to drive luckily at the time, and left it sit there.. till something happened. LUckily when it was towed , they dropped it in a fenced in area at the shop for customers cars. so the shop was now responsible for anything happening to it. Now the fun stuff , I noticed that theyhad to keep moving it to get other cars in and out finally they moved other cars around and put it all they in the back. I asked again why dont you fix it ? you keep moving it around and the time spent having to move it around it could had been fixed. They again state it wasnt their fault , I'm resonsible for ensuring and checking if the lug nuts where tight or naught,even tho I hadn't gotten more than 160 miles on the car. And I shouldn't have driven it after I felt the vibration, so if it was brought in then......... Wait a minute!!!!!! your saying that would fix it ? if a brought it in then ? possibly ..pending on we would have found...... ou: Dude you just open yourself up..... found out what it takes to fix my car you just admitted responsibilty. Needless to say they then ultimately refused to even do that . I did get some advice from an attorney, and he offered to be with me on one final request for this car to be fixed. As an innocent bystander as seemingly as one of my friends they gave another line of bull , and now they are charging me for storage on my car, I had to pay them , to get it out, then they would look into it at my expensense. He spoke up and introduced himself as a friend and requested all the paperwork involved they complied and he sat down there and read ever last word. He got up and requested the mgr... they went out of earshot and I couldn't hear the conversation...but I got ... bits and pieces like ..." I know but he" " we told him " " I dont think" " I know its printed here but I told him because of this that didn't impile" We left and he stated I think there gonna take care of all of it. The biggest thing in this factor was they were trying to blame it all on me over the front coil springs that I wanted versus the stock ones. They did fix everything except for the tow bill, they thought it was to high and refused ..at that time I seen ther side of the story, and since that wasnt in their controll I left it out. I can't say if the attorney threatened them with his status , or they finally ecountered a savvoy customer.. but I got it back( 3 weeks later) and they found me a fender and trim and had the cars paint scanned for the paint to match up. All in all Him and I estimated around $870 dollars minus the tow bill... for 5 studs.... So check your paper work go in with a friend and hear their story again why they won't fix it , you'll notice it may change a little , because that person may be there next big paying job. I ho pe this helps
it's disturbing how many of these stories there are...i'm glad it eventually worked out for you too, though. i got a call this morning after i woke up...they asked if i had been quoted a repair price. i don't know what that price is, becuase i refused to even hear it. supposedly a store manager is supposed to call me later.
I wouldn't threathen unless you intend to follow thru....Otherwise they won't belive you next time. I've been thru small claims court a few times (my mother had a rental apartment). We were told that usually the landlord or business loses. (we beat the odds and won). I think it was only $20 to file. If they don't bring an attorny it won't cost them much either. Bring all the parts and documents to show the judge. Tell him about the loose studs etc..
Tis true, landlord/manager usually wins. Why? The only person to walk in with 'any' form of verification (photos, letters, etc) is the landlord/manager. The trick to these cases is to walk in fully prepared to goto war. Photos, letters, messages, etc.. You must have more or better info then them. Without that, your sunk. Also, threatening can be quite affective when used correctly. Tho you also must consider whom your going against.
