My frontend problem and the resolution

[87manche]

I need some opinions.
Here's the story:
Did axle swap
Took to alignment shop
Alignment shop says camber is borked, wants to put adjustable sleeves in the knuckle.
Have sleeves put in. Truck doesn't drive quite right, I chalk it up to some sloppiness in the LCA's because I had to replace the bolts with SAE ones until I could source OEM.
Everything seemed fine, took it to NC, tires looked ok when we got there.
Out on the trail I heard a grinding noise, balljoint has rotated and cotter pin is in the rotor.
Drive home, figure I'll get that taken care of.
Get home, passenger tire is bald from midsection to outer edge. Had to put the spare on so I could drive in the rain.
Take it back to the shop, he can't figure it out. We discuss the knuckles since it's a 97 housing with 90 knuckles. Verify that we've got the right kind of parts.
I convince him that the parts installed should work in those knuckles.
he called his parts people today and verified. They asked him what parts were installed. He tells them 2365, they say that's the upper balljoint sleeves and he needs part 2385 for the lowers.
So they sent him the wrong parts. The wrong parts allowed the adjustable balljoint sleeves to rotate, the rotation screwed up the camber and caster and that's what ate my tires.
I don't fault him but I want the situation made right. He has agreed to replace the sleeves with the proper parts and not charge me anything, do you think I'm unreasonable in asking for my front tires to be replaced?
I was going to, as the alignment destroyed to perfectly good tires that had 3/4 of their tread life remaining.
Are there any legal options that I can pursue? I know that it's not his fault that the parts place sent him the wrong parts, but it's not my fault either and now I'm out $200 worth of tires.
Edit: I should mention that the total amount of miles on the tires since the alignment is about 2500. It was one month from front end work to bald tires. and it's approx 700 miles from Oh to NC.

[yardape]

That's a tough spot you're in. Usually businesses that will warranty their work will also protect themselves legally from damage resulting from ramifications of errors made.

In all fairness however, you noticed something wrong BEFORE you took your trip, made an assumption that it was the LCA's and did't do anything about it. That's human nature but you really should have brought the truck in immediately when you noticed something wrong and not be complaining 2500 miles later.

Not trying to be harsh, just realistic. Then again its worth a try if you've given your mechanic alot of business and your relationship is good,.... he may go to bat for you. It never hurts to ask. Good Luck with it.

[RedHeep]

I think whether it's 25 miles or 2500 miles, the end result is the same. Your mechanic had a responsibility to make sure the parts he put in the truck were the right parts. I don't order parts at work and blindly install them without making sure that what I ordered was right and what I got was what I ordered.
I could go out to the XJ right now and find things that don't "drive quite right", but I wouldn't go running back to the alignment shop. I hear new noises all the time. Those types of things are the nature of the beast we drive.
If you have 50,000 mile tires and his negligence wore them out in 2500 miles, he should be responsible for replacements.

EDIT: Did you get any type of guarantee when you paid him? Such as work warranteed for 6 months or whatever?

[87manche]

That's a tough spot you're in. Usually businesses that will warranty their work will also protect themselves legally from damage resulting from ramifications of errors made.

In all fairness however, you noticed something wrong BEFORE you took your trip, made an assumption that it was the LCA's and did't do anything about it. That's human nature but you really should have brought the truck in immediately when you noticed something wrong and not be complaining 2500 miles later.

Not trying to be harsh, just realistic. Then again its worth a try if you've given your mechanic alot of business and your relationship is good,.... he may go to bat for you. It never hurts to ask. Good Luck with it.
the problem is that you can't judge tire wear until you drive for that kind of distance. Once I knew there was soemthing wrong with the balljoints I was 700 miles from home, not a whole lot I could do about that other than drive it back.

[87manche]

EDIT: Did you get any type of guarantee when you paid him? Such as work warranteed for 6 months or whatever?

There's nothing stated on the invoice and it's not posted anywhere. I never thought to ask about it. He's warranting the frontend work, I was simply curious about opinions regarding the damage to my tires.

[Root Moose]

I think the best you can do is to ask him to sell you the replacement tires at his cost (i.e. no profit for him, minimized cost for you). Hopefully the tires are not something exotic that he can't sell. If you are a "good, repeat customer" he'll probably go for this no worries.

He had an obligation to make sure the parts are correct, yes, but you also had an obligation not to run on the tires once you saw that something was wrong. I realize that is probably not practical and we aren't expecting stuff like this to happen so we don't watch parts like a hawk but...

$0.02

[87manche]

I think the best you can do is try to get him to sell you the tires at his cost (i.e. no profit for him, minimizd cost for you). Hopefully the tires are not something exotic that he can't sell. If you are a "good, repeat customer" he'll probably go for this no worries.

He had an obligation to make sure the parts are correct, yes, but you also had an obligation not to run on the tires once you saw that something was wrong. I realize that is probably not practical and we aren't expecting stuff like this to happen so we don't watch parts like a hawk but...

$0.02
agreed, I should not have driven on something I knew was faulty, but being 700 miles from home I really didn't have a choice. I alerted him to it as soon as we returned.
I had not thought about asking for tires at cost. That may be an option. I'm going to pursue free tires anyway, but I would settle for that and consider it "fair". I will however be angry if he simply denies that his frontend work just cost me two tires, and that it's my fault for driving on it.
I should also mention that I was overall unsatisfied with the level of attention in the front end. I found the cotter pin on the passenger side tire not spred, so the only thing holding in the cotter pin was the rims center hole. If I had steel rims and not the alloys that are thicker it would have fallen out, and the stub shaft nut reatainer with it. As it was I found out when I had to change my tire in the rain. The LCA bolts were also not torqued, as I lost one on the trail.

[BRIANHO13]

Here is the shops answer to any warranty
"You use this offroad so you get nothing"
I am surprised they ar even fixing what they are.
With that being said I would still go for new tires.

[RedHeep]

He had an obligation to make sure the parts are correct, yes, but you also had an obligation not to run on the tires once you saw that something was wrong. I realize that is probably not practical and we aren't expecting stuff like this to happen so we don't watch parts like a hawk but...

$0.02

Would the obligation be different if you were a little old lady and didn't know any better? Sounds to me like a business would have to have different practices based on someone who is mechanically inclined and works on his junk and someone who pays for a service and drives away trusting it was done right.

I don't think there should be a difference. If he paid the money ($400, IIRC) to have it done right, he shouldn't need to check up on the guys work. Don't forget the LCA bolt that fell out because it wasn't torqued.

[87manche]

final bill was a touch under 350, price paid is not relevant to me, the fact that I paid to have something put right and it wasn't is. If I had gotten a helluva deal and he did the work at half price I would still be upset that it wasn't done properly.

[BRIANHO13]

final bill was a touch under 350, price paid is not relevant to me, the fact that I paid to have something put right and it wasn't is. If I had gotten a helluva deal and he did the work at half price I would still be upset that it wasn't done properly.

Thats a bunch o money to put into a turdy

[87manche]

yeah, but honestly at that point I just wanted to be done with it. After the axle swap and such I was burnt out on the Jeep, and just wanted it to be right.
I plan on keeping the turdy for a while, as it's a 97 housing with 297 shafts, and my planned tire size is no bigger than 33 for a while

[OT]

Next time get the tire warranty.:D:thumbup:

[87manche]

Next time get the tire warranty.:D:thumbup:
tires weren't new, came on the truck when I bought it.

jackass:kissyou: