Tirecraft experience

[civicsi]

First, i would like to say that I have always gone to the Tirecraft for tires and alignments and have not have any problems, except the last time which i was over charged on labour by about 80 bux on a job, but was later cleared up after discussing it over with them (i had no problem with that), but after today it makes me wonder now.......

Anyways............

I recommended Tirecraft to a friend (that isnt quite knowledgable about cars and doesnt know alot about his own car) for getting a front 2 wheel alignment as i installed a front camber kit for him (brand new).

Anyways he goes and gets his alignment and later we meet up for lunch he tells me that everything went fine but the bill is 90 something bux. To my suprise, i was thinking they prob charged him for a 4 wheel alignment or something, just go back and correct that.

So he goes back to the shop and then explains them that he just got 2 wheel alignment and that they might have overcharged him by accident. I told him at lunch to expect only to get charged 40 or 50 bux for the alignment.they then tell him that they dont do 40-50 bux 2 wheel alignments anymore, and because his car is lowered its additional 20 bux.They also told him they charged him for some nuts and bolts of some sort for the camber kit. So then he asked how much is a 4 wheel alignment cost? and they said its $89.99. So what i am thinking is basically for $10 bux more, you can get a 4 wheel alignment? :thumbsdow

in the end they didn't help him out even after going back later to talk about it in person.

so he was billed $79.99 for the alignment (includes the extra 20 cuz the lowered car)

$4.00 shop parts ?????? (supposedly new miscellaneous nuts and bolts for the NEW camber kit that was installed) :bullshit:

and GST of course which is fine.

I just got a 2 wheel alignment in sept, as did my friends that are on this board about the time of sept of this year. they did it for about 50 bux. I Know the possiblity is there that they have changed their policy very recently for doing 2 wheel alignments

Another thing is that i have no clue what nuts and bolts they had to change on this brand new camber kit . I mean its only 4 bux but still, i dont understand what nuts/bolts????
:dunno:

I know alot of ppl on this board go there and are friends with them and they are a sponsers of beyond , but i just want ppl to be aware, and its a heads up for new ppl who want to go there.
I rarely post my thoughts and ideas up here but i think ppl should know about my friends experience.

[littledan]

shit! the $4 shop parts is probably a set % of the bill... that sounds like they screwed him a little bit.

[hjr]

ya, and the lowered car thing may be legit, but its not cool. places shouldnt charge for that. If they do take it else where...

[illeagle]

WoW!! I was about to get my lowered car, aligned there, Thanks.... Hmmm,, Now where do i go??

[sxtasy]

Some shops charge everyone a shop supply fee, even if you don't need bolts or any supplies. I'm not sure if it applies in this case though.

[civicsi]

illeagle: As for getting it lowered you may just want to get that done at any local tunershop such as one of our sponsors Speedtech. If you want an alignment ask around and shop around at other places. there are places where they dont charge an extra fee for lowered cars but not all shops are willing to do just a 2 wheel alignment (they make you do all 4). keep in mind though after you lower it (depending on your car) you may need a camber correction kit for the front and rear which has nothing to do with the actual alignment itself.

sxtasy: As for that shop rate, whether they automatically charge a shop supply fee or not it really doesnt matter. HOWEVER my friend went back in and asked about it, and they said that there were nuts and bolts that were needed to for the alignment. I just put in this camber kit myself, and all the bolts are brand new and not stripped or anything i even anti-seized EVERYTHING. IMO i cant seem to figure out what bolts/nuts needed replacing when all of them are new and perfect condition.

This all sounds a lil shady IMO.

[EnRich]

TireCraft was the absolute worst experiance I've ever had... TireCraft has to be the worst shop in the city for doing anything to your car... I had my car lowered there and I had koni yellows installed there... This was last summer... I put brand new 17inch tires on there and at the end of the season two of them actually went flat because the suspension was installed in-correctly... The tires didn't wear like normal tires... They wore on the very inside as if something was rubbing agasint them... I had the car taken to two differant places (shops) both of which told me that it would cost me about $1000 bucks to repair the bad job TireCraft did on my car.... Now I need brand new tires for the upcomming summer season.... I phoned TireCraft to tell them what was happening and they told me that they didn't warrenty ANY of their lowering job work... Basically anything that has to do with suspension they dont warrenty... I'm going to be visitiing them this week and showing them what happened to my tires... I'm sure their gonna tell me that their not responsible and that it wasn't their fault... To make things even worse, about one week after I had my car lowered I noticed a scratch on my roof... I wasn't a key scratch... It looked like someone had put a box on the top of my car and something scratched it... It left a nasty dent and even after I had it buffed out I can still notice it... I'm really fucking pissed with TireCraft... I will never have anything else done at TireCraft again, and I'm telling everyone straight up to stay away from this shop like the plague... And YES I'm talking about the one that advertises here... The only reason I went to that fucking place was because so many ppl seemed to recommend it... Now I'm hearing this shit... Fucking roaches... Many of you will prob think I'm BSing but I do plan to sue if TireCraft doesn't fix my suspension problem... I'll be posting a picture of the tires soon... Does anyone know a good place to get a lowered car aligned???

Rich

[Light_Speed]

suing them would be a good idea on somthing like that
ive been there before and i would never go back
I didnt want to say anything about it but since it was brought up..... those guys are assholes

[kenny]

As with any shop in the city, there will always be some that have the bad customer experiences. Was your friend quoted a lower price by Tirecraft prior to them doing the 2 wheel alignment? If not then I don't see what the problem is. They charge $10 more for a 4 wheel alignment, so? Why didn't your friend go for the 4 wheel alignment then?

The bolts that were needed may have been for another part of the suspension that needed replacing to complete the alignment. This could be the bolts used to adjust all the other aspects (toe in/out, etc), and not just the camber.

As for Enrich, sounds pretty horrible. Do you mean that you had lots of negative camber and the insides of the tread wore down faster than the outside? If that is the case your car was just lowered too much and needed a camber kit.

Its good to get some of these comments out here, but the truth of the matter is, for EVERY shop you can name, I bet there are a bunch of people who are completely angry with them and want to sue them because of something they did. They are probably telling their friends to avoid them and go somewhere else. What you don't usually hear are all the good experiences people have with shops and that is something to keep in mind. Hopefully Tirecraft (whichever location you dealt with) will handle your complaints appropriately.

[rage2]

Rich, you need an alignment kit (as mentioned in your other post). Without it, you will continue to wear tires like that because it's impossible to fix the camber with your car unless you purchase a camber kit.

Personally, I only go to tirecraft, not because they're a sponsor, but because they give me the best prices for work on my cars. They do all the tires/alignment work on my SLK and my 944 for track work. They actually helped me change the alignment on the SLK based on tirewear to improve my cornering performance. Helped a lot in Solo2 last year.

BTW - to avoid pricing confusion, next time get a quote first before getting anything done. Silly not to :).

[max_boost]

Originally posted by kenny
As with any shop in the city, there will always be some that have the bad customer experiences. Was your friend quoted a lower price by Tirecraft prior to them doing the 2 wheel alignment? If not then I don't see what the problem is. They charge $10 more for a 4 wheel alignment, so? Why didn't your friend go for the 4 wheel alignment then?

The bolts that were needed may have been for another part of the suspension that needed replacing to complete the alignment. This could be the bolts used to adjust all the other aspects (toe in/out, etc), and not just the camber.

As for Enrich, sounds pretty horrible. Do you mean that you had lots of negative camber and the insides of the tread wore down faster than the outside? If that is the case your car was just lowered too much and needed a camber kit.

Its good to get some of these comments out here, but the truth of the matter is, for EVERY shop you can name, I bet there are a bunch of people who are completely angry with them and want to sue them because of something they did. They are probably telling their friends to avoid them and go somewhere else. What you don't usually hear are all the good experiences people have with shops and that is something to keep in mind. Hopefully Tirecraft (whichever location you dealt with) will handle your complaints appropriately.

1 good experience you tell 2 people
1 bad experience and the entire world knows about it

:)

[civicsi]

Kenny:

Before my original post was edited by one of the mods, i made a statement saying that i spoke to another tire craft and they would do an alignment for around 50 bux, no extra for it being lowered ( and keep in mind i am not bitching about this charge just stating it). i have gotten all my alignments at the macleod location and have had no probs as i originally stated. i have just done a 2 wheel alignment for about 50 bux there as well, just recently in sept and so have some of my friends. Naturally we assumed (which in hind sight we shouldnt have) it was gonna be the same.
IF they decide that they no longer wish to do these type of alignments for that price is fine, i never complained about that. Nor did i ever complain they quoted us a lower price, i am just telling what had happened today.

My friend and i were both surprised that it was so much especially since other tire crafts will do the same job for cheaper, and next time we will go elswhere. AS for why he dint get a 4 wheel alignement? he did not need it, simple as that and he thought it would save some money cuz they are only doing 2 wheels. IF it were me and i was charged that much i would have told them i'll pay them 10 bux more and do the rears just to make it worth my money. However my friend is much more timid and did not want to make a fuss about it, and after this experience did not want them to touch his car again. i dont blame him.

As for the nuts and bolts, there are none needed for tow adjustment. i never stated what car it was, its a an EL.
There arent any nuts/ bolts associated with tow adjustment that would need replacing. He said Tirecraft said these nuts/bolts were used for camber.

IT is true there are always good and bad stories you hear about any shop, but I MYSELF, have always had good experiences with them thas why i recommended them to my friend. But after this i was shocked and very disappointed, and thats why i want others to know and be cautious (as they should be with any shop) with this specific Tirecraft.

I not posting this to bash them just a heads up.

[Blue Devil 2]

I have had nothing but excellent service from Tirecraft, and will continue to recommend them to my friends.

[FiveFreshFish]

Does each Tirecraft location have the freedom to set their prices independent of what other stores charge?

It's possible because even with fast-food chains, some places charge more than others under the same name. (Burger King in Banker's Hall, for instance.)

[Ben]

I also get all my tirework done at Tirecraft, save buying the actual tires, (which I have a dedicated source).

They mounted/balanced my winter tires on my alloys, that went great, they do my oil changes (its so inexpensive its not worth doing yourself), do the rotations and alignments, all for very fair price, on top of that they are close to both my home and work (I can drop my car off on the way and pick it up on the way home)

All and all great service IMO.

[Tuner1]

Originally posted by FiveFreshFish
Does each Tirecraft location have the freedom to set their prices independent of what other stores charge?

FiveFreshFish, yes the do have the freedom to set pricing. I have been using Tirecraft on MacLeod for many years with good sucess.

Rob
www.tunerworks.com

[Aleks]

Originally posted by E36S50B32


FiveFreshFish, yes the do have the freedom to set pricing. I have been using Tirecraft on MacLeod for many years with good sucess.

Rob
www.tunerworks.com

I've had my Altima lowered there twice once on B&G springs and once on GC coilovers. Even though I am lowered 2.5" i have no unever tire wear or any other problems. Those guys said they couldn't warranty anything but in 2 years i haven't had any problems yet :thumbsup:

[speedracer]

I see it as a lack of communcation from the shop. Perhaps it was unintentional but it does seem sly with the shop charges. The explanation that new bolts were needed to be replaced when the camber kit is new...
(Yes,the amount was small but it does bring to question)

I've gone that shop for my aligment needs as well. It's been good esp for my odd request for more camber :)