Joe RedCloud
New Member
This is going to be a long post so please bear with me. There are only a couple of good shops out where I live that I’ll entrust my car with. The main shop (Hill Tire) has been very good to me until just recently. I had my struts replaced there a couple of months ago along with a 4 wheel alignment. Fine. Then, a week later, as I was pulling out onto the street, I felt that distinct sound and low vibration that normally denotes either a flat tire or very low pressure. I immediately pulled over but did not observe either condition. Having just mounted new tires on the car, I didn’t want to damage them. I returned to Hill Tire and was told that the left front and right rear bearings were shot and would require replacement soon. They also indicated that I needed new inner and outer tie rods. They quoted me a price of 200.00+ for the bearing jobs. I arranged an appointment. I met the mechanics at the bar the night before my car was due for servicing. We spoke about many things that could be done to the car during this coming summer season. (My SHO is a favorite of theirs)When I arrived at the shop early the next morning, no one seemed to remember the conversation from the previous evening to say nothing about the scheduled bearing jobs. I had a number of extremely important meetings to attend and, seeing that these guys were still working on a hangover, I left in disgust. I went to a Goodyear shop in town that had been trying to steer some of the business I had sent to Hill Tire in their direction. I pulled in without an appointment and spoke with one of their mechanics. He listened carefully to what I said and offered me two solutions. One, he could go ahead and do the bearing jobs based on what the other shop had diagnosed OR he could analyze the problem himself. I thought about it for all of 3 seconds and agreed to let him diagnose the problem. I returned in an hour and was told that the bearings on the car were fine. I did need the inner and outer tie rods done. I agreed to the work but asked why there was a discrepancy regarding the bearings. The Goodyear mechanic told me he had spent the bulk of his years working for Ford and has years of experience in these very same matters. He said he would repack the bearings if I wanted but, in his honest opinion, they were fine. I came back 2 hours later and paid 115.00 and was very pleased with the results. However, the mechanic did point out that the right rear rim was bent (on the inside rim) and that could very easily be the problem with the vibration and humming noise. I’ve been looking for a pair of replacement rims for the car since then. The steering is now very tight and accurate. What bothers me is that the humming is becoming louder. It’s been over 2000 miles since the tie rods were replaced. I had a 91 Sable that issued the exact same noise. When I finally took it to the shop (now closed because he retired) the mechanic informed he that I was the luckiest man driving. When he put the Sable on the lift, the rear wheels/tires almost “fell” off. After new bearings were installed, everything was fine. Here’s my question, is it possible that Hill Tire was correct in their first diagnosis? Have I burned my bridges too soon? Please, any experience and advise along these lines would be greatly appreciated. Again, sorry for the long post.
