I apologize about the long post in advance!


So I took my 2011 MR in for my first free oil change and figured while I was there I would have them look at the alignment, as my steering wheel has been slightly to the right since shortly after delivery and the car has been vibrating at highway speeds, especially when cold.


I arrive and tell the service manager the service I want and he starts arguing with me about the adjustment warranty and that the alignment/balance is a maintenance issue and he can't look at it without charging me. I read multiple reports of people getting alignments during their adjustment period with low miles (5k, 3 months old is what mine is) when things were off and told him. He "calls" his regional manager and gets the ok to go ahead and do the alignment since the car is less than 6 months old (random) barring that there is no evidence of an accident.


So I'm happy that they are gonna look at it and get it straightened out. I'm wondering around the lot when I get called back. He wants to show me the damage that they found. On both of my passenger side wheels it looks like they have some curb rash on the inside of the wheel. I don't recall ever hitting anything and not sure what is could be from.


They put the wheel on the balance machine and start spinning it and he immediately tells me "oh, that rim is definitely bent..." WTF. It turns out they were using the wrong hub on the machine and they figured it out when all my wheels were wobbling, not just the rashed ones. But he stuck to the story of my rims being bent and refused to check my alignment under warranty.


At this point I'm already pissed. Got the free oil change and saw them do it so i know they didn't screw that up and got the tires rotated the proper way after correcting them (they were going straight front to back and not crossing the rears to the front) I watch the guy torque my wheels, though not closesly and pay and go home.


The car drives pretty good on the way home, no vibrations at all at any speed I was driving, and it was tracking straight. I took a turn going about 30mph and the car kind of slid in a strange way; I figured it was just cause of the rotation.


THEN, on the way to work I take a turn going about 35mph getting onto an on-ramp. After turning it feels like the wheel just got forced off and starts shaking violently, getting progressively worse on the way to work. I get out and check the wheel and FOUR of the five lugnuts are loose, THREE of which came off with less than 2 full turns. I took the wheel off to inspect the studs and wheel for damage. The lugs were not stripped, but the studs had started to shave metal off of the wheel. There were a significant amount of metal shavings on the wheel, hub, and studs. I took pictures of everything and can post them if anyone wants to see.


My question to you all is how should I proceed from here? I notified the service manager, whom I was working with, almost immediately. He told me he would waive the charge for the balance and rotation, but I still don't believe my wheels are bent and now with this damage should I be looking for more? That wheel had ONE lugnut that was decently on, but if that had sheared off and the wheel had come off at highway speeds that could have killed someone or myself.


ADVICE GREATLY APPRECIATED! Thanks

 

I had this happen to me with my Audi.

I would tell them you want your tires rotated and balanced, All lugnuts and studs checked for damage, and replaced if needed. Depending on how much you torqued them or drove on them, your tires might be ****ed-- I would ask them to look at the tread left on your tires.

With the wheel sliding back and forth, and not distributing impact force properly on your axle (pothole, bumps in the road, etc.), your alignment is probably out of whack.

Your point is entirely correct. You could have been killed. Or worse-- left alive with someones blood on your hands. The LEAST they could do, is make sure that your car is in peak handling shape, and all suspension components are completely aligned and in perfect condition.

 

A link to pictures of the damage to the wheel below

http://photobucket.com/evoxmrwheeldamage

You can see the metal shavings and the damage to the wheel. It's interesting, because roadside assistance would not come out when I called them to come torque my wheels down and document that there was an issue. I explained to them that I would be more than willing to do it myself if I had a torque wrench at work, or was putting the spare on, but that was not the case. What good is roadside assistance for then....

 

Its not. Document this all in a claim to Mitsubishi corporate.

If your wheels are ****ed, get them to replace them. It's their tech's fault-- and they need to eat that loss.

 

OMG... you could have been killed~ I think you should document everything and file a case with Mtisubishi corporate. At this point, they should at least replace all your damaged rims, realign everything, and if they refuse, it's definately a lawsuit.

 

Def make corporate aware of the incident, regardless of how the dealership resolves it with you. **** like this is unacceptable imo.. just glad nothing bad happened to you, or other drivers around you.

Top tip of the day: do the work yourself, or take it to a Jiffy Lube or whatever..

Then if something goes wrong, you can blame yourself or the inexperienced part-time kid for the screw-up - not some properly trained service technician that should know better.

 

Does anyone think the damage to the wheel is enough to warrant a replacement. I really don't trust or feel confident in their assessment of it at this point. I think I should probably get an independant opinion/inspection of the damage. If i take it back there they will probably try to play off the damage as nothing. But i think they strain on the studs and axle while the wheel was moving back and forth at highway speeds is enough to consider replacing.

I don't want to deal with this dealership anymore than I need to. Unfortunately it is the only one in the area which scares the **** out of me when it comes to thinking about possible failures on the car ($$T). Enough to keep me from modding or having fun with the car, that's for sure.

 

^^ Good thinking. I agree that a 2nd opinion from another shop would probably be a good idea, before taking it back in to the dealership.

Maybe try a reputable tire shop, or even another dealership (even if it's GM, Honda or whatever). Tell them what happened, and ask how much they'd charge just to take a look at it.

Also, if there is damage, see if you can get it in writing.

Good luck

 

Take lots of pictures and document everything.
Talk to witnesses.
Get a lawyer if you have to get legal.
Keep elevating you issue until it gets resolved. Eventually, some one with enough power and status will listen to you and make things right.

Good luck!

 

There is a tool called a torque wrench. It torques your lugnuts to the proper torque. You will never get it wright with an impact wrench, though it may work. Sometimes you can torque a lugnug with a impact wrench then go an turn it more than half a turn until it is torqued properly with a torque wrench. When you have your wheels taken off again, insist they use a torque wrench.

 

LOL I know what a torque wrench is. Sorry, that was implying he was using a torque wrench and I saw him do it. I'm pretty sure the wheel was slightly misaligned on the studs and the lug nuts were tightened on top of the wheel holes instead of through them, if that makes sense.

Part of the issue to begin with on checking the wheel was that I didn't have a torque wrench at work, hence the reason I wanted roadside assistance to come out and do it, which they refused. I'm going to file the report either tonight or tomorrow morning and take the car to an independent shop to assess the damage. And then let the dealership know how I want to proceed.

 

sounds like the same tech that didn't know how to use a basic wheel balancer didn't know how to use a torque stick and then manually torque before rolling the car out.

When I worked at Sears, a customer having a problem like that after leaving the shop, meant the tech was fired and Sears was buying wheels and studs/hub.

Stick to your guns, that was your safety they messed with!

 

I can swear I saw it in the manual that the proper way to rotate our tiers is from front to back and we dont cross them over like you wanted.

 

I believe there are 2 diagrams in the manual and it says to use the cross rotation one. It's been a few months since I looked at it though Non-directional same size tires almost always go front to back and crossing rear. You can (and should with directional) go front to back, but the wear pattern will continually get worse instead of evening out.

 

so what happened?