Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

I posted this on whirlpool yesterday, thought I'd share here too, (orig thread here http://forums.whirlp...s.cfm?t=2036673 )

My car was recently returned to me after a month in the smash repair shop being repaired for a minor rear-ender.

I should have noticed earlier, but last thursday when my mechanic pulled the rear wheels off to check some things we discovered that both rear tyres were

completely bald and showed definate signs of being used to do burnouts (note the dark line where the tyre would have deformed slightly while

spinning at high speed and become the highest point on the tyre, it also looks a little melted and burned, see image here http://i.imgur.com/Pzn7T.jpg sorry it's 2MB, but I'm going for detail ).

This tyre is 14 months old, and I have never broken traction when driving the car myself.

It's parked in secure parking with the kill switch and alarm on during the day, and about 4 metres from my room at night with the alarm and kill switch on, I have the only key and alarm fob.

The car has only been out of my sight in the month that it was in being repaired, and just as a comparison, my front tyres are nearly 2 years old and have 4 / 5 mm of tread left, they look practically new.

I have emailed the repairer to let them know of my concern and to ask if they will do anything about this, but they haven't replied (I want everything in writing), so I turn to you chaps, is there anything I can do about this?, a stat dec perhaps and a letter from a lawyer, is there an ombudsman for this kind of thing?

whim me if you'd like the name of the "business" so you can avoid it, it's in the southern suburbs of Sydney.

The above was my first post on whirlpool, have since discovered that what has actually happened is that they've replaced my 14 month old dunlops with a set of falkens (pictured)

Repairer got back to me last night and basically said I was lying and he wanted an apology, I told him there is no doubt about what has happened, and he's going to call me next week when he's back from holidays, hopefully it can be sorted out without taking it further.

Will keep this updated!

Steely

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/417263-smash-repair-stole-my-tyres/
Share on other sites

Yep, agree with both of you, it'll be the newest apprentice, and the're probably on his fooly sik commo Bro!

I'll go sniffing around next week if I can get some time off, they're still on holidays at the moment.

Bastards

Yeah, the whole place is shut, their phone in in holiday mode.

There is a report, but I don't actually have it, and I'd imagine if it says what I know it says (if the tyres were noted at all), that paperwork will disappear.

It was inspected, I have that report, but it only mentions the damage and parts needed.

Your mechanic is your friend. If there IS definite proof get your mechanic to write a letter with an itemised list of telltale signs like powdered vaporised rubber on undercarriage (if you haven't already washed it off), worn tyres with macro shots etc.

You yourself could ask neighbouring business owners if they see any apprentice fanging cars from the panelbeating workshop next door and particularly with a pic of your car. Wipe some powdered rubber with a finger and take a macro shot of wiped surface + your black powdered finger juxtaposed. A macro shot of feathering or shredding or rippling on the tyre is good.

> Fair Trading

One of my former cars was taken to a panelbeater and finished up with bent valves.

> Fair Trading

But hey! What are you claiming for? Just a set of tyres? Or is it the principle of the thing? Is it worth a day off from wk? In the case of the blown engine above - it definitely is! In your case, will it be just a Phyrric victory? Umm; maybe 'rattling the sabre' will work to get you a new set of tyres if the panelbeater doesn't want to go to Fair Trading eh? At least, present him with the evidence - yours, the mechanic's and the pics. The worst he could say is GTFO...

This is f**king digusting I cant believe this still happens in this day and age.. where has peoples respect gone for other property? I used to be very.. VERY paranoid about this.. since not owning anything but a lemon daily for the last few months.. The paranoia eased and I hadnt thought of it too much/ had told my self no one would be silly enough to do that.. nonetheless after reading through this and the whirlpool thread whenever I take my car to get any work done (hoping ill be taking it to pulse racing who seem very professional) however if it has to go anywhere for any repairs or anything like that I'll be taking 20 photos from every angle, noting the kilometres and most likely even installing a camera/ audio somewhere in there stream straight to my phone or pc :D saving every single minute. A little extreme but stuff that, hard earned money then having some shit flamin mongrel low life (not all smashies are) getting kicks out of thrashing MY car, im really annoyed for you man honestly, so low if I wanted to f**k my driveline and tyres I would, why should someone else be.. hope it all works out for you just really push for it

Edited by GTR_77

That's exactly how I feel GTR_77, I know that I treat the car well, always warmed up and down, regular service, I rarely rev it over 4 grand, it's treated like a lady, but now I feel like it's been given a hammering that has put a couple of years wear on it at least, and not the good kind of wear either.

Still waiting to hear back from them, will be contacting fair trading about it on Friday if nothing has been said.

@ Terry, thanks for the advice, and it really is a principle thing, I trusted them with the car and they kinda raped it, it'll never be a known quantity again, every little squeak and rattle now has me thinking "was that there before it got repaired?"

In the end, I'm down $500 for a new set of tyres, and I don't feel i "know" the car anymore, whereas previously I knew exactly how it had been driven and treated, it's not a good feeling.

This is f**king digusting I cant believe this still happens in this day and age.. where has peoples respect gone for other property? I used to be very.. VERY paranoid about this.. since not owning anything but a lemon daily for the last few months.. The paranoia eased and I hadnt thought of it too much/ had told my self no one would be silly enough to do that.. nonetheless after reading through this and the whirlpool thread whenever I take my car to get any work done (hoping ill be taking it to pulse racing who seem very professional) however if it has to go anywhere for any repairs or anything like that I'll be taking 20 photos from every angle, noting the kilometres and most likely even installing a camera/ audio somewhere in there stream straight to my phone or pc :D saving every single minute. A little extreme but stuff that, hard earned money then having some shit flamin mongrel low life (not all smashies are) getting kicks out of thrashing MY car, im really annoyed for you man honestly, so low if I wanted to f**k my driveline and tyres I would, why should someone else be.. hope it all works out for you just really push for it

Hey Bill. I agree! Sorry your having to go through this Neil.

I'm a mechanic by trade. Worked in dearlerships & smaller workshops for 10+ years. The things I saw in dealerships would make people cringe! I am out of the car game now, but still on the tools. I use to do everything myself, my own tyres, wheel alignments, regos EVERTHING! Nowadays, the only thing I get done are tyres & wheel alignments. I make sure I have all day to wait & watch. I trust no one when it comes to my car! This pisses repairers off, but when I flash my trade card & tell them I've run workshops & been a GM roadtester, they change their tune alittle.

Usually the small workshops are the go. Find one run by an older bloke with mature age techs. Usually their days of thrashing customers cars are over.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • Good luck on the weekend mate
    • Must have been an absolute nightmare to drive when the power steer was out, the rack ratio/wheel size/caster is all set up for power assistance
    • Welcome to SAU, what are you looking at buying?
    • I checked the injectors again (1 and 2, since they’re easiest to access) to make sure they weren’t clogged. Even though the entire fuel system had been cleaned, I wanted to be certain. Everything looked clean, so I reinstalled and connected everything. When I started the car to confirm everything was okay, it immediately revved up high, so I shut it off straight away. I checked to see if I’d missed a vacuum hose or something, but everything was connected. On the second attempt, the car ran without the high idle, but I noticed a distinct “compressed air” sound coming from the engine bay. Tracing the sound, I pushed injector #6 forward slightly and the noise stopped — it turned out it wasn’t seated properly, despite the fuel rail being bolted down. While holding it in place, the car idled steadily without stalling and ran for over 5 minutes. At this point, I pulled all six injectors out just in case I hadn’t seated them correctly or dirt had gotten onto the O-rings. Unfortunately, I discovered that I had damaged 3 out of 6 injectors (the OEM 270cc ones) during installation. So yes, this was my fault. Since only the pintle caps were damaged, I’ve ordered a Fuel Injector Service Kit from NZEFI to refurbish them. In the meantime, I reinstalled my new injectors – the car now idles fine for over 15 minutes without stalling. I have not attempted to drive it so far. It’s not perfect yet, as it hesitates when the throttle is pressed, but it’s a big improvement. Unplugging the IACV with the new injectors idles at around 800rpm, even with the IACV screw tightened fully. But this is probably due to tune.
    • I wanted to try and preserve the front bumper as long as possible, they're not cheap and are made to order in Japan. Taking inspiration from my previous K11 Micra build where I made an undertray for the Impul bumper, I did the same for this BN Sports bumper but a little slimmed down.  This time round I only made a 'skid plate' (if that's the correct wording/term) for just the bumper surface area, the Micra version covered the gap like an undertray. Starting off with a sheet of mild steel approx. 0.9mm thick 4ft x 2ft in size. I traced around the bumper, cut it out and cleaned the edges. Luckily I was able to get two halves from one piece of metal In the video I installed it as is, but I've since then I've removed it to spray and add a rubber edging trim. The rubber trim is suitable for 1-2mm and it's a really nice tight fit. The bolts had to be loosened due to the plates being too tight against the bumper, the trim wouldn't push on I used some stainless M6 flat headed bolts for a flusher finish (rather than hex heads poking down), I believe this style fastener is used for furniture too incase you struggle to source some. The corner's are a little wider, but this may be an advantage incase I get close to bumping it  The front grill got some attention, finally getting round to repairing it. Upon removal one fixing pulled itself out of the plastic frame, one side is M8 that fixes inside of the frame, where as the other side is M5. Not knowing I could get replacements, I cut down an M8 bolt, threaded it inside the frame along with a decent amount of JB Weld.  The mesh was replaced to match the bumper. One hole on the bonnet/hood had to be drilled out to 8mm to accommodate the new stud, once the glue had set it could be refitted. I think the reason the grill was double meshed was to hide the horn/bonnet latch (which makes sense) but I much prefer it matching the bumper Bumper refitted and it's looking much better IMO The Youtube video can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVZP35io9MA
×
×
  • Create New...