So I brought my car in for an alignment at Johnstons Scion and I wasn't expecting anything else. Then the next thing I know, they replaced all my tires with new ones saying that they couldn't do an alignment with the old ones because "it was worn out." Last I checked, which was yesterday, they had plenty of tread to last me for a while. So instead of a $90 bill, I get a $400 bill.

I'm assuming they talked with my father while I was sleeping and he gave them the go ahead. But, is it really necessary to have new tires for an alignment??? According to my father, they said they were worn down to the cords.

 

They shouldn't need new tires to check alignment. If your dad is the one that gave them the go-ahead to change the tires, he should pay for them. Never get anything done without looking at it first. I would check with your dad and make sure he gave the ok to change the tires. Otherwise, the dealership shouldn't have done anything without asking you first. Good luck.

 

i think aligment is done to the rims, not tires

 

^^^^what he said lol

 

yea you got ripped... next time go to other car shop first just for you to have an idea then go to toyota...

my sister had the same situation, she had noise in her brakes... they told her that they will have to replace all her brake calipers... cost her... $400 seems like dealers have a hard-on on $400 everytime you bring your car to them for service...

also try yahoo local search... its kool... when i looked for the cheapest tire shop i found it there with a customer rating... instead of paying toyota $250 for one Potenza RE92 for my tC... i paid $90 for an RE95 (better thread) installed align and all that... i know its a Potenza but i did get a better deal... soon i had 2 of them in RE95s...

 

Well its more of tie-rods, bushings, balljoints..... But no tires or rims.

 

Actually, when they allign the front end, they need something to work off of. This would be the wheels. That is if they are using a rack set up with the computer to show how far its off. I have seen mechanics eye ball an allignment, which i wasnt all to happy about.

BTW ... they can say that you needed new tires as a safety issue, but allign .... i doubt it. Now if you had severe toe in and worn the inside of the tires ( which may be hard to see, unless you turn the steering wheel full lock ) then they may have seen the need for new tires. They can not replace or do any work with out authorization.

IMO you need to establish if you father gave the OK to do the work. If so, then dear ol day needs to cough up the $310 for the new rubber. IF you pops didnt authorize the work, then you need to first contact your local Scion rep. followed by a phone call to Scion Corp. Follow this up with a phone call to the GM of the dealership. While talking to the GM, tell him that you have a news crew in route for taking customers to the cleaners unnecessarily. This can and will cost them business.

Please make sure to post what the final outcome is. If there is a dealership that is gouging customers, we as a Scion family can make sure no one else is raped by a bad dealership.

 

Yea, I knew it. New tires were not necessary. My father DID give the authorization for the new tires. And I showed him this thread and he's giving me a pep talk about starting to drive less like a auto-crosser and more like a normal driver. He doesn't want to admit he made a mistake. :\

 

I assume your father bought the car then? and i am assuming you have to pay for the tires? it's really not that bad if that's the case since you dont have to pay for the car.

 

Nah, the car is under his name but I paid for it. Down payments, monthly payments, and all other money into the car has been my money.

 

Camber / Caster / Tie Rod (sometimes) is more along the lines of an alignment

If you have to work bushings and balljoints you got more of a serious issue than a wack alignment

 

that sucks. if you are paying the bills he shouldnt be giving the ok. oh well.

 

I hate threads like this. Bad news for everyone.

Bad tires or not, the alignment is not related to the tires. So, if they told Dad it was, they lied. Hopefully, they just over-simplified the problem.

I'm going to assume that you had your car lowered and did not do a 4-wheel re-alignment on it afterward. This could have caused severe wear on the edges of the tires, causing them to go bad prematurely.

The dealer should have been able to do the alignment regardless of the condition of your tires. Once they were done they MAY have found a conicity issue with the tires where, due to irregular wear/use, they had radial belt shift that caused them to pull to one side. Even with a perfect alignment the car would still pull. Once new tires are installed properly everything would work as it should.

I work at a dealer in Phoenix. I do not push people to get their car lowered by us (I send everyone to Randode instead) but I do tell them to bring the car back here afterward and get it re-aligned.

Sorry for the issue at your dealership. Please start with their service manager BEFORE you go to Scion or anyone else.

If you have any questions about what they tell you feel free to PM me.

Adios!

 

damn man u drive an xb right, how long have u had it, and how many power slides have u done, and how many burn outs to wear the tires down to the cords...wow i hate dealer service departments.

 

bbcrud - eh, it's alright. In about like 6 months, I'd have needed new tires anyway. Not too bad. Besides, I really couldn't do anything because my father still thinks I treat my car like shi*. Which is not true, I just take any opportunity I get to have fun. I clean my car whenever it needs to be cleaned and change the oil on time.

I've had it since July 2004. I rarely do power slides except for that one time in the rain in an open parking lot. That was only one time. The rest of the power slides are during the snow in the winter. Since I have an automatic on stock tires, I can't do any burnouts lol.

 

Cool. Have fun, be safe, and post your ride on my site!!

Later.

 

A company will not do an allignment or touch your wheels if the tread is below minimum. They do not want the liability. If you say you would have needed tires in 6 months, there was probably some wear. You probably could have gotten tires cheaper somewhere else cheaper, but its too late for that.