Well on the way to visit her parents yesterday my girlfriend blew out her left rear tire on the freeway. She called AAA and they came and put her spare on. She and her mom went to Belle Tire today to get a new tire on. From what I hear, its giving a minor shake from the back, so she took it back to Belle Tire and now they are telling her that she has a bent axle, and its gonna run $700 to fix it. Its hard to do anything being 150 miles away until she gets back tomorrow morning, but has anyone ever heard of this happening, or is it Belle Tire trying to get some money out of her? IF it is a bent axle, ill be checking around junkyards myself and will be doing a swap soon. Any input on this would be great, thanks. She has a 2000 4x2 Flareside with a 4-banger.



Kosmo

 

Un- likely. $700 sounds kinda steep for an axle, unless they are trying to say it bent the axle tube ; which is even more unlikely.

 

i say bs because unless the tire suddenly blew off and then the rim slammed into the ground hard i cant see that axle bending...

maybe the rims out of true now so its causing it to vibrate

 

Thats what I thought thats its all BS. She blew the tire out and came to a stop within 300 ft of it blowing out....thats all. Im having a hard time believing their crap, but i cant do anything until I actually get to see it.

 

Don't let her pay for anything.

 

Shes not for sure, they kept it overnight, to try and balance it again or something....Im not sure, but its nothing shes paying for. Also she informed me that it was including rear brakes too....I love how they try and throw things in like that, all she wanted was a new tire, and they are throwing a nice little bs package together for $700....i wish i could go in tomorrow morning and see what they say to me.

 

have her get a second opinion from another shop, and tell the first one that she is going to get a second opinion from another shop. and either they will change their story, or she can go get an opinion from another shop (thats not recommened by the first and the first doesnt know which one). she can go to the second shop and tell them whats going on and that she wants a second opinion from them. then if the second shop thinks its just the tire or whatever, she goes back to the first shop with a written statement from the second and the first checks things again and gives a straight story instead of the BS they are trying to say. and if there are still issues with the first shop, get a 3rd opinion and then get the better buisness bureau into things and she gets a whole new rear axle free from the first shop because theyre scared of the BBB.

 

Drive it home. Look at it yourself and take it to a shop that you trust. Flat tire does not equal a "bent axle". Sounds like they didn't balance it, and now they are trying to say its a bent axle (wtf?!?!?!) to get some more money out of you.

 

there is something wrong here!!!

belle tire did that once to me, it was just not balanced and wobbled did they try that

 

Well she picked it up this morning and turns out now that the rim is bent, after they already said it was ok when they put the new tire on. So, she has her spare on right now with the new tire. I am going to take it up to the shops sometime today or tomorrow, I have not driven it yet but she says that its giving her a vibration at around 60-65, not as bad at above that but still shakey. So after she went back and said something was wrong did they decided to tell her that she has a bent wheel. Ticks me off that i was 2 hours away from this shop or else i would have had a few words. Ill keep you all updated on what happens from here.

 

My tires are balanced and my truck shakes at 55-65 ha. Tell her to suck it up

 

I would have guessed bent wheel since I had the same problem and have a bent RR right now. But a bent axle eh? That seems highly unlikely. I've seen wierder though. I worked on a Focus with the bubble tire pushed up into the RR door area because a flat destroyed the trailing arm and a few other things.

 

Don't let her pay for anything until you can take a look for yourself, I highly doubt there could be a bent axel shaft.

 

Im lookin at it and taking it for a ride first thing tomorrow morning, Ill let you all know whats going and what I find.