Hey everyone. I hope one of you technical guys can help me figure out this problem. I purchased 4 Michelin Primacy MXV4 tires from Wheel Works- San Mateo, CA last year in November 2010. Changed out from my Bridgestone RE960 tires which were hydroplaning in the rain.
Immediately after install the new tires were shaking badly. Had it balanced 4 more times at the same shop in San Mateo and no luck. My steering wheel shakes at 65mph and up. They said its my wheel bearings. I said no because it did not shake before I got the new tires. Then they said they fixed it because their balancer was out of calibration because they had never calibrated it. Manager- Jeff said he never needed to in his 14 yrs in the business.
I took it to a different store and had them rebalance. Did not fix the shaking. Took it back to the same store I bought it from. They refused to changed the tires out for me. Kept insisting it was my car. They did a check using chalk on the tires and my rims for runout while it was spinning. Said it was a bad balance job. Re did it. They over torqued my rims on my Mercedes because the manager said it was alright to impact gun it in. I told the tech that I wanted it hand tightened. Jeff the manager told his tech to ignore the customer and to impact gun it on. I had to use a 6 foot pipe to break open the bolts.
I complained to Wheel Works headquarters in San Jose CA by sending them an email. No response. A month later I call them to leave message. No response. I call the customer complaint line printed on their receipt. The extension was a dead number. They pretty much ignore the customer if there is a problem.
I finally found out that Firestone owns them and call Firestone corporate office to complain about my tire problem and the way I was treated by Wheel Works Corporate office and the different managers at their stores. The rep called the District manager- Len right away and he said he was busy and couldnt do a a 3 way call at the moment. His Assistant District manager Brad will call me later. Brad calls me and asks me to go to Belmont CA store.
While there one of the techs takes my car out for a spin. He says there is shaking at high speed. They put my Mercedes 190E up on the rack and proceeded to pry with a bar. My suspension was tight. Tech even commented saying everything was new. They tried very hard to blame my car and couldnt find a problem. They even opened up my hood and tried to say it was my engine causing the shaking. New engine and engine mounts.
They take the tires off and dismount them. Turn them 180 degrees on the rim and inflate. I have never seen so many weights hung on my rims. 1 wheel has 3 weights on the side and 1 weight opposite of it and 1 weight on the inside of the tire. 5 weights!!!! This would be the 9TH balance so far. I bought the tires in November 2010 and its March 2011. Each tire has been rotated and moved to one of the four corners at least twice. They moved it front to back, back to front, side to side, and X cross pattern. Did not stop the shaking.
I asked for a refund or change to different tires and was ignored.
Today I had my wheel bearings changed out in the front end. A total of 4 for the front wheels. Still shakes at 65mph.
Any one have any ideas? I basically paid over $500 dollars for some useless name brand tires that I cannot drive on the highway with because it shakes. Is this stupid or what? After the way I was treated by Wheel Works....I would not recommend them to anyone. I also found out that they did not mount the tires high spot to the rims low spot in the beginning. Now that the dots indicating the high and low points have washed away...it makes it a [censored] shoot on guessing where it is. Now after complaining to corporate. No one wants to help.
So this is what I am stuck with. Angry and frustrated!
Immediately after install the new tires were shaking badly. Had it balanced 4 more times at the same shop in San Mateo and no luck. My steering wheel shakes at 65mph and up. They said its my wheel bearings. I said no because it did not shake before I got the new tires. Then they said they fixed it because their balancer was out of calibration because they had never calibrated it. Manager- Jeff said he never needed to in his 14 yrs in the business.
I took it to a different store and had them rebalance. Did not fix the shaking. Took it back to the same store I bought it from. They refused to changed the tires out for me. Kept insisting it was my car. They did a check using chalk on the tires and my rims for runout while it was spinning. Said it was a bad balance job. Re did it. They over torqued my rims on my Mercedes because the manager said it was alright to impact gun it in. I told the tech that I wanted it hand tightened. Jeff the manager told his tech to ignore the customer and to impact gun it on. I had to use a 6 foot pipe to break open the bolts.
I complained to Wheel Works headquarters in San Jose CA by sending them an email. No response. A month later I call them to leave message. No response. I call the customer complaint line printed on their receipt. The extension was a dead number. They pretty much ignore the customer if there is a problem.
I finally found out that Firestone owns them and call Firestone corporate office to complain about my tire problem and the way I was treated by Wheel Works Corporate office and the different managers at their stores. The rep called the District manager- Len right away and he said he was busy and couldnt do a a 3 way call at the moment. His Assistant District manager Brad will call me later. Brad calls me and asks me to go to Belmont CA store.
While there one of the techs takes my car out for a spin. He says there is shaking at high speed. They put my Mercedes 190E up on the rack and proceeded to pry with a bar. My suspension was tight. Tech even commented saying everything was new. They tried very hard to blame my car and couldnt find a problem. They even opened up my hood and tried to say it was my engine causing the shaking. New engine and engine mounts.
They take the tires off and dismount them. Turn them 180 degrees on the rim and inflate. I have never seen so many weights hung on my rims. 1 wheel has 3 weights on the side and 1 weight opposite of it and 1 weight on the inside of the tire. 5 weights!!!! This would be the 9TH balance so far. I bought the tires in November 2010 and its March 2011. Each tire has been rotated and moved to one of the four corners at least twice. They moved it front to back, back to front, side to side, and X cross pattern. Did not stop the shaking.
I asked for a refund or change to different tires and was ignored.
Today I had my wheel bearings changed out in the front end. A total of 4 for the front wheels. Still shakes at 65mph.
Any one have any ideas? I basically paid over $500 dollars for some useless name brand tires that I cannot drive on the highway with because it shakes. Is this stupid or what? After the way I was treated by Wheel Works....I would not recommend them to anyone. I also found out that they did not mount the tires high spot to the rims low spot in the beginning. Now that the dots indicating the high and low points have washed away...it makes it a [censored] shoot on guessing where it is. Now after complaining to corporate. No one wants to help.
So this is what I am stuck with. Angry and frustrated!
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