Update II:
Another dissapointing DT experience, before I got the manager involved.
For more than a few months, the sled has abhored all of my free time + some. TB + pulleys, A/C blower & controller, outer tie rod ends, steering rack boots, hydraulic motor mounts, PCV pipe repair, new brake pads all around, coolant + AT + PS flushes...the list just goes on & on...
The vibrating-seat syndrome still continues, so I made my way to DT this morning and waited about 1-1/2hrs. to be seen. Despite telling the rep. the past history, and wanting some (careful) investigation into the BFG's I purchased last Aug., he slickly brushes my concerns aside, writes "rear end vibes" on the sheet and directs me to a seat.
After I notice they've gotten to the sled, I wonder outside and watch a kid "rinse & repeat" just like before; i.e. pull them off, rebalance, roll to car, install.
So before he can reinstall the wheels I ask if he checked them for a wandering tread and roundness. He just looks at me blankly. So I repeat. Told him I'd been through this before, this time needs to be different. I direct him to the worksheet, walk over and ask him to remount & spin the rear tire. It obviously wobbles to my eye, so I ask him about it. (Slick dude rep obviously didn't communicate my concerns to the shop). So the kid yells for the shop manager with the dirty hands.
I tell him the history and ask him to put an eye on this tire. He's now interested and concerned. He tells the kid to pull the tire off the wheel, rotate it, use some other machine they have to better match wheel + tire, and return it to him for another spin. It's just as bad: Tread wandering, elipse rather than circle and there's a bit of a dip from outside to inside!
He correctly pronounces this tire obviously defective. So he tells the kid to separate the next two BG's, rinse & repeat, and bring them back for a spin.
One is MUCH better, the other so-so. One tire is a Michelin. He mounts & spins it and the tread is dead straight. I say I'd like for them all to look like that one.
He tells me he's going to order me three new tires and replace any/all that aren't correct.
That's more like it!
The tires were X-rotated & rebalanced. I headed for the freeway to do some testing. Rear-end vibration greatly reduced. Note steering wheel vibration at about the same speed as above (62mph). No doubt due to one of the rears being put on the front.
If I hadn't interveened, the shop kid would have "rinsed & repeated" for the third time now, my seat would have still shaken, I'd be furious at Mr. Slick's poor communication skills + wasting my time....for the 3rd time AND be no closer to solving this problem.
I seem to encounter this level of incompetence on a regular basis unfortunately. "Yea, yea...we'll take care of it. Have a seat". No they don't.
A young chick with a nose ring in a local HW store telling me things about air filters that I know to be incorrect.
Another "dude" giving me attitude when I begin to question what he's told me.
Another woman on the phone regarding a computer PS problem who has told me "my engineers have discovered no problems with this." I tell her I AM an engineer, and a EE at that, have dissected the front-end of the supply in question and am holding a 450V electrolytic cap in my hands that vented on its ckt board! Further, I point to the PS serial number & date-of-manufacturer as being problematic, according to their own website!
They must mistake ALL of their customers for idiots! No doubt plenty abound, but I'm not one of them. I have a rather critical eye for detail, numbers, facts and a very sensitive Bravo Sierra meter. It pegs on a regular basis in today's "world".
So what do the people who don't know about these things do?
Atlas has indeed Shrugged and the Big Slide is now upon us. Slouching Towards Incompetence (and Bravo Sierra).
Caveat Emptor!
Looking forward to Friday, new tires, and no more sled-shaking-posterior. I need a road trip.....
