Inspection collusion?

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Finally fixed all the problems (known to me) on the 2003 project Maxima. Time to register and get it inspected. All the places locally that inspect also sell services. So I chose Sullivan tire, been there for tires on the Escalade. In goes the Maxima and up on the lift. 5 mins.. 10 mins.. 15 mins.. What is he doing? I took a peek. He's up in the wheel wells jiggling stuff. 20 mins, 30 mins.. Ugh..

The service dude comes to me with the bad news. Rejected for a bad passenger side wheel bearing. $400 to repair. I'm handy, fixed maybe 15 different problems with that car. From rusted radiator supports to numerous evap and misfire CEL's. But this repair is not easy. There is no complete hub assy like some vehicles. The bearing must be pressed into the knuckle, gotta have the tools. I can't do it, so I'm at the mercy of Sullivan.

When I got home I lifted the car, wiggled the tire around. I don't feel or see anything obvious. However, this car spent 3 years in the mud, so the rotors are pretty rusty. I cleaned them up and put new pads all around. Hoping the surface rust will wear down. So they do make a bit of noise turning the wheels. Could he be confusing that? Has a 2015 sticker on the window. I figure he saw that. Saw everything else.

There wasn't one inspection station I could find that doesn't profit from finding, or claiming something is wrong. I feel like I don't have an argument, like these places have all the control. Or maybe its a legit problem, and there is no "collusion"
 
Glad I still have friends "on the inside." I haven't taken more than my registration in for a state inspection in years.

The car is either broken or it isn't. Ask the tech to take you back and show you the issue. He'll either back pedal or try to lie to your face. Either way you've got him. Or there's a legit problem and he'll show you.
 
Here in Illinois, we just have a quick OBD2 emission check and that's all. No safety check for passenger cars or light trucks. Also, only in certain areas of the state.
I have heard it said that in states like yours where a safety inspection is required, that if the tech can't find at least $350.00 worth of repairs required, he's not doing his job.
 
I took my 177k mile 15 year old Civic SiR in for an official Ontario safety inspection before I sold it. The place I took it to basically had carte blanche to require anything they wanted since I was getting the inspection done as a condition of the sale and had a newer car already picked out.

They came back to me with one side marker light that needed to be fixed. I'm very lucky to have found a shop like this, and they are 20 feet from where I work.
 
Take the vehicle to your local highway patrol headquarters. They will inspect the vehicle and be in touch with the inspection station if it was illegitimately failed. That’s what I tell anyone who disagrees when I fail them. I actually encourage them to as some things are still sort of a judgement call as far as Missouri’s inspections go.
 
I read the rules and a bad wheel bearing is reason to fail. A 2003 vehicle not surprised.

I feel so lucky to have found a trusty (Subie Expert) mechanic who is just plain honest. I am hoping he can work our 2018 VW Tiguan post warranty but he keeps my 2007 MDX going cheaply and honestly.

Collusion so to speak I'd expect showing up at any chain. Maybe establish relationship with a mechanic?
 
Back off the pads or take them out and see if you can hear anything then. Maybe the guy had a stethoscope thing to listen to the bearing itself?
 
Originally Posted By: turtlevette
The whole concept of auto inspections is dogooder feel good stuff.


There are some pretty [censored] vehicles on the road. What do you propose to get them off the road? Of course, I might argue that inspections don't seem to be doing it, but that's largely because inspections are easily cheated and nobody is really checking the work.
 
Originally Posted By: turtlevette
The whole concept of auto inspections is dogooder feel good stuff.



The concept is to keep unsafe piles of "S" off the road.....
 
Originally Posted By: clinebarger
Originally Posted By: turtlevette
The whole concept of auto inspections is dogooder feel good stuff.



The concept is to keep unsafe piles of "S" off the road.....


Yep, as predicted you're all libertarian and anti government until the government makes restrictive burdensome laws that put a nickel in your pocket. Somehow that makes you suddenly a fan of government regulation.
 
I've yet to personally see an accident caused by a car in disrepair. Not saying it doesn't happen, but I've yet to see it.

I have, however, seen many an accident caused by "driver error". Whether it's distracted driving or something else, the driver of the vehicle at fault is the cause of the accident in a majority of situations. This is a much bigger issue to me as someone who has two cars and a wife on the road then having old cars on the road which may or may not pass emissions inspections and the like. That's something that my wife can (and often does) see on the road and avoid. It's much harder to see a distracted driver.
 
Originally Posted By: Audios
Try a different shop, dont say anything about it and see what they come up with.


I know in NY, if a shop fails the vehicle on it's yearly state inspection, the next shop will see it on the report that's generated.

I hear you though. Busy shops in my area will put the vehicle up on the lift and pull a wheel, but wheel bearings and lots of other items would likely be overlooked.
 
Try a new shop. The small guy that the locals all love. That’s who you go to for ANYTHING. If his rear end needs kissing then pucker up. These small honest independent shops are a dying breed but that’s who you want especially for those cursed inspections especially the dreaded emissions and CEL. If you find a good one they are often very helpful in getting old cars by rather than lining their pockets. They are sometimes hard to get into but normally worth the wait. Ask around the neighborhood
As for this clown, Bad radiator support, ya sure.
whistle.gif
. As for those seLed wheel bearings they don’t weld themselves together like the old style did will drive you crazy with the nois before they truly fail. If you want to see if it’s bad just drive down the street weaving back and forth. The bad one will groan when the side load goes on it then goes away when it comes off. Get away from that place .............
 
Originally Posted By: turtlevette
Originally Posted By: clinebarger
Originally Posted By: turtlevette
The whole concept of auto inspections is dogooder feel good stuff.



The concept is to keep unsafe piles of "S" off the road.....


Yep, as predicted you're all libertarian and anti government until the government makes restrictive burdensome laws that put a nickel in your pocket. Somehow that makes you suddenly a fan of government regulation.





I DO NOT talk politics on this forum, Or in general really. I believe the "concept" of a SAFETY Inspection is sound!
 
Side tracking towards your problem, assuming from your prior repairs that you have a ratchet, sockets, maybe a BFH (big fuxxing hammer) and access to loaner tools like presses to get the knuckle off (or use the BFH), it seems like you just need to contact a few machine shops to see what it would cost to press out an old bearing and press in a new one.

https://www.yellowpages.com/hudson-nh/machine-shops

Once you know if the price is reasonable, you can start beating on yours to see if you can DIY. You never know, once you get the old bearing out (even if destructively) you might be able to heat the knuckle and freeze the bearing to get enough gap that it slides right in using a piece of wood under your BFH. If any part of that doesn't work, off to the machine shop! If you lived in some backwoods area where there were no machine shops, a smaller local garage would be the next target for just doing the bearing pressing.

In some ways it is good that there is no whole hub assembly. Say you buy a $30 bearing off Rock Auto or Amazon, pay a shop $50 to press it in, you're getting it done cheaper than what a major brand hub assembly would have cost.
 
Originally Posted By: Dave9
Side tracking towards your problem, assuming from your prior repairs that you have a ratchet, sockets, maybe a BFH (big fuxxing hammer) and access to loaner tools like presses to get the knuckle off (or use the BFH), it seems like you just need to contact a few machine shops to see what it would cost to press out an old bearing and press in a new one.

https://www.yellowpages.com/hudson-nh/machine-shops

Once you know if the price is reasonable, you can start beating on yours to see if you can DIY. You never know, once you get the old bearing out (even if destructively) you might be able to heat the knuckle and freeze the bearing to get enough gap that it slides right in using a piece of wood under your BFH. If any part of that doesn't work, off to the machine shop! If you lived in some backwoods area where there were no machine shops, a smaller local garage would be the next target for just doing the bearing pressing.

In some ways it is good that there is no whole hub assembly. Say you buy a $30 bearing off Rock Auto or Amazon, pay a shop $50 to press it in, you're getting it done cheaper than what a major brand hub assembly would have cost.


If you are going to do it, just buy the front wheel bearing kit. I got the Astro Pneumatic one and it made short work of the wheel bearing in my Jetta.

I got an SKF bearing kit off of rockauto and it was like $75 CAD shipped. The front wheel bearing service kit was $125 shipped I think.
 
Originally Posted By: turtlevette
The whole concept of auto inspections is dogooder feel good stuff.



Going back to the 1960/70/80's vast majority of vehicles were a joke in terms of corrosion resistance. NH loves salt to keep tourists piling in and salts our road white to get black top in middle of snow storm. It destroys cars and the parts they tend to focus on. That is the premise behind our state inspections was around corrosion/rust and damage to underside of vehicles beyond obvious safety stuff like brakes, lights and horn.

As a high schooler in late 1980's and knowing the right inspection person I was able to get a few $250 cars in high school/college that had severe corrosion in incredible condition otherwise mechanically and interior wise.

Now it went over to emissions check (OBD-II) however the majority of vehicles in last 10 years now seem to have decent rust protection except maybe Mazda.
 
Originally Posted By: clinebarger
Originally Posted By: turtlevette
The whole concept of auto inspections is dogooder feel good stuff.



The concept is to keep unsafe piles of "S" off the road.....


If that's the case, why do I have to have a brand new car inspected annually in NY?
I would think that inspections wouldn't be required until the vehicle hit a certain age or mileage if that was the case.
 
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