New tyres...

[dobbslc]

I'm just getting 4 new tyres fitted to the Surf at National Tyres.
The tyre monkey doesn't seem to know what a torque wrench is...
I just saw him put a CRV wheel back on with the dugger dugger so told him mine are set to 100Nm he didn't seem to know what that was.
I'll get him to bring out the torque wrench

 

[dobbslc]

I've just had to take the torque wrench off him and show him how it works!
He "checked" the wheel he'd already done with the dugger dugger and the wrench just clicked and he was happy with that!
I wound it up to 110Nm click again then up to 120Nm and it turned so it tried to explain that those nuts were set to somewhere between 110-120Nm.
Blank looks!
FFS it isn't hard, how are these companies working like this?

 

[Joe 90]

I hate when they can't be bothered starting them by hand and just catch them with the gun and drive them on in. Then next time you wonder why its tight thread on it.

 

[dobbslc]

He was at least starting it by hand.

 

[Bobupndown]

Probably best to loosen and then torque them properly when you get home. He'll rattle them up to about a million torques, and then go round with the torque wrench clicking on every over tightened bolt.

 

[dobbslc]

That's exactly what he just did!

 

[dobbslc]

Probably his thick manager telling him if it clicks it's ok.

 

[Bornfree]

That's why I only ever take in loose wheels

 

[Bobupndown]

That's exactly what he just did!

How very predictable

 

[slim_boy_fat]

I once went back to a tyre place after the monkey had done the studs up so tight I couldn't undo them, even with a length of scaffold pipe over the wrench, for fear of breaking the stud.

I read the riot act and told the 'yoof' to undo them without the 'ugga dugga' while I stood over him and watched - he couldn't . He resorted to the u-d and then 'found' a torque wrench and asked me what setting they should be at, so it had just been laziness in the first instance......

 

[Bornfree]

I once went back to a tyre place after the monkey had done the studs up so tight I couldn't undo them, even with a length of scaffold pipe over the wrench, for fear of breaking the stud.

I read the riot act and told the 'yoof' to undo them without the 'ugga dugga' while I stood over him and watched - he couldn't . He resorted to the u-d and then 'found' a torque wrench and asked me what setting they should be at, so it had just been laziness in the first instance......

You should have made them pay for new studs.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

You should have made them pay for new studs.

Aye, probably - but that might have resulted in "we don't have them in stock" and a 40 mile return visit.

 

[no idea]

I recently had my tyres replaced at Costco and was impressed with them using a torque wrench (after checking the correct setting at 130Nm) and then getting another fitter to check all wheels. This was being done on all cars going through the tyre bay. The studs were put in with an impact wrench initially but not to the point where the torque wrench didn't do anything, there was at least half a turn left for the torque wrench to do. And this was done with the car off the ground with the tyres held in place with a metal wedge, which is something I haven't seen done before.

 

[dobbslc]

Shiny shiny rubber!
Mmm smells lovely
Well he used the torque wrench in the end and the truck drives nice and smoothly.
I'll probably still check the stud's myself though.

 

[Morrisman]

I've just had to take the torque wrench off him and show him how it works!
He "checked" the wheel he'd already done with the dugger dugger and the wrench just clicked and he was happy with that!
I wound it up to 110Nm click again then up to 120Nm and it turned so it tried to explain that those nuts were set to somewhere between 110-120Nm.
Blank looks!
FFS it isn't hard, how are these companies working like this?

I wonder what sort of training or qualification they need for this sort of job?

Probably not much, which is why they have a disclaimer posted on the wall that you need to check your own wheel nuts after they have done the job, basically openly admitting they know their employees aren't competent enough to do their job properly.

I got a new battery fitted to my dads Hyunda last month, the numpty 'technician' at Halfords didn't know how to remove the battery. He reckoned it was stuck down on a rubber pad and spent five minutes trying to wiggle it loose.....

I pulled out my phone, Google soon told me there are two bolts right in behind the battery, out of eye sight.

 

[jenki]

I carry a cheap Lidl torque wrench in my car just in case, when I have new tyres fitted I always loosen and re-torque the nuts to prevent problems futher down the line. Reminds of a story from long ago I stopped to help an elderely farmer with a flat tyre stuck wheel nuts neither or us could loosen them with the supplied tools I was about 13 stone and still played a bit of Rugby he was a typical welsh farmer short a little on the stout side and probably threw hay bales around as if they were a bag of sugar (small bales in those days) we pumped the tyre up and I followed him to the nearest garage it took a spider, a jack, and a 3ft. tube for 2 of us to loosen the nuts!

 

[sako243]

I got a new battery fitted to my dads Hyunda last month, the numpty 'technician' at Halfords didn't know how to remove the battery. He reckoned it was stuck down on a rubber pad and spent five minutes trying to wiggle it loose.....

I called into Halfords late one evening, only car in the car park and right in sight of the till.

Chap commented nice old Defender as I walked in, asked what I was after and said a pair of wipers for a 2007 Range Rover. Don't worry I'll get those for you.

Then proceeds to ask if I'd like them fitted to the vehicle...

 

[Wozzaaah]

Shiny shiny rubber!
Mmm smells lovely View attachment 339315
Well he used the torque wrench in the end and the truck drives nice and smoothly.
I'll probably still check the stud's myself though.

You’re supposed to check them after something like 50 miles anyway but I doubt many of us do.

 

[bricol]

You’re supposed to check them after something like 50 miles anyway but I doubt many of us do.

When you've had a front wheel come off, aged 19, it somehow becomes a quite important ingrained part of any wheel change

They bounce very well . . . I was waiting for a car to come around the corner the other way and it got through their windscreen . . . while trying to stop, in a reasonably straight line . . . manged to stop, it managed to come to rest before a car appeared . . but they flatted the Marina TC hub cab that fell out of it in the road . . .

Which didn't stop the wheel coming off a trailer I borrowed from a mate . . . strangely, fitting Fiat wheels (4x98mm PCD) on Mini hubs (4"), and relying on the tiny studs to flex a bit when you tighten the nuts, isn't necessarily a recipe for long stud life . . .

In a Mr Clutch type place in Huddersfield 30 yrs ago, while stood waiting for a price for tyres, watched a lad fit the cam caps on a Renault engine with an air impact gun - maybe not set to full "ugga-dugga" . . .but it wasn't surprise when he came in to ask his manager to get some helicoils . . . "these things happen . . " . . . - I went elsewhere . . .

However, I have seen "experienced", "trained", "senior" engineering fitters tighten to recommended torque . . and keep going a bit to "make sure" . . . as well as ignoring the drawing and BOM intructions for 10.9 or 12.9 high tensile bolts, and substituting 8.8 (also "high tensile") - cue warranty claims for snapped bolts in machines in a few months . . .

 

[MetalMonkey]

I wonder what sort of training or qualification they need for this sort of job?

Probably not much, which is why they have a disclaimer posted on the wall that you need to check your own wheel nuts after they have done the job, basically openly admitting they know their employees aren't competent enough to do their job properly.

I got a new battery fitted to my dads Hyunda last month, the numpty 'technician' at Halfords didn't know how to remove the battery. He reckoned it was stuck down on a rubber pad and spent five minutes trying to wiggle it loose.....

I pulled out my phone, Google soon told me there are two bolts right in behind the battery, out of eye sight.

It's physically tiring work for minimum wage in a usually pressured and undesirable working environment.

If you put in any time, effort or care, you probably aren't going to last long in a tyre bay - they just want cheap disposable youngsters that can slap the tyres on and get it out the door as quickly as possible.
Garages or high end specialists that aren't trying to make a living solely from it might be a different case.

I gave up on tyre places, invested in a tyre machine and a balancer. Takes me a lot longer and a lot more effort, but it’s done right the first time and my wheels don't get trashed either.
Don't even get me started on wheel alignment. £40 for somebody to round off a track rod nut and point the steering wheel off centre.