Some Advice To The Following People:

[RidingOnRailz]

If you work in a general service garage, a tire shop, or a quick-lube type facility, please take the following into consideration . . .

When you perform your “multi-point” inspection or “50-step checkup” or whatever the marketing services of your employer call it, DO NOT TOUCH MY TIRES. PERIOD!! I don’t give a rat’s ASS if there is a SCREWDRIVER sticking out of the sidewall, or if the rim is sitting 1/2 inch above the shop floor, you CALL ME INTO THE SERVICE AREA and we will discuss fixing the problem. Do you read me? And I always do tell the counter person or even the techs directly not to bother with checking my tire pressures.

Now I don’t mean to sound like a prick, but I am FED UP with having to go out on a chilly morning with my compressor and INFLATE MY TIRES back up to where they are supposed to read because one of you took all the “extra air” out of them during service inspection. If it didn't cross your mind, I actually had to DRIVE to your place of business to have you rotate my tires or change my oil or whatever. ERGO, Einstein, the tires heat up and the pressures PSI increase accordingly. The same thing happens in the spring: as the weather gets warmer tire pressures increase. In the autumn, the opposite happens, and air needs to be added. And yes I DID mention to the counter person or even to the technician to leave my tire pressures be.


I will also know if you F___CKED with my tire pressure if I drive away from the shop and the wheels feel like 4 basketballs: that means you probably referenced the maximum inflation pressure on the TIRE when "adjusting" them. If you do not know or understand these concepts, even if you do have a pretty “ASE” patch on your uniform and a diploma on your shop wall, then you shouldn’t even be LOOKING at tires, let alone “adjusting” – if that’s what you call it – the air pressure in my tires!

The placard on my particular vehicle calls for 30PSI all around. I prefer to keep my tires a pound or two above that. Hence, Einstein, the pressure after driving to your place of business to have the oil changed or the transmission fluid checked or whatever, will probably read some frightening number like 34 or even 37PSI. If so, leave my tire pressures the F___K alone! Got it?! Because when you think you are doing a good thing you are actually creating a dangerous condition: My car will not handle predictably and possibly even dangerously, especially in a quick-reaction situation.

Finally – I represent only ONE out of every ONE HUNDRED customers who you will have the pleasure of serving today. I PERFORM MY OWN tire pressure maintenance. If you were paying attention a couple paragraphs back I mentioned my own compressor. I also have my own gauge. Because I actually CARE about my tires and realize that the first line of contact between the road and my car are the tires! I don’t care if the alignment’s off, if parts are bent, or if the shocks or struts are completely worn and leaking fluid – THE CORRECT PRESSURE WILL MAKE THE BIGGEST DIFFERENCE. As for the other 99 customers who will show up, they probably wouldn't care WHERE their tire pressures are set, or even that all four might be different pressures as much as 5-10 pounds off.

So when I visit your tire store for rotation, or visit your quick-lube shop for an oil change or air/cabin filter replacement, please kindly do me a little favor? . . .

LEAVE MY TIRES THE F__K ALONE!!

[gmtech79]

Well if your so upright about your tires maybe you should say something before hand. Blame yourself instead of the tech trying to do his job.

Sent from my Droid X. Typos probable.

[RidingOnRailz]

Originally Posted by gmtech79

Well if your so upright about your tires maybe you should say something before hand. Blame hours of instead of the tech trying to do his job.

Sent from my Droid X. Typos probable.

Re-read. I just edited that in. Sorry! And it's not being "uptight" - it's being SAFE.

[vgames33]

Change your own oil if its such a big deal.

[MagicRat]

Originally Posted by vgames33

Change your own oil if its such a big deal.

I always do, as well as all other auto service work I can do. I prefer to do so because I can give the car more attention-to-detail than the auto service places can do.

Other than this tire pressure rant, there are about a zillion stories of these service facilities screwing things up

[RidingOnRailz]

Originally Posted by vgames33

Change your own oil if its such a big deal.

Totally misses the point of my o.p.

When I pay for an oil change or other fluid change, THAT is what I'm paying for and what I expect to have done. Not all these other "anciliary" services!

[danielsatur]

The yellow, or red dot that's on the new tire is suppose tobe a marker for the valve stem pos when mounting the tire, so there's less wheel weights during the speed balance.

[RidingOnRailz]

Originally Posted by danielsatur

The yellow, or red dot that's on the new tire is suppose tobe a marker for the valve stem pos when mounting the tire, so there's less wheel weights during the speed balance.

And what is the precedence for this piece of information?

[gmtech79]

One thing you fail to realize is other people want these other services and want to know what condition their vehicles is in. I have many customers that ask me to check their vehicle over even though I plan to or have already done so.
No big deal just ask them not to.
Sent from my Droid X. Typos probable.

[RidingOnRailz]

Originally Posted by gmtech79

One thing you fail to realize is other people want these other services and want to know what condition their vehicles is in. I have many customers that ask me to check their vehicle over even though I plan to or have already done so.
No big deal just ask them not to.
Sent from my Droid X. Typos probable.

One thing you fail to realize is that in my o.p. I did state that I told the shop not to check my tire pressures. It's just that people nowadays don't give a f__k - it's just a paycheck and they just nod their heads at whatever the customer says.

Another thing you fail to realize is that a lot of techs - whether in a Valvoline Instant Oil change or even in a dedicated tire store - don't understand the basic principle of the correlation of temperature to tire pressure. Maybe "other people" desire courtesy checkups(tire pressure, wiper blades, levels of all fluids in addition to the ones being changed, lubrication of door/hood/trunk hinges, etc) but these "other people" - as described in my original post - wouldn't know correct tire pressure, or at least "base" tire pressure, if it bit them in the ass! And neither do some of the techs performing this work.

As I said, the incident prompting this post occurred at a Town Fair Tire store that I have patronized since high school - that's over 20 years. Unfortunately a lot of the labor they hire may have geniune hard work ethics but have as much of a clue when it comes to tire pressure as the clerk at the counter in McDonalds! I do not speak for their ability to operate the tire/wheel balancer and how well they do in fact perform their repairs. They perform that work very well under heavy constraints as due to time and due to the cue of cars waiting outside the garage doors.

But when it comes to tire pressures - that's as contentious a topic as liberal vs conservative politics. Perhaps discussion of tire pressure should be banned even from Automotive forums. Or perhaps the admins here could set aside a forum exclusively for discussion of tire pressures and let the s__t fly! LOL. But seriously, it's a very elusive and individual specification. And I prefer to stick *close* to the vehicle mfg's recommendations, albeit 1-2lbs over.

I also try to encourage others to start out with the vehicle placard, and then gradually increase or decrease pressures from that point until they get the ride/handling combo they desire. And I realize that plus-sizing and other after-market mods are going to throw the original vehicle specs out the window, and I understand that.

But for the vast majority of drivers who want to do just that - drive from home to work to home to vacation to home to the relatives house plus an occasional "spirited drive" along a winding state road between cities, and, for the techs who maintain those cars, a basic understanding of tire pressure should be had before even touching a tire.

And because I don't know if the tech servicing my car has that knowledge, I will continue to request that he/she kindly leave my tire pressures the F___K alone. Thank you very much!

[danielsatur]

Consider a new car with an air pressure monitor system, than you got to worry about someone damaging the air pressure sensor during a tire change.

[vgames33]

If you tell the guy at the counter, they should make a note on the work order. If there isn't a note, tire pressure gets checked as part of the package.

I do agree on some points though. I've found that the majority of people that I've worked with don't understand the basic premise that air expands and contracts. I regularly find tires 5-7 pounds low that were serviced at our shop by another tech who just set it to what the door says while the tires were hot. I've also had a master tech try to tell me to go by the sidewall, not the door "because every tire is different."

[RidingOnRailz]

Originally Posted by vgames33

If you tell the guy at the counter, they should make a note on the work order. If there isn't a note, tire pressure gets checked as part of the package.

Really original . . . NOT! Been there, done that - in 3" tall handwriting . . . Again, the line worker doesn't give a sugar honey ice tea, or as in this Town Fair's case, can work like a horse but can't read Ingles very well.

I do agree on some points though. I've found that the majority of people that I've worked with don't understand the basic premise that air expands and contracts. I regularly find tires 5-7 pounds low that were serviced at our shop by another tech who just set it to what the door says while the tires were hot. I've also had a master tech try to tell me to go by the sidewall, not the door "because every tire is different."

"Master Tech"? More like Master Moron. Now are you feelin' my frustration?

[RidingOnRailz]

Why was this moved here? My thread was not about Automotive Forums - it addressed general incompetence at the service level in garages, quicklubes, and dealerships when it comes to tire pressures.

[Moppie]

Originally Posted by RidingOnRailz

Why was this moved here? My thread was not about Automotive Forums - it addressed general incompetence at the service level in garages, quicklubes, and dealerships when it comes to tire pressures.

Fixed it