Stupid Midas!!

sklater · Post by **sklater** » 10 Jun 2013, 17:32

2002 Volvo S60 AWD.

Took my car in to have a 4 wheel alignment. Recently had to replace the inner and outer tie rods due to their joints going bad. Also, had new tires installed a week before I moved. After an hour, the tech came back and told me "Sorry, you have the wrong parts, we can't do the alignment, we can't get the toe in enough." I said "What, these parts were bought using my VIN, and I know they are correct.". He said. "Sorry, but see, we have the outer twisted all the way onto the inner, and it's still off 2". Okay, this is getting weird. Before I brought it in, I adjusted these till I almost had a perfect alignment on the front, even though they were slightly off, they were pretty damned close. It still had a CM of play in screwing on the outer. So, I'm a little pissed. And then they charged me $40 to just to the check. Well, as I leave, I notice the alignment is completely out of whack. The steering wheel is 45 degree off tilt. The front passenger tire is way off on the toe alignment, and it jerks horribly as I drove. I made it three blocks, turned around, and drove back. I showed the head mech and said "Look at my tire, it was no where near this off when I brought it in, and now it's almost undriveable. I didn't pay you to make my car worse". His response "We adjusted it as far as we could, it was 3.5" off and we got it to 2". Now I'm really pissed, because it was maybe, MAYBE, 1'2" at most when I brought it in. I told him to fix it back to the way it was. He said, "nope, can't be done, let us know when you get the right parts". So, now I'm throughly pissed at this guy. I jut moved to AZ last week, and just chose a chain as opposed to a mom and pop just to be safe, and now this guy did this crap.

I guess what I'm trying to say, STAY AWAY FROM MIDAS.

Post by **JDS60R** » 10 Jun 2013, 19:39

Inner tie rods not tightened enough. They turn out when they are trying to set toe. Tighten them immediately before you lose steering.

When you are adjusting toe in and not getting an even movement you always check the inners - its alignment 101 - a class that many seem to have missed

sklater · Post by **sklater** » 10 Jun 2013, 20:53

Yes. When I had installed the rods I did it at 88 lbs of torque. They were pretty tight. When I brought them in, there was over a CM of play between the inner and outer tie rod. They should have had plenty of room to adjust the outer tie rod to bring in the toe. The part that gets me is that they said it was over 3.5" off, and even after tightening the outer where there was no thread left, there is still 2" of toe that needs to be set? What I think now happened was when the worker first begin to set the alignment, he removed the tightening nut, and as he thought he was removing the outer, he was actually unscrewing the inner at the same time, but didn't catch it at first. I say this, because when I returned home, I removed the outer (which they tightened all the way to the inner) and then removed the boot from the inner only to see it was out over a CM. I knew that this couldn't have been from me, because before I went to Midas, the wheels were almost completely inline with more play in the thread of the outer to screw. There is no way the inner tie rod would usncrew itself while driving, as it's impossible for that to happen.

My overall guess is that the worker guy screwed up, accidently loosened the inner tie rod while trying to remove the outer tie rod, and didn't say anything about it, which caused my front passenger tire to go from less than a 1/2" out of line, to an adjustement that left it was 2" out of line.

Post by **JDS60R** » 10 Jun 2013, 20:59

The inners should have loctite on them and I agree they did not come loose while driving. I also don't think turning the rod on the inner can turn out the inner from the rack (try it- the rod will turn way before 88ft lbs.). If it truly was in there at 88lbs then someone loosened it (or the rack has stripped or fractured thread area).

sklater · Post by **sklater** » 11 Jun 2013, 15:53

I just double checked my torque wrench, and it was set at 50. I had let my son play with it, must have accidently reset it. But anyways, the shop is telling me that the wheel is toed out some 3" more than before I brought it in, and the outer is now all the way screwed in. That's the part that makes no sense. It lost its 1CM or so of room for tightening and at the same time turned outward. Just a way to piss someone off.

Post by **bags519** » 11 Jun 2013, 16:32

Did they not compare the new parts with what was taken off, and do they have the right side on the right side and left on left?

sklater · Post by **sklater** » 11 Jun 2013, 16:51

They did that. Right and left sides were okay. I installed them, and double checked it. My concensus is to find a reputable shop, not a national chain like Midas.

Post by **jpr0204** » 13 Jun 2013, 11:41

Just my 2 cents here... I'm not here to bad mouth Midas or anyone else here but:

My fleet vehicles get serviced at our local Midas becuase that is who our company has the maintenance contract through so that is who we have to use...

I brought them an 01' Toyota pickup for a fuel filter replacment and they call and tell me "it doesn't have one." - Had to go down there and point it out to them...

I bring our little hatchbacks to them for oil changes and they only hold about 4 quarts with filter but in the morning when my guys check the vehicles out, they have an extra quart and half in them...

Where I think the problem lies, is that they are under the gone by managment to rush and get the jobs out as quick as possible that they don't pay attention to things and just zip through them. Maybe if they paid a little more attention to detail things such as this wouldn't happen and may one day result in someones injury.

- Joe

Post by **cn90** » 18 Jun 2013, 12:17

I align my wheels in own garage. This way I don't have to deal with these incompetent people.