Unbelievable..!

[mam4.6]

So, my wife and I picked up the X at our mechanics yesterday, my wife drove it an hour and a half b4 we got home. She mentioned something about a shimmy in the steering, I thot I'd look at it today. WELL, today, I drove it a bit, shimmy seemed to be getting worse and worse, so I crawled underneath, thot something mite be scraping somewhere, as I heard a grinding noise from the front end. Then I looked at the wheel itself, and nearly fell over!!! There was only one lug nut loosely threaded into the wheel, the other four were nowhere to be seen! I immediately called him up, he dropped everything, came to my place and tightened everthing up, and check all the rest of the wheels as well. He was absolutely mortified, and said I will get a brand new vanos install free of charge or labor, if I want to come back to him So, should I trust him? He did excellent work on everything else, so I kinda like him....

[powers1]

Unfortunately ,things like this do happen ,unless there is a adequate quality control (there must always be someone overseeing the finished work,then they would have noticed the loose bolts).The dealer obviously has a work shop manager but I have seen indies with stricter control and checked all work on the job sheet.These are professionals ,eventhough they are not official dealers.
Your mechanics attitude to what happen (could have been disastrous,had the last bolt fallen off),deserves another chance and lets hope he learns from it and double checks all work ,before letting car out.

[Lexicon740iL]

If it were me I would be worried he's going to leave a wrench in my engine if I let him at my vanos J/K

I had a co worker who had new tires put on and they didn't tighten the lugs and a tire flew off while his mother in law was driving.... Luckly no one was hurt...He did end up suing them for a substantial amount.

[x5Alpine]

I'd say go for it. Vanos is a very difficult job and if their work is guaranteed then I see no reason not to give him another chance.

[Qsilver7]

Originally Posted by mam4.6

...I immediately called him up, he dropped everything, came to my place and tightened everthing up, and check all the rest of the wheels as well. He was absolutely mortified, and said I will get a brand new vanos install free of charge or labor, if I want to come back to him So, should I trust him? He did excellent work on everything else, so I kinda like him....

The fact that he came to your home immediately, tightened & checked the other wheels...you could see that he was sincerely "mortified" by his mistake & he then offered you free service as recompense ... I say he deserves a 2nd chance.

If sloppy work shows again, then you know the level of his incompetence...and it's time to find someone else. But this may also turn into a great mechanic for you...one you can trust and be forthright with you, too.

There's also another underlying lesson here too...and that is to always check for yourself, or have them show/go-over the work that was done, or do a quick visual walk-around when you have work done...especially if you weren't present, or watching. That way, no one's mistake turns into a horrible nightmare for you.

[DTMdan]

[Kristophe]

And your wife drove it like that for an hour and a half..thank the good Lord that tire didn't come off while she was on the road. I too would accept his offer and give him a another chance. I'd bet that he'll triple check your truck before you pick it up from now on.

[mam4.6]

Yeah, I'm counting my blessings that nothing happened!! He seems to be an upfront guy, I think I'll be going back and seeing how it goes. He recharged my AC, changed my oil cap on the engine, etc, free off charge this time when he was working on it. Yeah, I'm sure he'll be checking my X a couple times over before he rolls it out..! Thanks for all the tips on what else I need to (preventatively maintain.)

[J.Belknap]

So... how is the wheel bearing?

[davintosh]

And how is the wheel?

I had something similar happen with the camper I was towing last year; heard rumbling from the camper as we were rolling through the Chicago area in heavy traffic & thought it was a tire about to go. Got as far as Jolliet and stopped, found the wheel was down to two lug nuts, and the hole behind one of them was rounded out so badly that nut was doing nothing to hold the wheel on. Had to replace the hub and wheel (plus the cost of two hotel rooms so it was an expensive breakdown!)