Topic: general rant/rave
The famous tire and auto chain Les Schwab is beating their chests about "doing the right thing"
Lets example this "right thing" they are doing.
I knew better, but went to L.S for wheel work, dont recall exactly what it was, may have been tires changed, may have been a vibration (had one that turned out to be driveshaft)
Anyhoo, I was watching one of their kids (tire changers) put lug nuts on with an IMPACT GUN (violation of the FIRSt sacred rule of torquing mechanical assemblies) then he reached for a torque wrench.
"Good" I thought, " maybe Ill see something done right here."
Nope, no such luck, said kid put the socket on the torque wrench, then used it as a BREAKER BAR to tighten the lug nuts by violating one of the first rules of torque wrench use - TIGHTEN IT SLOWLY.
He was yanking up on the end of the wrench as fast and hard as he could, eliminating any value of the torque wrench, indeed, making it a breaker bar.
I went home and got out my $450 torque wrench and checked the torques on the wheel, one nut was 140 foot-pounds and a second was 165.
Factory torque on that vehicle is 90, and I set them at 65. There are reasons for less torque, there are limits, I know them, they dont.
I went back and explained what the LS employee had done, and longer story short, they discovered the wheel studs had been damaged. They couldnt figure out how to chase them with a die. So they agreed to replace them.
Said kid went and got a TWO POUND HAMMER AND WAS GOING TO USE IT TO BEAT THE STUDS FROM THE AXLE FLANGE TO REMOVE THEM.
destroying the axle and differential carrier bearings in the process. Theres a problem with bearings such as are found in a differential (this was a rear wheel) - bearings such as this can not take much load unless they are turning. Beating on them with a hammer is instant damage.
An outfit as big as LS should have bought, or made, a simple press to press the studs out, its a real simple design.
I refused to allow them to do that. I wrote to LS corporate and told them I wanted to be reimbursed for the studs since they were going to improperly remove them. Some arrogant middle management type woman wrote back and told me that was "denied"
Arrogance on top of incompetence, and DANGEROUS incompetence on top of that.
No, you morons, YOU are denied. Ive bought 3 sets of tires since and YOU didnt sell any of them to me.
Yes, the kid changing the wheels did know how to do it properly, because when I stood over his shoulder and watched him, he used the torque wrench properly.
The problem is L.S pushes these kids to work as fast as possible, ignore the poor work, just get customers in and out quickly and MAKE MORE MONEY .
To f_ with whether they overtighten lug nuts and cause an accident, just get rid of them.
And that, O reader, is what LS considers "doing the right thing"
WHAT MAKES THEM MONEY
