National Tire Battery, ripping people off?

[Nicklz]

Ok my front tires are bald on the inside and the rear are pretty much look like slicks at this point.

So I go to NTB, they say I'll need to replace ball joints, and all this other stuff.

There reason is when the car is lifted and the front wheels are hanging freely, they take the wheel and move it, and it does wiggly a little bit. And I think it's the cv joint (thing with rubber boot on it) the thing that connects to will move when they tug on the wheel, and something on the rack and pinion would be busted, to give it all that movement.

But they rung all this up, without even taking off my front tires and inspecting it closely, and their lift only raises the car a foot off the ground. Given I know I need a slight alignment, maybe ball joints seeing I have over 100k on it. But how in the world would they think they can pull something like this??


Needless to say I'm going somewhere else. Just thought I'd tell you guys not to waste your time with them. And I'll post what the next garage says is wrong with it, just to confirm they are greedy little *******'s.

[camaro97]

Hey man,

Calm down a little bit. Proper diagnosis on a ball joint is to raise the car up and put one hand at 12 o'clock and the other at 6 o'clock and try to see if there is movement. ANY movement indicates worn ball joints. wiggling side to side would turn the tires... not poper diag.
Also, u say the tires were worn on the inside. this is an indication of excessive negative camber in the front wheels. if there is "cupping" in the tire, that is the indication of a bad ball joint, and in your case it would be most prevalent on the inside edge. Only thing u can visually see with a ball joint is the boot, and the ball joint can be shot with no damage to the boot. so not taking the tires off in this case might not be a bad thing per se...

I assume ur talking about a camaro... camaros dont have CV(constant velocity) joints. Those joints are on the axles on FWD and some IRS RWD cars.

from what youve said, sounds like there daig was right on IMO just judging from what uve said.

Matt

[crasher]

^what he said^ If you have worn out suspenion parts your tires are going to ware out more quickly. Just slaping on a new pair of tires won't fix the problem it will just mask it until those tires ware out. Its like painting over a water stain on a wall. Just beause it isn't there dones't mean it was fixed properly.

[Nicklz]

Ok let me more thouroughly explain the situation. I take it in and they are adament about not driving it anywhere until it is fixed. Quoted me guess how much...........1300.00 Yes I know a little bit about suspension components. When they are telling me I'll need a new rack and pinion components, ball joints, cv joints, etc... you know they are paid on comission right. NTB and Firestone are paid on comission, there maybe more but those are the only ones here in my area. I'll be taking the car in for service at a place I trust, we will see what they say tomorrow, I have a trip to PA about 3 1/2 hours from here tomorrow morning but I will post before I leave if possible.


side note-- NTB had an advertisment in thier store they will BEAT any other price for tires (or the tires are free, lol so why wouldn't they just beat it by a dollar if they can't beat them by numbers). I asked if this included online stores and the rep said yes. So if anyone needs tires and doesn't want to deal with shipping to home address just go to NTB, just don't let them tell you your suspension is screwed.

[camaro97]

almost every shop worth there salt pays the techs on comission... I work on comission. The diag on the ball joins sounds right on... CV joints... again, if were talkin about a camaro, insert BS flag here. rack and pinion, i would have to see the car. but for ball joints and a rack $1300 sounds right on. but for something that big i would get a second oppinion.

Matt

[Pagan]

Heres a heads up, If you get movement from the wheel at a 6 and 12 position, your hubs are loose, repack and tighten. If you get movement from a 9 and 3 position, its probably ball joints, or possiibly a drag link... which is less common. As far as the rack goes.. I call BS. If your rack was bad, it would either leak, pop or have hard spots while steering. Always get several opinions from different people. I have 102k on mine, and it is coming time for ball joints. Which I have already bought and will install myself then get an alignment.
Best of Luck. - Tim

[Nicklz]

Well my car is getting fixed currently, btw it's a firebird.

Of coarse I needed tires (2)Fuzion 245/50/16 on front - $93 a piece. Outer tie rods - advance $67 for both, installed for $40. He said the ball joint on the drivers side is a little worn but I wouldn't have to worry about it for a long time. And an alignment for $39. Which brings the grand total to $239. As soon as the garage calls that my car is done I'm going back to NTB for an explanation.

[camaro97]

Originally posted by Pagan:
Heres a heads up, If you get movement from the wheel at a 6 and 12 position, your hubs are loose, repack and tighten. If you get movement from a 9 and 3 position, its probably ball joints, or possiibly a drag link... which is less common. As far as the rack goes.. I call BS. If your rack was bad, it would either leak, pop or have hard spots while steering. Always get several opinions from different people. I have 102k on mine, and it is coming time for ball joints. Which I have already bought and will install myself then get an alignment.
Best of Luck. - Tim

4th gens use sealed hubs and since they have rack and pinion steering DONT have drag links. also, wtf on the 9 and 3 for ball joints, they support vertaical load.

Matt