... So, after my Spokane (Trashy CrapHole) Valley, WA Discount Tire shop fiasco some months ago I spoke with you about, where they used an impact wrench and ruined the wheel lug hardware on the right-rear hub .... and stretched some of teh remaining hardware ... sabotage, one wonders ...

The tire / wheels remained unbalanced. A 240 wagon feels best when all is balanced.

So, I visited the Spokane Valley, WA Firestone store. Told them of my fiasco with Discount Tire, a competitor of theirs.

I was told I could drop in on early Sat-your-day morning for a 50$ wheel balance this past Thursday.

Sat-your-day morning at 06:50 a manager asks if "some in a blue shirt" informed me. I replied no. An individual in a brown shirt (meaning he's a mechanic) informed me that I could drop in as Sat-Your-Day was wide open.

The guy in a blue shirt told me the brown-shirt people do not have access to the schedule in their, what would you call it, Tire / Wheel / Muffler Store Enterprise Resource and Point of Purchase System? The Baan, SAP, and Oracle ERP of tire stores?

So, I'd have to wait 4-5 hours if on a drop in.

I asked whether they could remove and replace the wheel lug hardware manually. He said it is Firestone / Bridgestone corporate policy to use an impact wrench. They then use a torque wrench (rhetorically asked)? To do what, back off the over torque applied by the impact wrench? What do they do, reduce impact torque to 20 lb-lbs? Beh.

So I left.

I've owned the li'l red 1990 Volvo 240 wagon since August, 2004. I have worked as a mechanic on all electromechanical systems of a car, generally, and the RWD Volvo 240, specifically.

I know when fastening hardware thread to thread interface is proper or off. I've replaced lug hardware when this has happened to others and myself, before.

The lug hardware was just fine on all twenty lugs before this event. No unique variance between teh stud and nut lug hardware, though when I do the work, I remove and replace the lug hardware back together in the same position.

So, I'll consider it sabotage by Discount Tire, and that the tire / wheel stores are not so much an ally for the vintage auto owner.

If I did not know any better, one would imagine intentional sabotage. Mal-placed suspicion? Oh, yet I know better.

I'll check around to see if any stores would manually remove teh lug hardware.

Or do it myself. Carry the tires to the store for balance, unless the next effort is sabotaged.

FYI.

cheers,

dud.
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The Volvo 164: The Mightiest of All Automobiles in Perpetuity