NTW/Tires

[marriott@Summa4.COM]

i had a good/bad experience at the manchester, nh NTW last month. one of my 
tires got a hole poked in the sidewall (of course) so i went in for a D60A2 
to replace it. i'd made an appointment for that, balance/rotate the other 
three, and get a 4-wheel alignment. the sequence:

after removing center wheel cover from stock rims with a 1/2"           
        screwdriver, HS dropout changes leaky 195-60-14 for new 185-60-14 
        (great on a 4kcsq)
HS dropout balances other three tires, installs them on same location as 
        before
HS graduate puts car on alignment rack, spends 35 minutes getting car setup 
        and machine calibrated. announces that my front wheel scrub is due 
        to "aggressive driving style" and everything is within spec (showed 
        me the numbers on the machine), and there would be no charge. I 
        then noticed that the wrong tire was mounted, and unrotation.
HS dropout changes 185 for 195 and completes the desired rotation; attempts 
        to use impact for "torqueing."

final tally 2:30 total time for a 1:30 job (and the alignment wasn't done, 
either) and $117.

i've had better...


James Marriott, BSME
Manchester, NH, USA
marriott@Summa4.COM
'64 Falcon Sprint Convertible--balanced & blueprinted V-8. GOES great. 
Stopping?
'86 4000S--the better half's commuter
'87 4000CSQ--H-stock auto-x