NEVER GO TO FIRESTONE!! $7500.00 in damages

I have on o7 Tacoma... anyways i bought a new pair of tires and rims for my truck and decided that i should have my allignment checked so that my new tires would wear properly.. so i brought it to firestone seeing in ad on tv persuaded me to do this because they had lifetime allingments for $150.00... I thought that was a heck of deal.. my trucks allignment was not bad to start out with.. it just needed a little corrections here and there not far off at all.. drove straight.. after i left the store i noticed my truck was pulling real bad to the right and the readings when i left the store were worse than before i showed up... so i was already pretty mad at them at this point... so i said whatever and took my truck to another allingment done right away hoping i would get someone who knew what they were doing this time.. which i did... but the other firestone did so much damage it wasnt allinable after that... So i pretty much was ready to rip that little chubby guy a new one.. after fighting with corporate about having them fix my truck to the state it was in before firestone touched it.. and i finaly one!! I brought it to toyota and firestone paid them to fix and gave me a rental truck while mine was in the shop.. they ended up waloring out the frame hole and eccentic.. wolored out my contral arm and bent the allingment tabs which are welded to the frame...
But it all worked out because i have my truck back.. allinged perfect and you would never know that damaged even happened... needless to say i learned my lesson.. i will Always go to the dealer if i cant do it myself.. Because they know our trucks inside and out!!!!

 

Can't say I agree with you. I had my truck aligned at Firestone, and it is great. I had a very pleasent experience with them, and have recommended them many times over. It is probably just THAT store.

 

I know it's just cause you are angry. But you aughta just say don't go to so and so firestone to get an alighnment. There are bad ones all over the place, evevas some toy dealers. My favorite guy is at tires plus in kc. Mo. They know their shit there. So be fair to the others please. But glad all turned out ok in the end.

 

firestone doesn't have the best rep... i stay away from places like that. i have no problem going to a good independent shop though if they know this stuff...

 

The alignment tech @ the Firestone in Hampton "test drove" my truck yesterday, not knowing I was there still, after an alignment and proceeded to lead-foot it in 2nd gear almost to redline. Thank goodness I have my scangauge. I pointed it out to the asshole and he realized he was caught and just walked away. So I went down this morning and talked to the manager, the kid then gave me a half-assed apology. But it felt good having the scangauge to prove my RPM's (4,000 btw, sounded worse when you're watching some punk ass kid drive your baby down the road at full throttle).

 

Wow, what a douche.
Scangauge FTW!

 

Here's a post I made on the TXTTORA forum about my Firestone experience.

I've been without my truck for 2 weeks now and need to vent about it. I tore a CV boot on 6/14 coming back from Kerrville. Needing to get it repaired so I can get to work, we called the only place open in Pearland on a Sunday....Firestone. They said as long as they could get the parts then they could get it fixed by 5pm. They called and said they couldn't finish on Sunday and it would be mid-morning on Monday. Ok, no problem, I'll take a few hours of vacation and just go to work in the afternoon.

Monday comes around and I call mid-morning. They tell me the technician was not even scheduled to start until 10am and it wouldn't be ready until noon. Called at noon and they had not started working on it. Called at 2pm and they had torn one of the the tie-rod end boots and had to order parts. Finally at 6:30pm, they said it was fixed. I'm pissed since I was out 9 hours of vacation at that point.

I drove it for a few days and there was a grinding noise when I first started out in the morning. On Thursday, I jacked up the truck and found the source of the noise....the dust shield was hitting the rotor. No biggie, easily fixed. As I was looking around, they had left the cotter pin out of the lower ball joint bolt, tore the other tie-rod end boot and had left several bolts out of my skid plate. As I went to put the tire back on, I tried to spin it and it would not freely rotate.....not good, something is binding.

Friday is here and I call Firestone back to complain. They said bring it in and they'll get on it right away. I took 2 more hours of vacation and took it in at noon. They tell me it won't be done until Saturday. Saturday at 11am, I call and get the run-around from the person I talked to so I drove up to the shop. The service manager tries to give me the song and dance, but the facts are they haven't even started working on it. I proceeded to blow a gasket. Glad my daughter wasn't around.

Sunday comes around and I haven't heard anything. Have my wife drops me off at the shop at 4:30pm so I can put some pressure on them. The tech says he's got it done and asks me to take it for a spin. I drive down the road and the brake pedal goes to the floor. I turn around in a parking lot and the brakes start rubbing. Back at the shop, the technician bleeds the brakes and thinks the rubbing is from grease on the rotors. He cleans up the rotors with brake cleaner and asks me to drive it some more. I drive down the road and the brakes are rubbing except when I turn to the left. The tech and manager still think that it is due to dirty rotors. I took it home and told them I'll drive it and see if it goes away. The brakes rub all the way home (about a mile or 2) so I jack up the front of the truck, take the tire off and look at the brakes... They look okay so I put the tire back on. After tightening the bolts, I pushed on the top of the tire and it moved. Proceed to jack up the truck, take of the end cap, and I can grab the axle and move it up and down in the bearing....not good.

Monday comes around and my wife carpools so I can get to work. I take more vacation and slowly drive the truck up to the shop. Jack it up and show them the issue and the fact that the tires still don't rotate freely. They feel bad for my trouble and get me a rental car.

Fast forward to today. They have tried 4 sets of axles from Advanced, O'Reillys, and Autozone and 2 sets of bearings and nothing has improved. I still have the rental car. Yesterday they finally broke down and ordered some Toyota axles. It will be 2 - 3 more days before they get the parts.

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I did finally get the truck fixed. I do have to admit that Firestone tried to make it right and it didn't cost me a dime other than the original quote ($660). I figure they spent well north of $2,000 - $3,000 in parts and labor. The truck never did drive quite right after this little incident though so I traded it a few weeks back.

 

Shew. What an ordeal

 

Dang! Is that Firestone on Broadway FM518 near Discount Tire? If so, that's where I go to get my alignment done. Sorry to hear about your issues. Yeah, I have had them re-align several times back to back because they couldn't dial it in. Glad they didn't do any damage.

 

Yep. That's it. I was just happy they worked to try and make it right and I didn't have to pay any extra. It's all good though, I got a new truck!!

 

You have to remember. It is a corporation and not all firestones will be the same.

 

Oops....I just re-read you post and that isn't the Firestone I went to. The one I went to is closer to 288 near CR90. Sorry

 

Exactly. Just because some folks at one Firestone shop screwed up doesn't mean the whole company is jacked up. Besides, they paid to have it fixed so I don't see a problem.

And WTF is "waloring" and "wolored"?

 

I haven't had any problems with Firestone, guess it was just that certain shop

 

Those shops are like dealerships. Some are good. Most are bad. You just gotta find the ones that have people with a half a brain working there.

 

What are the two words in bold?

 

I have been using a Firestone store for 15 years and have had no problems. They did an alignment on a lifted truck (tacoma) yesterday. Really worked hard to get the Caster the way I wanted it. They do all the work I don't want to do. There are good and bad shops every where, I have a good one neaR ME>

 

sucks...but your truck looks sick. haha

 

Yeah- I disagree with your blanket "Don't got to Firestone" The service manger and the tech that works on my truck at the firestone near me are GREAT guys and I have had nothing but excellent service and great luck with them.
They do a FAR better job working on my truck than some of the stories I've heard from dealers out there.
Sorry your experience sucked...Glad that it's all back together!!