Ol' Turbo was in dire need of new front tires. The tread wear was slightly uneven, but not enough for me to splurge on an alignment.

I chose this shop because they stock the same bridgestones to match the other tires that I've been satisfied with during my ownership. The desk supervisors seemed competent enough, so I handed over the keys and caught up on the details of Bernie Mac's death and presidential candidate Edward's shocking adultery in the customer lounge. I grew tired of celebrity gossip about 15 minutes later and deceided to stretch my legs; much to my dismay, Ol Turbo was still on the ground with the hood up.

I immediately approach the desk supervisor:

Me: Why is the hood up? I just need tires.
Super: We're just doing a free checkup to make sure your car doesn't need any service, fluids topped off, and such.
Me: I don't want the checkup, and don't like people getting under the hood of my car without permission. Just change the tires.
Super: okay.. (goes back to service area...comes back with list in hand) I told him to stop, but he did find a few things. Your battery tested a bit low and your oil is really black.
Me: (laugh) Don't worry about it.
Super: One of my techs is really excited to see your car; he says he drives one just like yours.

This is where it really gets interesting... The technician comes back from the service bay to introduce himself, and showers me with a wealth of misinformation about 300d's that I did not need or want.

Here is some of the wisdom from the 'Tires Plus' Mercedes Diesel Specialist imparted to me during our conversation.


"Driving during the winter snow and salty roads won't do a thing to your 300d. They're indestructable, like when these Taxis in New York or something went a million miles."

"You only need a new timing chain when the car starts smoking alot at idle. That's how I knew."

"There's something wrong with my turbo. It doesn't kick in until about 1500 rpms or so."

" I got about 8 grand in mine and all she needed was a couple hundred bucks to get repainted, until I got rearended in a hit and run. I want to paint it black." (its a white car)


When I finally got Ol' Turbo back I drove around to look at his 300d... Oh my...just wait until I get home and post the pictures.

They over-aired the tires about 5 psi, btw.

__________________
1985 500SL Euro w/ AMG bits 130k
1984 300SD Turbodiesel 192k
1980 240D Stick China 188k
2001 CLK55 AMG 101k
2007 S600 Biturbo 149k Overheated Project, IT'S ALIVE!!!

If you want something done right......

__________________
$60 OM617 Blank Exhaust Flanges
$110 OM606 Blank Exhaust Flanges
No merc at the moment

Tyler I had to check the date of this.....And here I thought that they had at least got the telegraph lines run through the MidWest. News travels slow to the Great Plains...weren't those stories old news like 2 months ago?



Hope the technician didn't decide to take your timing chain while he was under there!

__________________

Current Mercedes
1979 maple yellow 240D 4-speed

Gone and fondly remembered:
1980 orient red 240D 4-speed

Gone and NOT fondly remembered:
1982 Chna Blue 300TD

Other car in the stable:
2013 VW Jetta Sportwagen TDI / 6-speed MT

That's a great story. They were so busy doing what you told them NOT to do that they didn't do the one thing they were SUPPOSED to be doing, correctly. That's like when you tell a salesman exactly what you want and he continues talking as though you had never said a word. I'm a salesman. It never ceases to amaze me how hard people make their jobs for themselves.

__________________
" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

I've been told by both of my nearby oil-change places, that the pressure on the tire sidewall is where the tire must run, ... regardless of what the car MFGR says.

Oh, one of them won't change the oil on the 124 because he doesn't have the right torque wrench for the belly pans.

??

Darwin, we need you!

__________________

Gone to the dark side

- Jeff

Well. I'm back at tires plus...posting from my iPhone $&@)$. It seems like ok turbo wants to shake itself apart at 60 or so...they already told me their balancer was on the fritz and tried to balance the wheels again... Only a marginal improvement... Oh, and the resident diesel expert tagged along on the troubleshooting drive....

He accidently slipped and told me the wheels may have been way over torqued..

This is turning out to be a lovely day

__________________
1985 500SL Euro w/ AMG bits 130k
1984 300SD Turbodiesel 192k
1980 240D Stick China 188k
2001 CLK55 AMG 101k
2007 S600 Biturbo 149k Overheated Project, IT'S ALIVE!!!

At least you can finish that Bernie Mac artical .

__________________
1979 240D- 316K miles - VGT Turbo, Intercooler, Stick Shift, Many Other Mods - Daily Driver

1982 300SD - 232K miles - Wife's Daily Driver

1986 560SL - Wife's red speed machine

It's almost guaranteed that you lug bolts are not torqued correctly. Chances are, they are not all overtorqued. Some are probably undertorqued. At least that is what I have experienced when working on vehicles just serviced by chain tire stores.

Notice the change of my Avatar... TIRES PLUS!!!

I sat around for a while just for them to tell me to come back tomorrow, and that I probably have warped rotors. I asked them how I could have possibly not noticed them before, (since the car is shaking violently now) and they told me it could have been the older tires masking the vibration?

I found that hard to believe, told them something along those lines, and also that I'm pay very close attention to my car and would have noticed if this was an issue before... They agreed that it appeared the car seems well taken care of, and the brake pads seem fine.

So... I have no time to go back tomorrow, so I'll have to wait until Wedesday when their Master Technician is back to take a look....

__________________
1985 500SL Euro w/ AMG bits 130k
1984 300SD Turbodiesel 192k
1980 240D Stick China 188k
2001 CLK55 AMG 101k
2007 S600 Biturbo 149k Overheated Project, IT'S ALIVE!!!

Very funny... I was trying humorously point out that they don't keep up to date magazines in the store. I did find their tire rotation pamphlet entitled "Tire Rotation? Don't my tires rotate enough?" quite amusing.

__________________
1985 500SL Euro w/ AMG bits 130k
1984 300SD Turbodiesel 192k
1980 240D Stick China 188k
2001 CLK55 AMG 101k
2007 S600 Biturbo 149k Overheated Project, IT'S ALIVE!!!

Here's the diesel expert's car.... I'm screwed.

Attached Thumbnails

     

__________________
1985 500SL Euro w/ AMG bits 130k
1984 300SD Turbodiesel 192k
1980 240D Stick China 188k
2001 CLK55 AMG 101k
2007 S600 Biturbo 149k Overheated Project, IT'S ALIVE!!!

Wow, my car does not sit that low in the back, even with the Vogtlands. How many bodies does he have in the trunk?


Does the car shake only when the brakes are applied, or just when driving down the road?

__________________
1979 240D- 316K miles - VGT Turbo, Intercooler, Stick Shift, Many Other Mods - Daily Driver

1982 300SD - 232K miles - Wife's Daily Driver

1986 560SL - Wife's red speed machine

Wow, does he even have springs in the back?

Thats a $500 parts car, at best. Oklahoma plates, that figures.

Have it done properly elsewhere and send them the bill. No point in going back and letting them make everything worse.

Used to go to a shop that I paid $10 to have them change the oil for me provided I bring all the stuff needed. I eventually got new tires and needed an alignment so I go to them. Make a left hand turn and the tires squeal. Went back to them and they said sorry we don't have the right specs. They returned me the money so I went someplace else. At least they were honest in that aspect. Hopefully yours is too.

Unless you're just having too much fun with them...

__________________
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7271/7...144c3fc1dc.jpg

The car does not shake when the brakes are applied, at least not any more than when driving down the road.

She's a beauty, eh?

I'll give them a shot on Wednesday, then try someone else.

__________________
1985 500SL Euro w/ AMG bits 130k
1984 300SD Turbodiesel 192k
1980 240D Stick China 188k
2001 CLK55 AMG 101k
2007 S600 Biturbo 149k Overheated Project, IT'S ALIVE!!!