03/11/2026
Went to Mavis Discount Tire for an alignment last month after seeing the inside of my tires start to wear out. They said they could not get my camber to align. I don't have a camber adjustment so I figured I would buy new shock Assemblies to bring it back up to stock and maybe help the camber.
Installed new struts Assemblies and camber bolts and tried to adjust it myself but I didn't get it so I made an appointment at Townfair Tire. On my way to the appointment , I hear noise. I was panicking. What was the noise? I drove slow to the shop and parked it. I told the guy at the counter that helped me that I went to a previous shop, told him I bought new parts and I think I forgot to tighten the lug nuts cause it making no noise. After dropping off the keys, I felt better that it was going to be fixed.
Nope.
I went to pick it up and he said that the tie rod on the passenger side was not torqued and was loose. It's on the paper in red writing. Also check both while at it.
Ok fine. I'll go home and check them. But on my way home I was greeted with the noise again.
Was it not the lug nuts? What is going on?
After my hazard lights on and driving slow for what felt like all day, I decided to pull over to check to see if the tie rods are the noise.
No!
What I found out was all my lug nuts on the passenger side had been so loose that I could untighten them all with my fingers.
Had to call for help.
Got a tire wrench and tightened them all up.
I would assume that talking about being unsafe with loose lug nuts that those would have been checked. I know it was my fault not to tighten them but was it my fault to drive off like that as well? My assumption that a tire shop would check that before handling over a car would be on the checklist. Idk. I just know that it's hard to find a shop that will just get me my alignment. Days taken off of work, money spent, the stress from having to fix things just for other problems to come up.
What shop can I go to and they will help me get the alignment I need and not push me out the door when there is an issue.
How can a tire shop misdiagnose a loose tie rod for a loose rim?
Idk. I'm just skeptical about going to shops for any work done when it turns out to be a waste of time and money.
Now I have wonky alignment and two tires that were good for another season that I have to not only replace, but replace with p**p tires every couple months because the alignment just ruins them.
