Roman, a former tire store employee, talked about all known divorce methods and gave practical advice for each case – how not to become a victim.
Divorce 1. Clean the hubs
Of course, the hubs should be cleaned regularly. Accumulation of dirt prevents the wheel from “sitting” correctly during installation. In addition, this procedure will delay corrosion.
If the hubs are really dirty, a decent tire changer will provide a pre-cleaning service, but for a fee. The choice is yours whether you agree or not.
However, enterprising professionals sometimes include the cleaning of the hubs directly in the total costs of mounting the tires. It turns out that the service is imposed on all customers. However, not everyone really needs it.
How to go further?
In Moscow, cleaning hubs costs about 500 rubles. Although the tire changer is obliged to do this for free with every wheel change, only the treatment with copper grease is reimbursed. The job takes a minute: run a metal brush over the hub of each wheel a few times and spray from a spray can. But in most cases they charge money for cleaning. They put pressure on the fact that the hub is corroded, you will have to tinker with that. Especially naive and gullible are completely let go.
Divorce 2. Your drive “beats the eight”
The tire mechanic claims that your disc is unfit for further use, as he “deems”. You may even be shown being spanked. To do this, before installing on the stand, the specialist discreetly installs a magnet on the disk. You will then be offered to restore the disk geometry on a special machine recently purchased by the company. The cost of “restoration” can depend on the tire mechanic’s greed.
It is possible that the disk is really damaged. To make sure the disk repair is still necessary, ask to see the repair process on the machine.
How to go further?
A thin magnet is glued to the back of the drive, where it is attached to the hub. He makes the so-called “eight”, which is shown to the customer and told to edit the disk. Although in fact the “eight” on the wheel is almost impossible to repair. Or the tire mechanic has to drive for at least half a day.
But no one will devote the customer to the details. They will take several thousand rubles from him, indicate the item “edit the disk” in the list of works and bring the disk to the machine. The master waits for the necessary pause and … returns the already “corrected” disk. Yes, and demonstrate, they say, look how even he is now. Most of it is there and even thanks for the work.
Divorce 3. Bolts are rusty, need to be replaced
When removing the wheels, a specialist can say that the bolts are very rusty, a lot of threads are loose. The wheel mounting situation is critical, but there is a way out. It is enough to buy a set of wheel bolts directly from the tire shop.
If you agree to buy and replace without looking, you will get your own bolts, they can only be cleaned a little bit of dirt.
How to go further?
Divorce with the replacement of fasteners is very common. Before paying money, ask the master to show you exactly what the problem is. See if there is corrosion. If she has already started to “eat” iron, the thread on the hairpin will be completely rusty. And if you are told that a bolt or nut has a broken edge, ask for two nuts to be supplied for comparison. If the thread on the bolt has been removed, it will need to be cut again or the bolt will need to be replaced.
Divorce 4. Adhesive Weights Are Better Than Normal
There is also a separate type of earnings on balancing weights. The “partition scheme” is simple: the customer is convinced that when installing ordinary weights, there is a risk of scratching the discs and deteriorating the appearance of the wheels. You will not find better than adhesive weights. This is the reliability of fastening and an attractive appearance of the car.
How to go further?
It should be remembered that although self-adhesive weights look sturdier, their cost is not much higher than the price of regular weights.
Continued on the next page.