911 Crazy

+1 That's exactly what I did. No need to worry then!

The Brewmeister

^Except about the wheels, my wife and I had a set of wheels for her VW Jetta destroyed by a careless tech. I mean destroyed! All four!

rusnak

I took my 9" Fuchs in last year to new rear tires. The tech managed to put a 2" gouge in the rim. I just about had a cow. I go to another place now. The first tire place is used to mounting tires on wheels that cost thousands of dollars EACH and they still managed to gouge my wheel.

SPDADCT

The worst experience I had was at Just Tires in Woodland Hills / Canoga Park. I left my E Class (W210 4.2) with brand new AMG wheels and 4 center caps to be installed and wheels rotation. I came back in 2 hours and they said I was missing 1 center cap, I see a big scratch on one of the wheels. They argued that it was scratched when I brought the car in. I started driving the car and heard a wierd noise, pulled over and checked to see that the tire rotation direction was wrong (Arrow Backwards <<<). I called Goodyear and I receive a call back from the Owner of that store offering me a free oil change. What a joke, I now take all my cars to a local Big O Tires and never take my eyes off the car.

911Dave

If you have to take the whole car to them, DO NOT LET THEM USE AN AIR HAMMER TO TORQUE YOUR LUG NUTS. MAKE SURE THEY USE A TORQUE WRENCH SET TO 94 LB-FT AND WATCH THEM AS THEY DO IT!!!!

Caferacer

Thank you to everyone for your advice and suggestions. In the end, I decided to go ahead and let Pep Boys do the work since that was where the tires were and I felt armed with good information from this forum. It is first come first serve so I showed up at 7:45 this morning - after having to fill my left rear tire with air from a sheet rock screw that it picked up! Being first in line I had a chance to chat up the lead tech and show him the side skirts, oil lines, jack points (on the car and in the Bentley) and he said he would handle it himself. Since we still had some time I got us both coffee and when I got back he had me drive the car into the bay. I then handed him $20 and said I would like to watch and learn. He was happy to let me look on as he took his time and did a good job. I had him inflate the tires to the correct pressure and use a torque wrench on the lug nuts.

Once again, thank you to all for the suggestions. Without your help I could not have provided knwledgeable oversight and without that oversight there may well have been catastrophic results.

Edit: I was also prepared to walk if I didn't feel like they were taking my direction. I also made it a point to thank the store manager and praise the tech. They offered me a free oil change and I just laughed.