A little long

My youngest son and I headed out on Saturday from Jacksonville, FL to Winston-Salem, NC in the 928 to take him to a summer camp @ Wake Forest.

On Friday morning, I took my car back to Goodyear as the prior alignment still left the car pulling a little to the right.

Car drove better and tracked better. Seemed road trip ready.

Back to Saturday... get into Georgia on i-95 and something isn't quite right. A bit of a surge as I am driving (at any speed).

Within 70 miles (about 140 miles from home), car is vibrating violently. I limped to the Savannah/Hilton Head International airport and parked the 928 in Airport parking and rented a car.

Here's my scenario....

Right rear tire has wear on inner edge that wasn't there before BUT the car feels like something is totally loose on the back right.

The car is 164 miles from home and I have AAA Premium so I can get it towed.

On my way back through Savannah on Thursday/Friday, I'm leaning towards having it towed back to Goodyear and saying, "You broke my car, you need to fix it."

In my mind, I've imagined all sorts of crazy scenarios like something coming unbolted or being left loose during the alignment.

In my gut, I know this isn't just a replace the tire and you'll be fine.

Thoughts?

 

Is there a Goodyear in Savannah you could talk to/feel out before having the car towed anywhere. They might be independently owned but it is always nice to give someone the opportunity to help out. If you talk to the right person you might just be able to get it fixed locally under some type of good faith warranty or them just wanting to help a brother out. Stranger things have happened. You strike me as a very nice person, both online and in person. It has been my experience that nice people like to help out nice people when given the opportunity.

GL

 

I hope it is a quick fix. It makes my blood boil when I take any of my vehicles in for work and they come out worse than before. Good Luck!

 

I had a similar problem on a different (domestic) car and a firestone shop. After adjustment, the car started chewing up tires like no tomorrow. Brought it to a different shop and they found that a rusty alignment bolt had sheared off. While they said that the previous company probably caused the shear during their adjustment, they also said that it is quite common on older cars as the bolts are constantly barraged with grime and moisture. It was an inexpensive fix plus the re-alignment.


I hope that this is all that is wrong for your situation.

 

There are only a couple adjustments made at the rear. At the front end of each lower control arm, there's a cam-bolt that is used to set rear toe. Camber is set at the "dogbone" link, horizontal at the top of the carrier, lateral in the car. Neither of those adjustments, on their own will cause vibration as you describe even if the adjustments are left loose.

The Most Likely cause of rear vibrations is a loose lower pin. Goodyear should not have had tools on that for a simple alignment, but who knows? It may also be something that's worked loose from a previous repair, but such coincidence is rare.

It may also be something simple like lug nuts not at full tight.

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A situation with a dealer service department way back when in my car's life caused me to adjust my thinking on how the car was going to be cared for going forward. Similar deal on alignments at a well-regarded shop. The costs and inconveniences of failures, no matter who or what causes them, are too high to leave them to chance.

 

First place to look if you haven't done so already. And I totally agree with medipedicman's comments about giving folks a chance to help. I'm not Blanche, but I have occasionally depended on the "kindness of strangers"...

 

I've had this happen. For me it was the eccentrics in the front. The torque on some of the nuts in the rear is 120Nm. That's a lot and you have to use a simple wrench to get to the nut.

Another chance is the lower pin has come loose. You don't need to touch it for an alignment but you never know. Could have just come loose and give a definite twitchiness to the car. On acceleration it'll pull one way and on deceleration it'll go the other.

 

You should find out what exactly happened before start pointing fingers. I would tow it home and find out what happened. If the shop did something, contact them and see what they can do for you.

 

Thanks for the feedback, EVERYONE!!! Obviously there is a diplomatic way of handling these things.

I had the alignment performed at a Brand New Goodyear Service Center within about 5 miles of my house. They want to make sure they have a sterling reputation.

I spoke to the manager today and shared what had happened. I asked him if there was a benefit to towing back to him or could I go to another Goodyear Service Center and have them check it out.

He was very concerned sounding on the phone and looked up another corporately owned Goodyear Service Center about 8 miles from the Savannah airport. I called them, got their first appointment on Friday @ 7AM and they're going to put their best person on it. They also are ordering in two tires JUST IN CASE they need to replace tires on the back but they are not in any way pressuring me.

The Goodyear Service Center's manager in Jacksonville asked that I please let him know what is found.

This isn't over but it is nice when adults act like adults and Big corporations honor agreements in different locations. Both Service Centers have said, if it due to a Goodyear Issue, they'll warrant it.

I appreciate the input about the lower pin possibly being loose and lug nut suggestions. I changed the rear shocks within the last 2,000 miles so maybe that is a possibility but I don't think so.

As for those suggesting I shouldn't jump to conclusions, I'm not but I'm also not going to go invest time in getting a tow truck, paying to rent a car to get home and then messing with the car only to find out that a tech MAY have left something loose accidentally.

Alignments are the ONLY thing I haven't done myself on this car.... hopefully it's an easy fix for the Goodyear folks as I'd like to finish this road trip in my 928

More advice is welcome.

 

Double checking what was last fixed, is 'the advice'.

 

That would be the alignment

 

Had a 7am service appointment at the Goodyear 4 miles from the airport. Turns out the driver rear tire separated (never heard of that before) but could absolutely see it both on and off the car!

Was on the road again 😊 by 9:30.

Thanks for everyone's advice!

 

Love it when a plan comes together. The only thing that could make it better is if you tell us that the tire was under warranty, lol.
Safe travels Trey.

 

Was the tire under inflated?

 

Thanks, Brian. It wasn't under warranty but tires have a different lifespan on these cars. Was actually glad that it wasn't anything else.