I went to the tire shop today to balance my 8 month old Michelins as I was feeling some vibrations in the steering at higher speeds. The shop manager pulled me out to show me the car after they took the wheels off.
The rear wheel had 4 of the 5 lugs completely stripped by the flange. The shop manager asked me to leave the car there as it was unsafe to drive and ordered a new flange. They claim that the flange was faulty and will not let them add any new lugs. The cost will be over $400 for parts and labor for that one wheel.
They also pointed out that one of the from wheel bearing had some play in it and was possibly causing the vibrations. The cost of replacement for this is over $700 that I asked them not to do.
Has anyone had this problem? Any suggestions / comments?
I have never heard of any car stripping out the hubs for any reason other than improper tightening. If this is the only shop that has touched your wheels then I'd be talking to them about a much more reasonable price or they can answer a small claims lawsuit. Of course that's me.
Re: the front wheel bearing, if you have one that is going out, it will indeed cause vibrations, but that would have no effect on the hub threads on the rear wheel. And $700 to change a FWB? Unless you have a 4Matic, the parts are less than $40 online, so they're simply hoping you'll fall in line with them. If you don't feel up to changing the bearing (and you trust them) then shop that replacement around, it's basic enough you can just call around for a quote.
Good luck, Raleigh.
Take care and enjoy the ride,
Greg
__________________ If the only prayer you say in your life is thank you, that would suffice. Meister Eckhart
When you learn from your own mistakes, that's experience.
When you learn from the mistakes of others, that's wisdom.
When you fail to learn from any mistakes, that's government.
What would be a reasonable price for replacing the flange? They are charging half the part price ($390/2) and labor for 2 hours at $78/hour. Is their rate reasonable?
I have not taken the car anywhere else but this shop (BJs). Isn't small claims court a hassle as well?
I never had to remove hub on Mercedes, but from what I see the only thing that holds it on the axle is single, but big nut. You'll need to get the right size socket and long extension wrench for that. Takes some technique to remove those nuts since the axle is spinning. One is good impact wrench. The other is break the nut loose before removing the brakes. This way one person can push brake pedal and the other can move the nut.
You'll need all the tools for brakes removal.
I got some price quotes from dealerships and local shops that work on MBs. The dealership prices as following:
- Wheel Hub: $92
- Lug nuts: $6 each
- Bearing kit: $156
- Service charge: $432
+ tax
The local non-dealers are quoting between $700 - $900 parts + service
I went back to BJs to negotiate on the pricing. They claim that someone else after they rotated the wheels must have taken the wheels out and over tightened. There is no way for me to prove that they are at fault since the car was with me for 2 weeks before this problem happened.
They are offering a total price of $371 inculding labor and hub + bearings
Total including tax = $410
Has anyone dealt with small claims court and do you think this case will hold in court? I researched the small claims process and the court cost is $85 that I have to pay upfront.
Do you have "paper trail" for their service?
Small claim court takes lot of time. If you have nothing better to do you might try. I did it couple of time for the principals, not for the financial gain, since lost time cost me much more than the judgment.
The only paper trail is regarding the tire install and tire rotation since that is what they performed. I think I am going to suck it up and let BJs complete the replacement.
Stripped lugs by flange and play in from bearings 
Linear Mode
