I had 2 new tires put on the car today.It took forever.I noticed that every car that was there before mine they would back them out of the shop and park them out front.When it came time for mine they brought me the keys and left the car parked in the bay.Well i get the car home and was walking around the car looking at the new kumhos and i saw where the passenger side door meets with the front quarter panel is no longer flush.The quarter panel sticks out further and it looks terrible.I bought this car because the body was very straight.I need to know what could have caused this.Possibly the way the jacked the car up??I think they know they did it because of the way they left my car in the shop so i couldnt walk around it easily.PLEASE someone help.

 

Three words!!!!!! Improper lifting procedures.

 

How do i go about convincing the owner that i am not trying to get money or whatever out of them.I do have pics of the car from a few weeks ago.I have never had this happen before and dont know how to go about getting this resolved.Thanks if anyone can help.BTW,exactly what did they do to cause this?Thanks,chris.

 

On our cars there are certain lifting points that should be used when lifting the car. I don't have the picture handy to post at the moment. Anyway, if the right points aren't used, the car will flex and bend slightly causing problems like you have. I would take it back to the shop and show it to the manager/owner and politely explain to him/her that the problem wasn't there when you came to the shop.

 

ok well, i work at a place called Kal Tire, for those whove never herd of it in its kinda big in the west side of canada(i dunno if its known in the US)...anyhoo i put new tires on cars at this shop, ive only been there 2 months so ill give u my best explination.

first of all, did u get front or rear tires put on... or all 4? The hoists we use for just jacking up small cars are kinda sketchy and if they have somewhat similar hoists i couldnt see the hoist itself pushing up a body panel, unless ur car has gfx or something on the under side, they would prolly use hand jacks. since ive worked there the only fbody that came in was 94 T/A and im predy sure i used the hoist. anyhoo, they might have mabey used the wrong part of the car to jack it up by and somehow pushed the panel up, but have no clue how it could happen, unless the guy was a dumbass. ive also let people back thier cars outa the hoists just cuz it was busy or i didnt want to back it out. so basically the only way i could see tehm doing that is usng the wrong jacking point, or the hoist they used somehow ****ed it up. i doubt this was helpful, but since i do that exact job i thought i would give u my 2cents

 

They simply lifted too far forward on the pinchweld and lifted on the fender rather than the uni body, i used to work in a service shop and i saw dumb noobies that i worked with do this several times and everytime the shops insurance had to pick up the tab.

good luck and make them pay dearly

andy

 

What pisses me off the most is that they tried to cover it up.I will be going by there tommorrow.I will post and let you guys know how it ended up.Hopefully they wont give me any crap over this and try to get out of it.

 

If you have close-ups of the damaged area before you went into the shop then take those shots with you. Nothing will shut someone up quicker than a picture.

Honestly, explain what happend. And if they don't beleive you show them how the bottom of the fender is pushed up where they jacked it up.

The idiots who owned the car before I did have done the same to my fenders.

 

If you can't get an immediate resolution by talking to the shop tomorrow, then just go straight to your insurance company. The bottom line is that you need it repaired, so you need to get the money to do it. Let the insurance company know all the details, especially about having you pull the car out of the bay yourself (illegal), and let them fight the tire shop for you.

 

Well i actaully lost sleep over this last night.I will be calling the shop in a couple of hours.My question is:if the shop will not own up to this and i have to fix myself how expensive will this be?Is there any actual frame damage?Will i need a new quarter panel?Thanks,chris.

 

They probably bent the lower tab where the fender bolts to causing it to bow outmaybe bending it back down will fix it.

 

Well i just talked to the manager and he said for me to bring it in so they could look at it.BUT,he said since the car was put up on a rack he doesnt see how he could be at fault.He said the lifts were designed so that this kind of thing doesnt happen.All i know is that the car went in with a straight body and came out looking like the front quarter was half assed replaced from a wreck.Anyone know if hes possibly right about the lift??Do i have a leg to stand on?I wont be able to let them look at it untilmonday so i need to get my facts together.Thanks for helping me out,chris.

 

the lifts are designed so that doesn't happen, however it still happens VERY often (due mainly to operator error) they simply lifted too far forward, this is VERY common on camaro's and mustangs where the bottom of the fender looks very much like part of the pinchweld

if you have before and after pictures that will help a lot and most likely they will turn it in to their insurance and you will get paid for it

just out of curosity, what tire shop did this to your car?

oh yeah and the customer shouldn't be allowed to pull their own car out of the bay mucho big fine if the insurance company knew about that one

 

It was millers OK tire store which i have used for many many years.The story actually gets much worse as far as me thinking they covered it up.I forgot to mention i had my 15 month old little girl with me.They handed me my keys and i had to take her thru the bays to get to my car.If i wasnt in so much of a hurry i probably would have realized something was up.I am the only person there for 2 hours whose car they didnt pull out front.As a matter of fact i heard my car crank and they moved a a foot or 2 and then strangely they just brought me my keys.Sorry for the long post but dammit this cars body was 99% perfect!!

 

It can still be fixed quite easily. All that needs to be done is a pair of vice grips on the tab and pull down. That usually fixes it, and its probably what a body shop would do if it were just a minor bend.

So, if the insurance company is aware of this you might not get much noney. Which would be fine if it can be fixed by pulling the tab back down. I did it on my car.

 

I hope so because i only have liability anyway.Thanks.BTW,where exactly is this tab you are talking about??

 

Just look under the bottom of the fender... near the door/under car

 

After reading your posts, I hope everything works out for you

I'm getting my GTA back on the road after letting the Insp. run out last year , looking forward to driving it again

again good luck !!

 

This happens all the time on f-bodys when people dont know what they r doin. I will never let them put my wheels and tires on ill take my truck and go home and put them on myself. Most of the people working in alot of them shops are younger kids.

 

Exactly what he said, after finding out the hard way. Except that the tire shops still manages to scratch my wheels up when they mount the tires on the damn rim. I can't win