Dealership shenanigans again..........bah

[Klip]

So I dropped off the MS6 to get the windows fixed from a TSB, someone told me about on the forum. While he was writing the ticket up, I slid my hand over the outside edge of the drivers side front tire and noticed what I'll call 'CUPPING' irregular tire wear. Where the trailing edge of each individual tire tread is worn more than the leading edge of said tire tread. I pointed this out to the service manager writing up my TSB ticket, he came over felt it, took a look at my after market wheels and says the warranty won't cover the expense of a 4wheel alignment because of the aftermarket wheels I installed, plus that happens when you hit potholes or speedbumps and went about finishing up my TSB ticket.(uhm)
I said (enguard) it's only got 3500 miles, and I HAVE NOT hit any potholes I SWEAR to God. I explained further (truthfully) that my wife thinks I'm kinda ANAL about the fact I will avoid potholes, irregular pavement, mud puddles because I know about the damage that can occur if you dont try to avoid those things. He just smiles and said another thing may be that the aftermarket wheels are notorious about being untrue or not truely round and that balancing issues could also be at fault.
Either way, for them to fix it, they want 49.95 for a rotation & balance and 149.95 for a 4 wheel alignment. (hump) (humpleg)

I am at a complete loss in dealing with this service department but I kinda expected them to try an put the blame on me, instead of at least checking the alignment for me, considering I just bought the car 2 months ago.
Yeah, I know Service is where they make their money but customer service is something I wish they would pay more attention too. If you treat your customers fairly, they will come back for service. (bang)

 

[smo0f]

i don't really blame the dealership on this one. put on the stock rims/tires and take it to a different dealer

 

[Klip]

i don't really blame the dealership on this one. put on the stock rims/tires and take it to a different dealer

So there may be something to this aftermarket wheels NOT being true? live an learn I guess..........

 

[psi365]

Cupping can also be caused by a few different ways. Certain tires are just plain garbage such as Pirelli's tend to cup badly. After time they almost go square. Also aggresive cornering can cause this due to putting more pressure on the tire edges. Rapid acceleration if done enough can also. Low tire pressure for long periods of time wears the edges more then the center.

In perfect conditions an alignment should be good for the life of a car. Things like suspension wear (tie rods wearing out, loose ball joints, etc.), outside influences (hitting potholes, side swiping curbs, etc.) will change your alignment which of course would need to be corrected. Also lowering a car will change the cars alignment.

 

[Killer]

The dealer HAS TO PROVE that your mods caused the problem. Go back to the dealer and show them this...

Full Warranty Requirements Under a full warranty, in the case of a defect, malfunction, or failure to conform with the written warranty, the warrantor:

* must, as a minimum, remedy the consumer product within a reasonable time and without charge;
* may not impose any limitation on the duration of any implied warranty on the product;
* may not exclude or limit consequential damages for a breach of any written or implied warranty on the product, unless the exclusion or limitation conspicuously appears on the face of the warranty; and
* if the product, or a component part, contains a defect or malfunction, must permit the consumer to elect either a refund or replacement without charge, after a reasonable number of repair attempts.

In addition, the warrantor may not impose any duty, other than notification, upon any consumer, as a condition of securing the repair of any consumer product that malfunctions, is defective, or does not conform to the written warranty. However, the warrantor may require consumers to return a defective item to its place of purchase for repair.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnussen-Moss_Act

 

[RevLimitLaunch]

i don't really blame the dealership on this one. put on the stock rims/tires and take it to a different dealer

+1, worked for me in the past with the msp...sorry to jack the thread, but a short story...put a cold air on the msp...and a cel came on later, girlfriend filled up the car with the car still on. brought it to mazda a day later to have them check out suspension squeaks and they said the cai triggered a cel and the warranty on the car wouldnt cover anything lmfao!!! so i went to autozone and cleared the light, and switched back to stock intake and went to a different dealership. bam! done no questions asked ...they dick aroudn with us, might as well trick it to them.

 

[psi365]

BTW when has an alignment been a covered item without the warranty replacement of a suspension component? I know some manufacturers cover it for 6 months 6000 miles, does Mazda?

 

[Killer]

BTW when has an alignment been a covered item without the warranty replacement of a suspension component? I know some manufacturers cover it for 6 months 6000 miles, does Mazda?

Again, the DEALER NEEDS TO PROVE that your mod has caused the said problem. It is THE LAW!

 

[psi365]

Again, the DEALER NEEDS TO PROVE that your mod has caused the said problem. It is THE LAW!

Again when does warranty cover an alignment without the replacement of a suspension part regardless of aftermarket wheels? Most manufacturers don't cover alignments/adjustments after a certain time period/mileage.

 

[RevLimitLaunch]

yeah alignment isn't ever covered under warranty, i got a buddy for a service manager at the local dealership...he said they wouldn't ever warranty alignment unless it happened very recently from the car's purchased and the buyer reported it had been happening for a while. for instance when i first got my ms6 it seemed a little shaky for a week so they balanced the wheels and did an alignment. fixed my prob...

 

[Killer]

Again when does warranty cover an alignment without the replacement of a suspension part regardless of aftermarket wheels? Most manufacturers don't cover alignments/adjustments after a certain time period/mileage.

When you tell them that the car is out of alignment!! If you complain about the alignment and they can verify the out of alignment condition they need to fix it. If they say it is because you put aftermarket wheels on...all you need to say is "Can you PROVE that?"
There is NO WAY they can.

Now, if you take apart the front end to install springs or sways or shocks...YOU will have to spring for the alignment because you have violated factory settings. (No pun intended) LOL

As for the time period...I believe Mazda covers "Wear Items" up until 10k.

 

[psi365]

When you tell them that the car is out of alignment!! If you complain about the alignment and they can verify the out of alignment condition they need to fix it. If they say it is because you put aftermarket wheels on...all you need to say is "Can you PROVE that?"
There is NO WAY they can.

Sure they can. If they take the car with the aftermarket wheels and check the alignment. Do a print out. Take a set of stock MS6 wheels install them on the car, make another print out. If the car is in specs with the stock wheels and not with the aftermarket ones, they just proved that the car being out of alignment was caused by the wheels. Then if they really wanted to be mean would charge for two alignments. Again an alignment may not even be his problem. With aggressive driving you will feather edge the tires like that too. He may be going through all this for nothing.

 

[Klip]

If by agressive driving you mean racing, going to a track, going to a drag strip then no, I did not drive aggressively.
If on the other hand you meant, have I exceeded the 70mph speed limit(naughty) on the interstate during my 50 mile roundtrip commute to and from work, then yes I have driven aggressively.
Seriously tho, I am 46 years young and know the difference. I was just a bit surprized by the amount of cupping after only 3500 miles of what I consider normal driving. And I was actually very serious when I said that I am ANAL about avoiding potholes, mud puddles etc etc. I simply AVOID them altogether, it's really not hard to 'scooch' the car over a foot or two and stay in your lane to avoid such mishaps. Unlike my wife who appears to be DRAWN to such road hazards. (she does not drive this car)
Back on subject, I took delivery of the car 2 1/2 months ago (Nov 17). My car had to be driven from a dealership in Luisville KY to Nashville TN because the Nashville dealership did'nt have the color we wanted on the lot. We actually closed on Nov 3rd but there was paint damage to both rear quarter panels and both rear wheels, (damage appeared as pocked or chipped paint on the rear quarter panels and to the finish of both rear wheels, pocked or chips in the clear finish of the factory wheels.) I counted 68 places/chips in both panels and over 36 places/chips on the wheels themselves. The dealership took the car back on Nov 7th after I found the damage during the first wash when I got her home. They were shocked and very eager to fix the problems, repainting the panels and replacing both rear wheels. So we took second delivery on Nov 17th.

If you ask me, WHOEVER drove the car from KY, roughly 250 mile trip, had a little aggressive driving of there own. I'd say they got sideways on some gravel roads during the trip and the gravel thrown up caused the damage I found and reported. Of course the dealership told me when I asked that they use retired elderly people to deliver cars when they have to do this. Yeah Right............
So it makes sense to me that if the alignment was thrown out during these first 3500 miles, it could have happened then.
Killercls, I will print out what you said and try that approach when I go back to pick it up but I'm thinking I will first go the the sales Manager or the GM and discuss this whole subject about the damage upon delivery, may be the reason the alignment is out and NOT my daily commute to and from work. It obviously took a while after the alignment went out to cause the amount of cupping that I have seen.

 

[Killer]

Killercls, I will print out what you said and try that approach when I go back to pick it up but I'm thinking I will first go the the sales Manager or the GM and discuss this whole subject about the damage upon delivery, may be the reason the alignment is out and NOT my daily commute to and from work. It obviously took a while after the alignment went out to cause the amount of cupping that I have seen.

Good call.(first) and mention the Magussen warranty Act...then he will realize you mean business.

 

[Killer]

Sure they can. If they take the car with the aftermarket wheels and check the alignment. Do a print out. Take a set of stock MS6 wheels install them on the car, make another print out. If the car is in specs with the stock wheels and not with the aftermarket ones, they just proved that the car being out of alignment was caused by the wheels. Then if they really wanted to be mean would charge for two alignments. Again an alignment may not even be his problem. With aggressive driving you will feather edge the tires like that too. He may be going through all this for nothing.

Like they would do all that work to avoid aligning the car...(rofl)

 

[psi365]

I never said they would. You said there was no way to prove it, I just showed you there is.

By aggressive driving I mean taking sharp turns at a high rate of speed, hard acceleration, hard deceleration. Not racing per say.

 

[Killer]

I never said they would. You said there was no way to prove it, I just showed you there is.

Congratulations. (hand) But the question remains, why would they WASTE time and money to prove such a point. They wouldn't.

By aggressive driving I mean taking sharp turns at a high rate of speed, hard acceleration, hard deceleration. Not racing per say.

(first)

 

[Klip]

Update:
Service manager left me a message at home, they cannot promise that some damage to the aftermarket wheels won't happen when they hook it up to the alignment machine and if it did, they will not take responsibility for any damage done to the wheels. Do you still want us to do the alignment?

I picked the car up this morning, no alignment done. GM was'nt available today to talk to..........(eekfu)

 

[DSMConvert]

All they have to do is prove that the aftermarket wheels are a different weight from the stock wheels simple as that...if they vary by more than half a pound they can legally state that the added weight caused the issue...case closed.... dealerships don't stay in business by having crappy lawyers...you can rest assured if there is a way to do it their lawyers have come up with a way to stop it... Regarding going through all that effort, why wouldnt they? You're legally obligated to pay for all service provided after you approve said service. You're gambling against the dealership...if they win they get to charge you for ALL the work, if they lose you get it free. If they think the odds are in their favor they'll double up everytime.

Now on the cupping issue...what brand are your tires? Several tire companies/suppliers have been known to sit on tires for months at a time...when rubber begins to dry out it will tend to cup and wear uneven...if they are the tires that came on it, not much you can do as they'll blame your driving, so you're best bet is just to get a new set...however if you got new tires with the rims I would questions the storage and stock rotation policy of your local tire shop you got them from. As a perfect example I had a tire literally come apart on me during a race and when we tracked down the issue it turned out that the tire that came apart had been produced over 1.5yrs before I bought it(luckily it was an Eagle GSC on my vette and the mfg was more than happy to replace it being as that they have an internal policy of not letting their tires sit anywhere near that long and being sold as new)...stupid tire shop had just let it sit thinking rubber doesn't go bad. most high performance tires with come with either A. a serial number or B. a date code which you can get translated by the tire mfg simply by calling them.

 

[doogie]

I would like to know what is all this time wasteing worth to you. Advice, have the car propery aligned and this will both save you time and money in the long run. Food for thought.