Costco and McGard OEM wheel locks - Guess which one failed, which on stepped up? (Page 1/2)
Wudman JUN 07, 05:09 PM
Six years ago I special ordered a set of 14" TA Radials for an Indy Fiero. There were about the only tires I could find to fit the stock rims. For the most part the car was relegated to a garage, so it wasn't driven much or exposed to elements. Over the last few weeks, I have been doing the stuff necessary to SMOG and license the car as it gets twice the gas mileage of my truck.

So I do everything to pass California's stringent SMOG test and now I have been working on things that get old in 38 years regardless the low mileage (54,000). One of those issues was getting the tires balanced and rotated under the purchase warranty.

After about 45 minutes, I get a call from the Costco Tire Center from the tech who starts telling me about how I will have to take the tires off because he can't get the key to work. So I walk over to the shop and this jerk starts showing me how the key spins and he can't get it to suck into the bolt, and that since the last time the car was serviced was at install, he wasn't going to work with these "old, broken locks".

Looking down at my car, I see the air impact hammer and my lock and ask him if he can read? I also ask him if he uses an air impact hammer on all his customer's wheel lock keys? I think I called him an idiot as well. Then he tells me to "Calm down", which lead to a quick dismissal of any further conversation and a visit to the manager's office.

After futzing with the car with the Manager for a few minutes, we decided the idiot has probably destroyed the key by not screwing it down properly and then compounding his stupidity by using an air impact tool when the key clearly says not to. (OEM key and lock, big yellow tag that says, "Don't do it".

I take my car home, get my 1/2 drive with the appropriate socket, a mallet, a vice grip, a can of penetrating lube (just in case), and an old rag. Within about 45 minutes, I have all the lock nuts off without any hammering, drilling, or curse words. None of the lugnuts took extraordinary effort to remove, including three of the four locks. The lock the idiot was working on was cross threaded, but I was able to mallet it past the damage, and then crank it down with the vise grip. (I used the rag to keep the vice grip from accidentally scraping the paint on the stock Indy wheels.

I took the car back to Costco, made it clear I didn't want the idiot touching it and with the manager, oversaw the rotation/balance.

While it is unusual to balance and rotate tires with only 430 miles on them, I wanted to make sure they were in good shape and eliminate the tires as the cause for steering wheel shaking from 65-70mph. After the rotation, the shaking is slightly less, but still an issue. So I will pull and likely replace the front wheel bearings.

Today I call McGard, the provider of the OEM spring-style keylocks that the 84 Indy left the dealership with. The good news is that IF the idiot had not trashed one of the locks, they could have sold me a new key. The lady I talked to, gave me a direct email to send pictures and she called me back within an hour! The downside is that they do not make the lock lugnuts any more. Instead she recommended a set of locks that were black and about the same length as the lugnut/plastic cap combination. They will be shinier, but also come with a key that FITS OVER the lug nut which will prevent slippage and wheel finish damage.

I have to give it to McGard, the Customer Service Rep was a star, friendly and exceeded my expectations. Not so much with the Costco tech (idiot) who was rude and incompetent.

As my wife said, "That (expletive deleted) was lucky I wasn't there because no (expletive deleted) will talk to my husband like that, especially since I don't!" Specific to her ire was the, "You need to calm down".

In any case, that's my tech story from yesterday afternoon and today. If you have the OEM wheel locks from McGard, you can still get a replacement key, but take care of the locks because those are not replaceable.

[This message has been edited by Wudman (edited 06-07-2022).]

theogre JUN 07, 06:06 PM
Not a new problem. That and related like shop loose the key has happen many time for 40+ years.

Fools like that is why I often take off wheel locks before any store touches the wheels.
Also often loosen then re-torque the wheels because many are too tight or worse loose.

NTB is a pain but doesn't hind behind "No Shop Insurance" etc so I can easily watch them.
Mike in Sydney JUN 07, 08:39 PM

quote
Originally posted by Wudman:

Six years ago I special ordered a set of 14" TA Radials for an Indy Fiero. There were about the only tires I could find to fit the stock rims. For the most part the car was relegated to a garage, so it wasn't driven much or exposed to elements....


....While it is unusual to balance and rotate tires with only 430 miles on them, I wanted to make sure they were in good shape and eliminate the tires as the cause for steering wheel shaking from 65-70mph. After the rotation, the shaking is slightly less, but still an issue. So I will pull and likely replace the front wheel bearings.




Before you check your bearings, check your tyres. If the TA Radials are 6 years old and you've only put 430 miles on them, I would consider the possibility that the tyres have flat-spotted from setting too long in one position. Many car owners store their collector car on car jack stands as an option to protect their cars tires from flat spotting or vulcanizing while in storage. Tire flat spotting and vulcanizing occurs frequently when low profile, high performance tires will sit on a hard surface for long periods of time. This leads to a vibration when driving because the tyres are out of round. My CLK is especially bad for this because while it is cranked and ran on a regular basis, it sometimes sits for 6-8 weeks before getting driven. I get a vibration that I can feel through the steering wheel. Fortunately, it goes away after a a 100 k's or so. (It smooths out faster in warmer weather.)
Wudman JUN 08, 09:19 AM

quote
Originally posted by Mike in Sydney:

Before you check your bearings, check your tyres. If the TA Radials are 6 years old and you've only put 430 miles on them, I would consider the possibility that the tyres have flat-spotted from setting too long in one position. Many car owners store their collector car on car jack stands as an option to protect their cars tires from flat spotting or vulcanizing while in storage. Tire flat spotting and vulcanizing occurs frequently when low profile, high performance tires will sit on a hard surface for long periods of time. This leads to a vibration when driving because the tyres are out of round. My CLK is especially bad for this because while it is cranked and ran on a regular basis, it sometimes sits for 6-8 weeks before getting driven. I get a vibration that I can feel through the steering wheel. Fortunately, it goes away after a a 100 k's or so. (It smooths out faster in warmer weather.)



Thanks for the input. This was my first thought since it was driven infrequently and not put on stands. I have had this flat spotting issue before. The wheel bearing check and lube is part of an overall maintenance process. The car was driven infrequently and only for short errand runs. It feels fine under 65, and my miserly driving style is good with that. In any case, I still need to ferret out some minor driveability issues and there are simply old things that need to be replaced.

Dennis LaGrua JUN 08, 10:04 AM
If I buy tires at Costco I take the old tires on the rims to them and I put them back on the cars. Only once did I allow the COSTCO worker to install the tires and he torqued the lug nuts with the air impact wrench. Unbeknownst to myself they must have been tightened to 300 ft lbs. When it came time to remove the wheels for a brake job I had to use a 1/2" 6 pt socket, a 3 ft breaker bar and had to stand on it to get the lug nuts off. That was the last time that I allowed anyone to change tires and install the wheels.
Those outfits like Costco and JiffyLube use unskilled cheap labor and apparently they have an aversion to using a torque wrench..

------------------
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[This message has been edited by Dennis LaGrua (edited 06-08-2022).]

Wudman JUN 08, 12:39 PM

quote
Originally posted by Dennis LaGrua:

If I buy tires at Costco I take the old tires on the rims to them and I put them back on the cars. Only once did I allow the COSTCO worker to install the tires and he torqued the lug nuts with the air impact wrench. Unbeknownst to myself they must have been tightened to 300 ft lbs. When it came time to remove the wheels for a brake job I had to use a 1/2" 6 pt socket, a 3 ft breaker bar and had to stand on it to get the lug nuts off. That was the last time that I allowed anyone to change tires and install the wheels.
Those outfits like Costco and JiffyLube use unskilled cheap labor and apparently they have an aversion to using a torque wrench..



At least after the initial interaction with the idiot that jacked up my key, this Costco went into fine detail on installing my tires. Not only did the lead tech hand tighten every bolt, but then in use two steps in torquing the lug bolts down with a two-stage torque wrench. He used a cross-star pattern then a circular pattern on each wheel, then came back around for another tweaking of the torque. Since the Indy was right up against the door and window, I was able to watch and hear all the clicks.
3/4 inch socket, a leftover from my VW days, and a serious piece of pipe, also leftover from VW days, and all m weight to break a bolt lose. After one wheel, I took that car right back to the shop and resolve the issue. Nothing like the instant slam to the ground when you are hanging at the end of a 4 to 6 foot breaker bar when it finally lets loose (with all your weight which in my case was north of 215lbs for a long time.)
RWDPLZ JUN 08, 01:48 PM
Dealers hire hack techs too. Took my Subaru STI to the dealer for a 30k (or whatever mileage) service, and the tech must have played NASCAR doing the tire rotation, royally messing up the threads on one of the studs. I didn't find out until a month later when I went to the tire place to get summer tires put back on. The Jiffy Lube next door pulled out and replaced the stud.

The same dealer did the engine replacement under warranty when the oil pump failed at 31k, and forgot to hook up a hose to the boost solenoid, causing it to over-boost at full throttle. I took it to them, and they just reset the CEL and said to drive it, and it did it again. When I looked up the code and started looking at it myself, I found the tech that had been in there put paint marks on all the vacuum lines and left one hanging, going to the solenoid. Hooked it back up, and car back to normal. This was one of the reasons I sold the car, I didn't trust their work would hold up long term...
cvxjet JUN 08, 02:35 PM
I am lucky; Around the corner from my house is a Big-O tire shop....And it is run by a really good guy (Mario)...Always treats me well and does a good job. But I admit, I don't like anyone touching my cars or boat- except me (Almost typed "INCLUDING ME")

Because of my special studs on the aftermarket aluminum front hubs, I have a tag in the zip-bag the lock socket is in; "Install lock lugnut on SHORT stud" And then I always re-check....especially the torque- most of the time other places tighten them way too tight. This Big-O tightens them to 70 lb/ft which is about right (Never would tighten them more- have to be able to remove them "In the field" when you have a flat)
Stingray92 JUN 08, 04:44 PM
Never again will I take my vehicles to a shop. I once had an IDIOT cross thread a drain plug on the oil pan and then to top it off they put the wrong size oil filter on because they didn't have one in stock. All this was at a fairly large dealership and was a scheduled appointment. Adios IDIOT"s...
Wudman JUN 08, 05:19 PM

quote
Originally posted by Stingray92:

Never again will I take my vehicles to a shop. I once had an IDIOT cross thread a drain plug on the oil pan and then to top it off they put the wrong size oil filter on because they didn't have one in stock. All this was at a fairly large dealership and was a scheduled appointment. Adios IDIOT"s...



I was following my best friend in his Datsun 1600 that we had just picked up from the auto shop on Pearl Harbor. About 15 minutes from the shop, after I had been on the H3 a few minutes, the engine seized. Not one of those clunky death rattles either. An immediate lock down that damn near tore the ass end off the car. The oil change idiot put the wrong oil filter on the car. It was a close fit, but not close enough. My buddy got a new engine out of that, but we basically lost access to the most fun on campus for several months.