| Subject: | Wheel studs |
| Question: | 1995 Mitsubishi Diamante,
LS V6 Took my car to get front pads replaced, all four rotors resurfaced. Picked up car and left rear wheel squeeked. They resurfaced all 4 rotors again and left rear wheel still squeeked. Upon 3rd inspection they had trouble removing right rear wheel. (I don't know why they would take this off anyways...) However, right rear wheel had apparently "frozen". They could not remove the right rear wheel and had to cut off the bolts and replace hub. They justified charging me for this service by saying that wheels somtimes "just freeze". Is this true? Are these guys completely nuts? |
| Answer: | Joe, Those mechanics sounds pretty sketchy. True... wheels do sometimes freeze, but I cannot see it happening since that wheel had to be removed when you had the rotors resurfaced twice. I think that when that right, rear tire was removed and put back on, the mechanics crossed-threaded the lug nuts. That will "freeze" up the lug nuts and would constitute the bolts and studs being cut off. If that is the case, and the lug nuts were cross-threaded, the garage that did that should pay for that service of replacing it. They may have wanted to remove the right, rear wheel to check the brake pads. They probably wanted to compare the thickness of the right and left pads to see if they're the same. |