I'm sure a few people have run into problems when getting new tires, so I'll give you some of my advice...
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Before having a set of tires mounted on your nice, shiny wheels, ask around to see where the people with the really nice-looking wheels(like many vette owners) take their's for service. I have had horrible service from "reputable" service shops, like Sears Automotive.
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On one particular instance on a 1996 Chevy K1500 I owned, the lug nuts were run on with an impact wrench at a Sears Automotive Center, and one wheel had 3 of them cross-threaded, and totally trashed. I found this out when I went to rotate the tires. Sears ended up buying me 3 new sets of wheel studs and lug nuts, but I installed them myself to make sure it was done RIGHT. I have heard numerous other horror stories about Sears, not to mention they are usually more expensive.
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Many vette owners I know are pretty picky about where they'll take their wheels to have work performed. Most around my area will not go to Sears, Sam's Club, Walmart, etc. because of substandard work. There is one location in Rio Rancho, NM for the national chain Discount Tire Co. Inc. that is VERY careful with mounting as I was told by several vette owners. I had Kumho Ecsta Supra 712's mounted on my new ZR-1 wheels at this location, and absolutely NO scratches were added. There was a bit of protectant to remove from the wheels, but it was a lot easier than polishing out scratches!
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Bottom line, ask around to see where those who care about thier cars take them to get work done!
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My 3.1415927 cents
Dwain

Pi to the seventh decimal place.

Yes, I suggest avoiding sears like the plague, I and everyone else I know have had nothing but problems with sears.

Just a story to add to Sears experieces, my wife blew out a tire on her way home one night in the IROC. It was a rear tire. She put on the spare donut tire, and we limpt the car down to Sears to get another tire. First they gave us a hard time about replacing the tire as a defective tire. But they eventually agreed to do so. The side wall blew out, and the entire side wall on the inside had huge blisters forming on it. Well, while we waited, my wife wanted to walk around the mall. Usually I don't leave the car, but I decided what the heck, let's walk around the mall. Well, on our walk, I decided to walk out back of the mall to have a smoke. While we were out there a black IROC went screaming by, on the back road behind Sears. We both looked at it thinking that looked an awful lot like her IROC. This guy was out there spinning the tires and just running the heck out of the car. We then noticed it was her car. I went running back to Sears, and the guy was driving back, he beat me there and was picking up his buddy and took off again. I grabbed the manager, and the guy pulled back in. The car still had the donut spare on the back. I was screaming mad, and so was my wife. Needless to say, Sears ended up replacing both rear tires for free, and then paying for the entire rearend to be rebuilt by the local Chevy dealer, because the bearings in the rear end were making noise after we got the car back. The guy also turned her fans on with the toggle switch and left them on, so Sears ended up replacing the battery for free and putting on a new alternator. The guy got fired, and we have sworn off Sears for good, as far as car work goes. I will still buy tools from them.

One thing I've learned to watch out for is improper wheel nut torque. I had our Grand Am in for tire rotation at Discount Tire Company. When I took one of the front wheels off for a brake job a month or so later, I just about threw my back out taking the nuts off. I think that the over-torqued nuts contributed to the rotor warping, although it was somewhat warped before that. (That's another long story about N-body brake rotors...) Might be worth asking the technician if he knows what the torque spec is and what tools he is using to assure that they are torqued correctly.

What is the exact torque specs for 4th gen lug nuts. I was planning on doing my first tire rotation on my fairly new bird this weekend, and i dont have an owners manual, and would like to be sure.

Wow duck, that's pretty bad. Awhile back (before the episode with the lug nuts) I had a decent experience with an OLDER technician at Sears. After he mounted 33's on my old lifted truck, he said they might rub, so we went outside and I drove the truck in circles (clockwise and counterclockwise) while he watched the tires. A little rub on the front airdam, but liveable. Nice old guy...wonder why he was working at Sears...come to think of it.


I try not to leave my car at a shop anymore...I've known quite a few people with "free test-drive" experiences--one even had his engine "blown up" on a "drivability" test by a less-than-reputable mechanic. I can understand having to take the car for a test drive to make sure something is fixed, but I'd rather do a ride-along if they're going to do it.

My wife spoke to a girl with a 4th gen TA, silver car, not sure what all was done with it, but it was a limited run car 1 of only 250 built that year with this certain package. Not sure what it was, but the dash cracked after teh car was only about 2 years old. The car was still under warranty so she took it to the local Pontiac dealer. Oh, this was in or around New Orleans, LA. Well, the service tech at the dealership decided to take her car on a joy ride. He was racing the heck out of it from what she was told, and he totalled the car out. Not sure what all happened after that, I know she got a new TA out of it, but to take a rare car into a dealer to have a cracked dash fixed and to get a call that the car has been totalled, is insane. I hated it for her.

thats y i only take my car to places where i know the people there...local auto places are the best