car has 155k+ Went on a 2 hr trip , apparently alignment was off a little , old tire worn and down to the steel belt ... went to Mavis Tire in st. pete on tyrone .. had 2 tires (fr) replaced .. they apparently take it upon themselves to do a multi-point inspection ... i had inquired about alignment, then they had ' deal' for it so i took it .. got about 10 min out of tampa and checked air pressure at a wawa, 33 and 46 psi on the newly installed tires .. started hearing a 'popping sound' on turns, accel, break .... -- took to mavis in lakeland, they found nothing 'loose' -- took back to st. pete mavis and was informed shocks are worn, -- all tires off and shocks show the platsic casing/housing damaged , seals/covers broke or leaking .. says that putting car into alignment spec may have caused other components to go out of their normal status (i'm trying to find his exact words but that is the jist summary) ... they want $950 to do all 4 shocks. also AC is not holding charge and am not sure if this is one of the things that changed after the tire change and alignment --- i never pressed that issue because of the more pressing issue of the 'clunk' noise heard from shocks ... is this normal to happen ?
On a car with over 150K miles ? Maybe "normal" isn't the right word.....but not unusual. Except for the AC problem which very likely has NOTHING to do with the other work done.
regarding the different tire pressures right after the new replacements installed : the svc mgr gave me a story about wawa .. how he went to 4 different ones and got different readings, and when i tried to say but saying at the same one relative to each on the same pump he got all the more 'you don't understand what i'm saying ' .. at that point , there was no sense in dragging on and i just had to consider the vast sum for the strut and shock replacement vs the value of the car ... the hydraulic covering is what deteriorates ....
actually tha'ts my whole problem, Mavis (that one) has horrible yelp rattings , and the next closer is in Lakeland while i need service shops more in the north of orlando area ... )( the lady at the pizza shop gave me the number to her mechanic, does that count ?
hey, you never know until you try. you want someone who brings you in, shows you what the problem is and repairs it for a reasonable cost. you don't want a dentist who keeps drilling and filling... especially with an older car, prius especially. you're dealing with regular car issues, but what are you going to do when it's the battery, brake actuator, etc.?
