Repairshop fails the test by failing to test

Dear Car Talk:

Iwasin a collision; thankfully, onlythe car’s front end was damaged. I took the car to a tire shop and toldthem I needed it repaired They replaceda control arm andstruts anddid an alignment.

Itookitonthehighway, anditshook something terrible onceI got to 60mph. I went back to theplace andthey tookoff the left front wheel spunitonthehigh-speedtire balancer and said it was bent Theysaidthey couldn’t have eyeballed thatwhen they gave metheestimate,whichI believe Butthey alsosaidspinningthewheel to find out ifit’s bent isnotpart of the process.

Iaskedhow itcannot bepart oftheprocesswhen they knew I was in a front-end collisionandtheyhad the front wheels offanyway to dothestruts and control arm? Shouldthey havechecked for a bentwheel as a matterof course? I say yes;theysaidno. Who’s right? —Eric

Theirmistake wasn’t failing to remove the front wheel to see ifit was bent, Eric.Theirmistake was not test-drivingthecarbefore givingitback to you.

After any repair— especially onethatinvolves steering,suspension,wheels or tires— we alwaystake the repaired caroutfor a test drive Infact, we’ve gota pile

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Phelanwrites for TribuneNews Service.

GETTY IMAGES ofspeedingticketsbecause thelimit on the road closest to the garage is40 mph,and we make sure we testthe carsathighway speed, too, before givingthem back to the customer. Had they done a proper testdrive, they would have felt the carstart to shake at 60mphand would have known instantlythat there was more work to do. Ashimmy that reliably occursata certain speed is oftena sign of a badorunbalancedtire or a bentwheel. Andthey would have saved themselves considerable embarrassmentby returning to the garage and findingthe cause oftheshaking before calling you andsaying“It’s all set,Eric!”

Ineffect,theymade you the testdriver. That’s not cool. So yes,they made a mistake in missingthebent wheel at first But that’s an understandablemistake.I couldhave easily donethat. Butfailing totest-drive it was their real mistake. Postquestionsonline atCarTalk.com.

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