Question for the group

Have a dealership put new tires on my TC. After had shake. Took back and they said tires were fine. Took to tire shop and tech instantly brought me back to show me that the lug nuts were torqued to between 130 and 140 psi (not one the same). Not the speced 75. Looks like at least 2 of the rims are no longer true, although tech was unsure if over torquing could cause that. How screwed am I now? I am trying to gather info before going back to the dealership. I am by no means a mechanic. I barely drive my TC (1000 miles a year), but love it so. Needless to say I am upset. Feel dumb that I did not tell them the torque spec as I did the tire pressure, but one would think a major car company dealership would know these things. Any wisdom or advise would be appreciated.

-Vonblood #3712

91 White/Ginger 3.0

I learned this lesson a few years ago, not going to make you to happy, but it could save you some time, money and aggravation.

You should never need to tell a dealership, or tire dealer, or any other professional service center the torque spec for factory installed wheels. These people are supposed to know what they are doing and they should take responsibility for their mistakes.

Bolting the wheel on wrong can warp a rim, but over torquing within 10fps all the way around isn't going to give your car the same day shakes. Putting brand new tires on a car with bent rims will, and when you put brand new tires on a car with bent rims, your car that drove straight and true when you brought it in now wiggles like a trout swimming upstream. New tires grip real good and the wiggle is at it worst at slow speed on smooth pavement.

With worn tires your wheels could have been bent and gone unnoticed for a long time, alloys will do that over time and rough road, or in an instant with one good hard whack. Alloy rims can also be straightened, or trued, which ever term you prefer. Cost is considerably less than new wheels, but you do have to take your tires off and give up your wheels for a couple of days. Because they are available, getting a couple of good used rims is probably your best course of action. Once you have good rims on the car you can have the bent ones trued at your convenience; or not.

Odds are the dealership didn't bend your rims, odds are that they did spin balance your tires and they should have noticed and told you that your rims weren't true before they sent you down the road.

When you do go back to the dealer and I suggest you do, they should remount and balance your new tires on your good rims at no charge. No rim that has been on the road for any length of time is perfectly straight and if you get an argument that will be the argument. There is also no good reason for not looking at a wheel when you mount new tires and not noticing a wheel that doesn't spin true.

I worked in tire shops for 20 years. Balance problems show up at 0-60 mph. You can have a bad belt splice in the tire (there is no way to prove this except by rotating the tire to the rear), or the tire could have side run out. I would jack the car up, Set up some kind of pointer at the tread and rotate tire so you can see if the tire groove wanders from side to side. If you find a tire like that, you need to put it on the rear and check the NEW tire move to the front. Years ago I bough 4 tires at Sams Club

and the car pulled to one side. They said the alignment was bad. I said rotate the tires while I shop. When you figure out one of the tires is bad, put a set of Michelins on the car and page me.

I bought 4 new tires at ? and the steering wheel vibrated at 60+. Took it back, they put it on the alignment rack and said it needed an alignment. Took the alignment specs to my mechanic and he went through the roof. The specs were near perfect. So I balanced the tires at his shop and took the car up to 90 with not a trace of shaking. I went back to NTB and told them to refund the balancing fee now or I would charge them with the time I wasted because of their incompetence.

I think the number one reason for bent rims is not have the wheel studs centered on the holes. As they tighten the nuts the wheel is bent. Plus the stunt putting the nut in the socket and shooting it on the stud. If they tell you that a stud is fouled or stripped, it should be when they REMOVE the nuts. NOT when they are putting them ON!.

On a good note I have Firestone OE tires on my Chrysler. At 29,000 miles they haven't thrown the belts yet. That's a lot different than 40 years ago. We had Firestone and I wouldn't let the salesmen sell them because of so many throwing belts. Apparently Japanese ownership has improved the brand.

There is a paint dot of the tire. That dot is supposed to be at the valve stem.

Thanks Bill, I always wondered what that dot was for. When I get home I will have to check my tires. Bob

Thanks to ALL for the wisdom.

Digger - I suspected this. Was good to hear it from someone else. I bought this car 3 years ago and have been slowly picking away at the little imperfections. I appreciate your comment that they should have told me of this issue when putting the tires on first time. And since they had it twice, makes it even more ridiculous.

Now the new issue, I have to replace wheels. I want it to be original. Any wisdom on who has or how to recondition would be great. If I put on after market rims, things I need to know. 15in x 6, 5-100m, and off set between 38 and 42. Anything else? Can I go to a 15x6.5 or 15x7?

As always I am thankful for this group, has made my journey with this unique car enjoyable.

Thanks to ALL for the wisdom.

Digger - I suspected this. Was good to hear it from someone else. I bought this car 3 years ago and have been slowly picking away at the little imperfections. I appreciate your comment that they should have told me of this issue when putting the tires on first time. And since they had it twice, makes it even more ridiculous.

Now the new issue, I have to replace wheels. I want it to be original. Any wisdom on who has or how to recondition would be great. If I put on after market rims, things I need to know. 15in x 6, 5-100m, and off set between 38 and 42. Anything else? Can I go to a 15x6.5 or 15x7?

As always I am thankful for this group, has made my journey with this unique car enjoyable.

You should always be told if your wheels aren't true, for your benefit and for the benefit of the shop. A dozen years ago I restored a 75 MGB, I carried my wheels down to the local tire shop to have them remove the rubber so I could sand blast and paint, didn't take them 3 minutes to tell me not to waste the time, all four rims were bent enough to wiggle with new rubber. Half a dozen years ago I put new rubber on my 01 Volvo and drove a fish out of the parking lot, got to where I could turn around and went back to tell them something was wrong and it was; 3 of the 4 alloy wheels were bent. New owner, different crew, they could have told me before they changed the tires, saved us both time and trouble. I've bought 4 sets of tires since then, but not from them.

If you want to stay original on the rims, about 10 postings down you will find Lawteacher selling 3 wheels at $40ea, sounds like a deal waiting to be made.

Not that it probably matters now, but the service manual specifies a torque of 90 ft.lbs. for the lug nuts on the TC.

Thanks good to know. Any thoughts on rim width between 6.5 or 7.0?

Also wondering if the hub dimension is the same as the 91 LeBarons. I was told Lebarons were 57.1 MM. So many of the after market wheel companys do not have specs for our cars, but all seem to for the Lebarons.

Thanks good to know. Any thoughts on rim width between 6.5 or 7.0?

Rim thoughts; From other posts here I have seen some beautiful rims that look great with this car, but you just bought new tires and if you want to use them they will determine your rim size. Hub is same as Lebaron and a dozen other Chryslers, hub offset or wheel chamber whichever term you prefer is what you need to consider and if you want to use your new tires you need to stay with what you have.

Thanks good to know. Any thoughts on rim width between 6.5 or 7.0?

Standard wheel, according to the parts catalog is 15x6.0 JJT. Part number 4463 860.