OK. Seriously. Canadian Tire is not the place to expect anything mechanical to be done right. Hell, I had to take a tire back to them 3 times to get the valve stem sealed, they can’t even do tires correctly.
They were fine decades back, when they had pride and the store was stocked for auto repair, now its just a giant “dollar store” of household items.
20 years ago, I went in asking about schduling replacing U joints on my GM truck drive shaft. (Because they didn’t have cir-clips on the joints, but would not come apart.)
The guys said they were booked but that make and model of GM had injection molded retention clips internally. They said grab a blow torch and heat the joint, you’ll see plastic eventually squirt out. And then he sold us the repair parts. Sure enough easy fix.
10 years ago: timing belt broke on friends car, we were stranded. Tow it to CT, they fix it. Drive 10km it breaks again. Tow it back, and find it was a faulty install. Had to have it fixed again.
We have a mechanic in my hometown, who is probably the best mechanic in town, without refute. Unfortunately he’s had a bit of a drinking problem over the years, and naturally that’s led to a few run ins with the law. Most of the local shops wouldn’t have nothing to do with him later in his career, probably because of the insurance. Except Canadian Tire, which is where he ended up as the place of last resort. Thus it became the one and only Canadian Tire, on the planet, I would ever feel comfortable taking my car to.
Hmm, think it’s the back tires (which is also a bit odd, since its a FWD so you’d think they would’ve put the new ones at the front) but I drove it once since they were replaced and there’s a pretty noticeable low droning noise at 40-50km/h, as if there’s some vibration and resonance happening
OK. Seriously. Canadian Tire is not the place to expect anything mechanical to be done right. Hell, I had to take a tire back to them 3 times to get the valve stem sealed, they can’t even do tires correctly.
Don’t get repairs done at Crappy Tire.
They were fine decades back, when they had pride and the store was stocked for auto repair, now its just a giant “dollar store” of household items.
20 years ago, I went in asking about schduling replacing U joints on my GM truck drive shaft. (Because they didn’t have cir-clips on the joints, but would not come apart.) The guys said they were booked but that make and model of GM had injection molded retention clips internally. They said grab a blow torch and heat the joint, you’ll see plastic eventually squirt out. And then he sold us the repair parts. Sure enough easy fix.
10 years ago: timing belt broke on friends car, we were stranded. Tow it to CT, they fix it. Drive 10km it breaks again. Tow it back, and find it was a faulty install. Had to have it fixed again.
Now; zipties
We have a mechanic in my hometown, who is probably the best mechanic in town, without refute. Unfortunately he’s had a bit of a drinking problem over the years, and naturally that’s led to a few run ins with the law. Most of the local shops wouldn’t have nothing to do with him later in his career, probably because of the insurance. Except Canadian Tire, which is where he ended up as the place of last resort. Thus it became the one and only Canadian Tire, on the planet, I would ever feel comfortable taking my car to.
Every other CT though, hell no.
I had a set of snow tires installed and they didn’t balance them.
Hypothetically, if say, a mechanic installed two new tires on my spouse’s car recently but didn’t balance them, would there be an obvious way to tell?
The car would wiggle a little…a lot. If the unbalanced tire is in front, the steering wheel would wiggle on its own.
Hmm, think it’s the back tires (which is also a bit odd, since its a FWD so you’d think they would’ve put the new ones at the front) but I drove it once since they were replaced and there’s a pretty noticeable low droning noise at 40-50km/h, as if there’s some vibration and resonance happening
Appreciate the response :)
I live in a rich neighborhood and my Cambodia tire is surprisingly competent and see a lot of luxury brands move through there somehow
Easy enough to say if you’re familiar with cars, car maintenance, and Canadian Tire.
But this is a service they’re offering to people who know less about any of that than themselves who will assume they are doing a competent job
Hence the warning.