It basically boils down to TRUST.
I personally TRUST no one to work on my vehicles.  I do most of everything
myself.
If someone does work on my vehicles there needs to be a lot of TRUST
involved.  I don't mind paying the extra dollar for a high degree of TRUST,
neither should any of you - especially with VWs.
I do not TRUST Les Schwab or any other "chain" shop to touch anything I own.
Having a local mechanic you can TRUST is worth more than you will ever save
at a "chain" shop in peace of mind and reliablility.

My .02

Rich Blake

-----Original Message-----
From: Chris Mills [mailto:scmills@tntech.edu]
Sent: Monday, September 16, 2002 2:21 PM
To: Rich Blake; vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Anyone use Les Schwab for tires?

>So, now rather
>pissed I went home (car still vibrating) to investigate the problem myself.
>After getting my reefed lug bolts off (impact wrench does wonders to
>aluminum rims).  I measured out the rims.  The bore was 60mm and the hubs
>are 57.1mm.  I found my original hubcentric adapters pushed all the way
into
>the bore of the rim.  Placing them correctly on the hub and remounting the
>rims with a TORQUE WRENCH (something L.S. has never heard of).  My
vibration
>problems went away.  I also removed my steering wheel and recentered it
>properly.

ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS take your own torque wrench with you and torque your
own lugs.

Two reasons - I have seen lugs wrenched down to 150+ lbs and you can't get
them off (or worse your wife is stuck alone b/c she can't change the wheel).

I have also had the hubs on my Honda and the rims warped b/c the local tire
store (was Michael Tire - now Tires Plus) torque the lugs down so tight and
unevenly that it warped everything... They have little torque limiter
thinga-ma-bobs but either they didn't know how to use them or didn't use
them.

Now I use a different tire store for initial purchases and often I simply
pull the wheels at home and get new tires put on my rims without the car...
They don't use the torque limiter things-ma-bobs either but they are always
careful to get the lugs tight enough to roll the car outside so I can
torque the rims myself. It's a small town and they let me in the shop too
so sometimes I get to do it before it gets put on the ground.

The one fellow told me he could get it just right "by feel". I measured
that rim as getting torqued at 125 ft-lbs versus the 85 that my owner's
manual called for. He was also plus or minus 20 ft-lbs on 5 lugs.

Do your own torquing!!!!!

What do you expect from fellows making $6 an hour?

Chris M. <"Busbodger" of "TEAM SLOWPOKE">
Cookeville, Tennessee

ICQ# 5944649
scm9985@tntech.edu

'78 VW Westfalia (67 HP -> that is...67 Hamster Power)
'65 Beetle - Type IV powered
'99 CR-V AWD station wagon
'81 CB900 Custom moto-chickle
2.5 Corvair engines for my Trans-vair Conversion