forgotten_aria

I took my car to Firestone today to try to resolve the issue that Ford said the tires were defective. Firestone found some wights in the tires, rebalanced them and said they were fine. I asked them to phone Ford and see if they could get on the same page, since Ford was so sure they were not fine because of the "road force" test. Firestone phoned said tires fine, ford said, road force test says NO GOOD!. And didn't get anywhere. I phoned Ford myself and said, "ok, now what?" Ford said "have Firestone put the new tires on the front again. Test drive it in the highway, you'll feel vibration." I asked, Firestone did, took it for a test drive themselves, said it was fine. I took it for a test drive myself, it was fine. I was convinced that this was NOT Firestone's fault and decided they had done enough and even offered to pay for the balancing, they refused. The whole time they listened to me and was super polite and sympathetic.

I went home and mentally prepared for a fight with Ford, phoned, said new tires on front, no vibration. He said, k, refund.

I'm gobsmacked that he backed down that fast. I might have to go in for the refund, but he's going to try to do it over the phone soon. He has to get it "approved" first though.

My car started to vibrate (the hood and the seats) at 60+ when the gas engine was loaded. I took it to firestone because they are close, they said "it's tires or rotors." I needed new tires soon, so I decided to believe them and get new tires. It was not the tires. The ford that is 20 minutes away from me (the closest one) doesn't do appointments and you need to drop off the car at 8am. There is a ford close to Shirley that claimed to take appointments. I made an appointment and then realized I never got a conformation. I phoned them.

"Those are just for quick things like oil changes. I don't know why it doesn't tell the customer that. We are booked weeks in advance, but I'll direct you to the quicklane guy and see if he can fit you in."

I HATE quicklane. At Stoneham ford you wait in an ACTUAL line IN your car. Once you are in the line, you can't get out (because it is a corral.) I've waited for hours. It is one of the stupidest ideas ever.

In this case I had someone to pick me up and I left the car with them. The good news, they test drove it, felt the issue and agreed it was bad. Bad news, it wasn't something easy like a spark plug. They left it for the main, non-quicklane service guy to hopefully look at it tomorrow. $108 just for the diagnostic, but I think my drive-train is still under warranty, so here's hoping this will be on their dime.

Luckily we are a two car family, so I can go about my life for an in determinate amount of time without my car.

I am super annoyed at Ford's bad service policy though.

EDIT:

ford: "it's the new tires"
me: "uh, no, I got the tires BECAUSE of the problem"
ford: "then it's your rims, we can't balance the tires"
me: (after a little discussion of the problem) "why does the vibration stop as soon as you let off the gas?"
ford: "good question, we'll go look at it some more."

EDIT:

Ford swapped the tires front to back and the problem still happened, but they are still asserting that firestone's tires are faulty, even if they are not the problem. They have no clue what the actual problem is, but most likely it will be covered by warranty, since they think it's either axle or transmission.

EDIT 20190301:
They determined yesterday it was the axle, ordered the part. It arrived this morning, but the technician who was working on the car is out sick today and they want him to complete the job. I agree, since this has been complicated enough. So no car until Monday at least. At least I have a back up car.