The Best of Car Talk - #2543: When is it OK to Yell at Your Mechanic?

Episode Date: May 31, 2025

Two weeks after being paid to rotate and rebalance her car's tires, Liz' mechanic says they all now need to be replaced. Liz, sensing a rip off or at least bad service, started yelling at him. Was Liz wrong? Find out if Click and Clack get yelled at, too on this episode of the Best of Car Talk.Get access to hundreds of episodes in the Car Talk archive when you sign up for Car Talk+ at plus.npr.org/cartalkLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Look, we get it. When it comes to new music, there is a lot of it. And it all comes really fast. But on All Songs Considered, NPR's music recommendation podcast, we'll handpick what we think is the greatest music happening right now and give you your next great listen. So kick back, settle in, get those ear drums wide open, and get your dose of new music from All Songs songs considered, only from NPR. Hello and welcome to Car Talk from National Public Radio with us clicking clack the Tappet Brothers and we're broadcasting this week from the Commencement division here at car. I call it that commencement disappointment division. Oh, yes Yeah, accurately. Well, we got another letter from Charlie vested MIT

Charles vest is the president of MIT and he's got a beautiful letterhead here. He does indeed very nice He probably has a good flag to dick click and clack I understand that you have once again expressed on-air disappointment over not being asked to speak at MIT's graduation Yes, we did a couple of weeks ago. We expressed exactly that last summer I advised you that your chances of being invited as commencement speakers would be enhanced if CarTalk had a suitable flag that could be used to help us decorate the campus There you go I hear that you have now come up with a flag

and that you thought this would assure your inclusion in the nineteen ninety eight commencement program certainly is possible that a truly elegant flag along with your unaccountable yet undeniable popularity among your fellow alums might have gone a long way toward assuring places for you in this year's celebrations except for two rather obvious problems.

Well, this is good. One, problem number one, you fail to show your new flag to anyone at MIT. Now I don't doubt that the flag actually exists, parenthesis well that's not accurate. I do doubt the flag exists, but its existence does you no good if you keep it secret. There is after all a reason why people use expressions like, let's run this up the flagpole and see if anyone salutes, or let's get out there and show the flag. And the reason is very simply that people cannot appreciate your flag unless they can see it. Now some of my colleagues have suggested that the Car Talk flag may be based on some sort of advanced stealth technology, in which case I applaud your technical prowess.

On the whole, however, a stealth flag seems to me to be a self-defeating innovation. It could be argued. He could have a point there. He could. Problem number two. One of this year's commencement speakers is the Honorable William Jefferson Clinton, President of the United States. As the duly elected leader of the world's only super-poly, Mr. Clinton not only comes with his own flag and a darn good one

too, but he even has a seal. Arr! Arr! Hahaha! Talk about upping the ante. Heck, this guy brings his own podium, audience, press corps, helicopter, you name it. Oh, sure, now we need a helicopter, a press corps. Yeah, I mean, there's just no way for the two of you to compete this year. I see it now, just more stumbling blocks for us, that's all it is.

It is, it's all it is. You think you're disappointed. Not even I get to make a speech this year and I'm supposed to run the place. Nonetheless, I urge you not to give up hope. Send us pictures of this alleged flag of yours, along with an appropriate contribution to the alumni fund, and we'll talk about next year. Oh, and good luck with the audit. He knows about the audit. As ever, I remain technically yours, Charles M. Vest. Well, that was a very nice letter.

It certainly was. And it was, again, disappointing not to be Well, that was a very nice letter. It certainly was. And it was, again, disappointing not to be invited, but I thought we would have at least deserved an invitation to the luncheon. Which is all we really want to do. That's all we really want to do. I mean, we don't really want to stand up and talk. We just want a free lunch.

Exactly. I mean, we could be official greeters. And what could be better? Remember how Caesar's palace stuck Joe Lewis out there at the end of his career? Hi, how you doing? Welcome to MIT. Welcome to MIT graduation.

This is where you spend 100 grand. Welcome to the graduation. You know, we might have to go with the WGU. Really? The world's greatest university up the street from MIT. You think they'd invite us? Should we start pestering, I mean petitioning them? Just because we turn them down once doesn't mean they should turn us down

That's right. I mean we did them a favor by not being Exactly off the list MIT is off the list Harvard has a reason to invite us because we did them a favor by not going they made a terrible mistake And I hear they have a better lunch. I mean at one point they admitted both of us and we turned them down. Little did they know how lucky they were. Little did they know. Little did they know. And I think in gratitude for that, next year we're shooting for Harvard commencement. And it's closer to the office.

Just a luncheon. That's all we want is the luncheon. Just a luncheon. She'd like to talk to us. The number is 1-888-CAR-TALK. That's 888-227-8255. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, I'm Mark from Portland, Oregon. Hey, Mark. Hi.

How are you? Not bad. Not too bad. I've been worse and I've been better, but overall not bad. You and me both. I'm going to say at the outset that I'm going to open myself to a lot of ridicule by telling you guys that my questions about a dodge dart hey

yeah i figured who better to call the new who better to call it's also a sixty three no kidding no kidding it's not a convertible to wagon and i've only had it for three months and i was driving back from the coast just so i have they've been three happy months all they have the push-button automatic the joy Oh, I fixed the little light behind the push buttons, and I don't turn the lights off now Yeah, isn't it awesome. It looks at you and says shift me. Oh

It's wonderful. It's not really a light sort of a glow. You know just a little It's like bio luminescence It's like bioluminescence. It's probably some fungus that's growing behind the dashboard. I think it was radiation. I think they put little pieces of U-235 back there. So I shouldn't shift too often. I wouldn't shift too often, yeah. Use your fingertips getting burned.

Try to use your foot. That's what I do. Yeah. So there we are. Anyway, here's the problem. I was driving back from the coast about two weeks ago and I had the radio on and I all of a sudden started hearing a drum beat that I was pretty sure wasn't coming from the radio. I was like, ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta- fellow at a gas station a gas anyway told me it sounded like the tap at arms so i had the sixty three manual that i bought at a junk shop and i pull it apart and i started justin to tap at arms and it sounds worse so it means you're holding you know the source of the problem yeah exactly and

what the noise is coming right from the top of the and right from the top is a right from the area around the uh... the you know the valve cover i have heard from someone else that it's probably a piston rod bearing. And I've noticed since I've been driving it that at idle the oil light comes on. The dreaded rod knock. That's exactly what I've... When the engine is idling, Mark, what's the frequency of this noise? Is it tok tok tok tok tok tok tok tok tok tok tok tok tok tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Tok Well, it's so hard to know. It's too, I mean, what you gotta, next time, here's what you do. Did you really enjoy these last three months?

I did. Start it up again and go out into the driveway and crawl underneath the car. Okay. And see if the noise is louder down there than it is up top. Better, it would be better to do this with a short hunk of hose. Right, put the hose against the engine and the other half way in. Put the hose right against the oil pan underneath there and if the noise is really loud right there, call us back. No, don't call. Yeah, I mean it's very possible that it's a rod knock. When you

start the engine the oil light's not on at first, right? No, it's not on at first, but as the oil gets hot and loose. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, if you're really lucky, you might need just an oil pump. That's what I was thinking too, but here's the other thing I was thinking. Once this happened I thought maybe the whole engine's toast. Started to shop around and I found a sixty four engine with that's been pressure checked

that both the valves in the oil for like under three hundred bucks if it is in fact a rod bearing that i think that's worth investment what is it you do you buy this one for three hundred you obviously uh... committed on june committed anyway keeping this car for the long haul so to speak. Is that true?

That's true. Serious. What do you do for a living? Well now I'm going to open myself to more ridicule. I'm an art historian. See and here's a man. I knew I shouldn't have asked. Wait a minute, now here is a man who appreciates art and chooses to drive a 63 Dodge Dive.

He must be into that modern art. I should be committed. Jeez, Mark. And you sounded so normal too. You did really. Even I'm surprised. I have a great facade. Well, I mean. Well anyway, what I was gonna recommend is the following. Okay. Are you into putting the engine in yourself? Yeah, I'm not against that at all, as a matter of fact. You buy this $300 engine. Mm-hmm. And you rebuild it first.

And you drive this thing by feeding it a constant diet of motor honey and overripe bananas. And you just run it until it stops completely, at which time you'll have completed the rebuild on the other one. Mm-hmm. And you just drop that baby right in. That will be you'll have completed the rebuild on the other one. And you just drop that baby right in. That will be the millennium, the end of the... Well, if you think you can do the rebuild in a few months, then I think you can limp this thing along. Uh-huh. I'm telling you, bananas, modem...

Another honey, honey. ...and maybe a few papayas. Salt and pepper. Salt and pepper. Get this engine and start rebuilding something. Like, now. Hang up and go get the engine. Good luck, Mark. Well, good. engine and start rebuilding something. Okay. Like now. Excellent. Hang up and go get the engine.

Okay. Good luck, Mark. Well good, thank you very much. Bye bye. Okay, bye. Bye bye. Hey, uh, before we give the answer to last week's puzzler, we have two calls. What is this, like station identification? No, union work rules.

After sitting next to you for 20 minutes, I'm entitled to a minute off for hazardous duty. We'll be back in a minute. This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things and other currencies. With WISE, you can send, spend, or receive money across borders, all at a fair exchange rate. No markups or hidden fees. Join millions of customers and visit wise.com. T's and C's apply. This message comes from the Kresge Foundation.

Established 100 years ago, the Kresge Foundation works to expand equity and opportunity in cities across America. A century of impact, a future of opportunity. More at kresge.org. century of impact, a future of opportunity. More at Kresge.org. Hi, we're back. You're listening to Car Talk with us, Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers, and here's the answer to last week's puzzler, which my brother doesn't remember. What was last week's puzzler? Last week's puzzler...

Yeah, good, Catherine. See, good. Feed him good. No, no. No, no. Uh... Good. Last week's puzzler, I have no idea. I didn't think so. Give me a hint. I prefaced this by saying this was a quasi-automotive puzzler. And it wasn't automotive at all. Yes, it was.

As I remember. Oh, I remember! It was. The people at the pool! There you go. Yeah. Some years ago, my family and I went on a little ski vacation in the mountains, and we spent the first day hitting the slopes, mostly with our faces.

And after that first day, we decided to spend the next day in the more comfortable surroundings of the indoor. Did I say indoor? It wasn't an indoor. It was a heated pool, but it was outside. It was outside. Yeah, a little nippy, but it was interesting. And our vacation improved considerably from that point on.

Well, while we were there, the four of us sitting in our chairs crying out, towel boy. Another family of four started walking toward us. Now my younger son noticed that there were two very cute teenage girls walking in front of their parents. And he studied them and after they drew closer, he said to me, they're Australians, you know. And I said, you've met them? He said, no, they're

as strange to me as are my textbooks. I said, well, then obviously you've overheard them speaking. He said, no, I've never seen or heard them before in my life. And as luck would have it, they come, they continue to walk closer to us, and they come and sit down right next to us. And before they have a chance to say a word, my son leans over to them and says, pretty long way to come from Australia to do a little skiing, isn't it? And the father says, you're right, mate, it sure is. Wow! Wow!

And the question- You know, this kid that he's talking talking about in addition to being my brother's son happens to be my nephew and That's why he's so damn smart He's my wife's son And the clue yeah, which I mentioned to be very beginning He said it was a quasi-automotive. And yet there was no mention of a car anywhere.

Neither on the slopes nor at the pool. So if that is in fact the clue, there must be something peculiar about Australians. Well, the only thing peculiar about Australians is that they drive. They eat Vegemite that's what they drink warm beer and they drive on the other side of the road yes they do and when he saw the four of them walking towards after admiring the two cute blonde girls that were that were in front of their parents he noticed that the father's right arm was tan well wait, wait a minute. How did he know they weren't Japanese? There you go.

Yeah, and how did he know that the wife doesn't do all the driving? It was an educated guess. What's brilliant about it is the clue. The clue. The clue makes the puzzle worth it. Martin Gardner would be proud of you. Of course he would turn over in his grave if he heard you. He would. What? No. Alright. I guess nobody liked it. I loved it. Okay. Who's our winner? The winner is Deloret. Wow. Wow, Dolores Minccarelli. Hey, Dolores Minccarelli from Goshen, Ohio.

And for having your correct answer chosen at random, Dolores, from among all the right answers that we did receive this past week, you will win one of our CDs, Men Are From GM, Women Are From Ford, Calls About Couples and Cars, which is a must for anyone looking to stay in

or get out of a relationship congratulations to you Dolores Mincarelli from Goshen Ohio wow yeah yeah I want to get a job on one of those game shows you can be placed rod Roddy. Who's he? Oh, you don't know who rod Roddy. No, I don't watch game shows. I think it's stupid Oh, no rod Roddy is that guy that from the price is right? Oh, yeah. Yeah, the only thing I watch actually I'm raw Come on down. You watch win Ben Stein's money every night great show. Yeah, I'm behind 150 killing me I like Jimmy Jimmy's good Jimmy's good yeah Ben's been killing me lately well he's got me at a

disadvantage I'm half asleep like 11 o'clock at night yeah he's gonna do he's wide awake tape it and watch it in the morning and find out if you're any smarter in the morning and boy will you be disappointed. Try it every hour maybe then you maybe you reach a peak like like two in the afternoon. Good idea. That's it. Anyway we'll have a new puzzle coming up in the third half of today's show so don't touch that dial in the meantime you can call us at 1-888-CARTALK that's 888-227-8 two five five hello you're on car talk hi this is party from alexandria virginia horny

horny yet on my brother's been there a few times i have the problem name i've had it for a lot of years of a good problem with it how do you spell that about a chain and i the good german name all all a j and this is this could get you in a lot of trouble hi i'm honey yet if you live in boston it would get you in what time it is we don't use all i

had to be all over the world ours have been banned from the language here in in our fires are really unnecessary except this first letter well in this case we know that it could keeper out of trouble yes on any have I don't know who says it's nevermind you'd be the life of a party anyway so what's up honey well I've got this 85 Toyota Camry with 150,000 miles on it yeah in the last few months it's been the weirdest thing I've ever when I'm going to work in the morning I drive about four or five miles I cross the disintegrating wilson bridge and then i've had up a period until

and rate then the car start to lose it's power and i'm going around seventy miles and i could have to keep up with all the traffic rush hour traffic on the beltway from going to be mafiano and it dropped down to fifty five sixty fifty five fifty time down like forty mile an hour automatic transmission no standard and so i'm chugging up the hill and i thought or yes

is it white and no what color is it it's a uh... burgundy red burgundy red i probably held you up in traffic somewhere have and i know that cabernet serving your own red I probably held you up in traffic somewhere, haven't I? Not a Cabernet Sauvignon, Red? It's a Merlot, Red. How about a Mutipulciano, Red?

Is it from Chonier, France? Anyway, when I finally get to the top of a hill, or at some point, maybe even during going up these hills, I'll decide to regain power, and then the front end of the car just starts to shake and shudder and I Can't accelerate too fast because I feel like the car is going to fall apart all this time that it's Decelerating that it's slowing down. Yeah, are you remaining in fifth gear? I have gone down to fourth I've shifted into third it makes no difference Hmm, so I you know and we've tried different things because you know, I thought well, maybe I needed to tune up So it's got all new spark plugs and all new wires or new rotor cap and distributor

You've had a professional looking at this. Uh, it is now in the garage It's at the Toyota garage. No Volkswagen garage. No, it's just a service center that they work on all kinds of cars and They think maybe it's a slipped clutch and a fuel filter but when they asked they when they brought up the slipped clutch theory they asked me if my RPMs were revving up and they're not and it doesn't no it's not the clutch thank you ah and it's that was a good theory it is well they haven't changed the fuel filter yet and it's certainly when whoever did the tune up

did the tune up, the fuel filter should have been changed. Okay. And it's very possible that that's what it is. Okay. You could easily have a restricted or partially plugged catalytic converter. Yes, you could. But what you more likely than not

have the Toyota Camry Syndrome. TCS. And they, see if you had taken this to a Toyota dealer, they would have immediately recognized. They would have immediately ushered you into the new car showroom. And said, oh, you've got TCS. And what that is, it is a condition

where the carbon deposits on the valve train get heated up and expanded and prevent the valves from closing all the way. So that you basically as you're driving up this hill have less and less compression. So it's like you need a valve job. Oh my god that's expensive. And it'll happen when the engine gets its hottest. So it'll happen climbing a hill in the daytime. It won't

happen if you, in some cases, even if you climb that same hill in the same direction at night because it's cooler at night. And I bet you that now that the weather is getting hotter, it's getting more severe. Yes it is. Yes it is. There you go. There you go. Are you serious that this can't be fixed? No, it can't be fixed. It usually can be fixed with a chemical additive. In fact, if you can find a repair shop in your area that has something called a motor vac, it's a machine that's sold by snap-on dealers, snap-on tool dealers to unsuspecting garage owners. You got one? Yeah. I have two of them.

No, it actually works very well for this. And it'll clean the carbon deposits out of the valve train and make the thing run like a new car. Great. And if this guy doesn't understand what to do with this, then you may be forced to go to the dealer because they definitely will know. Okay.

And consider adding another letter to your name. So, see ya. Thank you much. Honey, bye bye. Bye. Hello. And consider adding another letter to your name Honey bye bye Everyone's dream hello. I'm honey If I if you play the tape back she said hello did say hello, I'm honey she did say that and we said whoa she announced herself immediately said well hi there hi there come here oh boy all right well enough of that hey time to take another short break what more Union rules no Roberts rules I that we get more coffee before the new puzzler. Hi, we're back. You're listening to Car Talk with us, Click and Clack the Tabard Brothers,

and we're here to discuss cars, car repair, and the... the new puzzler. Now, my brother suggested this puzzler because I guess he didn't like last week's puzzler, so. No, I thought last week's puzzler was awesome. The only difficulty in my suggesting puzzlers is next week when you say to me, do you remember the puzzler, it will be extra embarrassing to say that I don't.

No, no, no, you're a co-conspirator here. Catherine Amel de Ray Marcos Will be able to remember it. No, she she she's given up on me. Why she's been banned She hasn't given me an answer for weeks. Really? Yeah, I stopped paying her off. I couldn't afford it It's costing me ten bucks a week to get it. They get really yeah, I offered a 20 and she Really? I offered her 20 and she wouldn't... Hahahaha Well, here's the... I don't remember them. You do it. Go ahead. Alright, I remember it. I remember it.

It's union rules. I get a week off every 54 years. Sure, here you go. Everyone has heard of companies that go out of business because they were trying to make buggy whips, which is a euphemism for the technology surpassed them. And all the companies that... Left in the dust, so to speak. which is a euphemism for the technology surpassed them.

And all the companies that- Left in the dust, so to speak. That, in fact, did make buggy whips. Of course, all went out of business. Not all, but 99.9% of them went out of business when cars came along because you didn't need buggy whips anymore. But there was a company that you wouldn't think would have gone out of business. Really?

Please tell. What is this company? I saw an ad. I was looking through a book the other day and I saw an ad for the Scott Muffler Company, which was a thriving company in 1919, the Scott Muffler Company. And that was just about the time that cars were coming into their own. Cars were, you would think that that company would flourish during the next decade. You think that Cars and the Scott Muffler Company would kind of dovetail, so to speak. You would think so.

You couldn't miss, right? And yet, the Scott Muffler Company fell victim to the buggy whip syndrome and went out of business in the following decade. No kidding. And the question becomes, how's come is that? Cool. Now, if you think you know the answer, I'll do this part because I can tell you to get taxed. Yeah, be sure. If you think you know the answer or you're basically a shut-in

and you're dying to talk to anybody, send your answer to Puzzler Tower, Car Talk Plaza, Box 3500, Harvard Square, Cambridge Our fair city Matt zero two two three eight or you can email us your answer from our website car talk comm Just click on the talk to car talk section And what if you use your answer it? Okay, and what if we choose the correct answer out of all the thousands? Well, if we happen to choose your correct answer at random, amongst all the correct answers we receive, you'll get one of our CDs called Men Are From GM, Women Are From

Ford and Lawyers Are From Daimler-Chrysler. It's a CD about couples and cars and problems created over the years. And their divorce attorneys. Et cetera. If you'd like to call us, the number is 1-888-CAR-TALK. That's 888-227-8255. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, my name is Liz.

I'm calling from Washington, D.C. Hi, I'm Liz. I'm calling from Washington, D.C. Hi, I'm 888-227-8255. Call lawyer on Car Talk. Hi, my name is Liz. I'm calling from Washington, D.C. Hi, Liz. Are you a lawyer or a politician? I am neither. God bless you, my child.

I supervise dorms at Georgetown University. No kidding! Yeah. Can you get my son into Georgetown? Would 50 bucks do it? 50? For me? Well, for anybody. I mean, I'll? Would 50 bucks do it? 50? Yeah. For me? Well, for anybody.

I mean, I'll give the 50 bucks to anybody. Just get them out of my house. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know if that'll do it. Might not. All right. I'll save up the other 95,000.

Yeah, it is close to that. Oh yeah. So what do you wanna do? So what do you wanna do? You wanna play you bet your life? You wanna try to win a washer, dryer So what do you want to do? You want to play You Bet Your Life? You want to try to win a wash or dry or what? Come on. Okay I have a 93 Plymouth Colt Vista. Whoa. And I'll kind of start at the end of the story here which is that I yelled at my mechanic and stormed out

and said I'd never go back again but the thing is I really don't know if I was right or not. It doesn't matter it's good that you did that because you vented. It was kind of fun yeah but I really don't know if I was in the right. Well let's find out. Okay wait if you're not in the right you're gonna go back and apologize to him? Um I might. You might. It's a good thing to apologize. Yeah no if you if you're wrong, you should apologize. Yeah, and if you're right, you should go back and say I told you so Yeah, go ahead. Okay when my car turned 60,000 miles, which was just about two months ago I took it in, you know for the 60,000 miles do whatever they have to do to it Yeah, and I've never got tires on the car. So that was one of the first things I said, please check the tires. I probably need all new tires and I'm, you

know, prepared for that. And they told me, no, you don't need new tires. You're fine. You still got a lot of life in these, but we'll, you know, align all the wheels for you. And the car was driving great for about two weeks weeks and then all of a sudden it's wobbling like crazy Side to side as if the air pressure was really low in one tire. Yeah, so but but the air pressure was really fine So I took it back to them. This is now when you say it wobbles Yeah, you mean if you're driving along on a straight road, it would like pull to the left No, not well It was getting a little it was pulling a little like out of alignment but no it's like actually like side to side as if the balance was off I guess

you call it the car was drifting side to side like they screwed up the alignment side to side see we don't know what she's talking about they left the wheel nuts loose well it may not be important what did they do Liz keep going it may not be important we may not have to know the definition of war more if we do we'll get back to it so anyway i took it back to them and said

i don't know what's going on it's wobbling a lot they think you know what i mean by that and uh... they've had well the problem if you need all new tires and i thought i don't need all new tires a month ago they've had the tires were fine a month ago that doesn't seem to make sense after 60,000 miles that only 900 miles would make all four go bad all the sudden I know it's wrong I know what happened yeah I do too and you don't

have to apologize well what he even went so far to tell me is that any mechanic is unable to discern whether or not the tires are okay without like cutting them open and looking at the inside. You can go back and yell. Absolutely no sense to me. Well that's what we do. We cut them open and we say they're fine. they're fine. Okay, let's try and calm down. Okay, I'm relaxed now. Okay. What happened in my estimation is that they rotated the tires and crisscrossed them. They took, for example, the one that was on the right rear and put it on the left front and vice versa, etc. And that's why the tires, which were okay when they were where they were suddenly exhibited this strange wobbling that what I now

understand because you got what's called tread separation right okay okay and and when and when that happens the tires that tires no good now could he have known that was good the tires may have had enough tread on them when he looked at them a month earlier. And he would have no way of knowing except for the fact that if the tires had been on one side of the car for many, many months and many thousands of miles, they should not have been crisscrossed.

And he should have known. He should have left them alone. If they were okay and he had left them alone, they would still be okay. Well, he took them off to check your brakes. And then he probably left them alone, they would still be okay. Well, he took them off to check your brakes. Right. And then he probably balanced them even, charged you for balancing those no good tires.

Yeah. And then aligned it, and then crisscrossed the tires, and then, did he sell you the new ones now, or did you go someplace else? I called around to check the prices, and the price he was giving me for the new tires seemed fair, so I went ahead and let them put new tires on. So when did the yelling and screaming take place?

After the new tires were on, and he was charging me to align those and balance those. Ah, well not to align, but to balance. Okay. And he had to, of course he had to rebalance them because they were different tires. Right. So, you didn't have to yell about that. Well, if he was charging you for another alignment, you have justification for yelling. If he was charging you to balance them, you have a reason to be upset because you just paid

him to balance tires, which were no good. His mistake was in rotating the tires. That was his mistake. So, I mean, you yelled at him for the wrong reason, but that's okay. He deserved it. He deserved to be yelled at. Well, I think you should call him back and yell at him for the new reason. Tell him you apologize for yelling at him for charging you to balance the tires, but now I would like to yell at you for five minutes for crisscrossing my 60,000 mile tires and ruining everything everything right and and he should have known the tires Original equipment tires, which is undoubtedly were never last sixty thousand miles Right, so he should have sold your new tires from the get-go. Okay, you told him you suspected the tires to begin with

Right. Well, what kind of a fool is he? Well, maybe don't they do they have boats in Washington, D.C.? Yes, they do. Of course they do. So maybe he didn't have a boat payment due. Well, Liz, it's been a pleasure. Well, thank you very much. Thanks for talking to you guys.

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