NTB - Stripping Studs, Nuts

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National Tire & Battery (NTB) • Batteries • Tires • Brakes • Damaging wheels and rims • Damaging studs and lug nuts • Damaging customers' cars • Price disputes • One-hour discount • Poor service • Unnecessary repairs • Warranty disputes • Work left undone/done poorly ---- • NJ Fraud Case Settled • Sears Unloads NTB

Thomas of Alexandria VA (8/12/01):
I brought my 99 Toyota 4 Runner in to their store on 2/17/2001. I have locking lug nuts on my truck. They gave me a 4-wheel alignment and replaced a tire for me. I left and three months later tried to rotate my tires. I was unable to get two of my tires off because the locking lugs and or the key had been damaged. The last place any work had been done on my tires was at NTB.

I brought the truck in and after 1 1/2 hours I was dealt with by a very surly female manager. They were able to get the lug nut off with an impact wrench and not put it back on as tight. I asked for replacement lugs at this time since I would not have an impact wrench if my truck got a flat on the highway. She refused. Three months after that I attampted to rotate my tires again and was unable to get two off due to the same issue. I called NTB and they told me I could come in and wait in the 1 1/2 hour line to get it looked at again. They said they would take them off again. If I get a flat - I will have to call a towing company to have them get the lugs off. No real resolution has been offered to me at this time.

Joel of Chicago (7/9/01):
Purchased a set of Michelin tires from NTB. Had wheel alignment done at the same time. Tires were rotated at 5k miles, at which time a pull developed (car pulled to right side of road). I personally rotated tires back to original position to verify the pull was tire-dependent - it was.

In the process of changing the tires I encountered 4 stripped wheel lugs. I returned to NTB to have the tires replaced and new lugs installed. NTB fixed the lugs but only rotated the tires several times to "eliminate" the pull. I insisted that the faulty tires be replaced - they did so, but forgot to tighten the lug nuts. Right rear wheel nearly fell off on the ride home. Took the car back to have lugs properly torqued - they again stripped several of them! I will never go back.

Verna of Lawrenceville GA (5/27/01):
On 04-30-01 I bought 4 new tires and had a front-end allignment. When my husband tried to take the tires off to do a brake job, he found the lug nuts cross threaded. This was on 05-26-01. He took the van back to NTB and they replaced the lug but when he got home to continue the job other lugs were cross threaded 7 in all.

After 4 trips to NTB he finally got to finish the brakes. One of the new lugs they replaced was also cross threaded and in frustration he broke that one off to be able to finish. I have four children and if I were to have a flat tire I would have to call a tow truck and possibly waste a whole day and that is an "if". My whole weekend has been wasted already. If I take the van any where else it will cost aproximately $300.00 to fix their stupid rookie mistakes and the back tires haven't even been checked yet. All 7 cross threaded lugs were on the two front tires. Thank you for allowing me to vent. I hope this will save someone else the trouble. I myself will be sticking with Goodyear who has never given me any trouble.

Mark of Grayson, GA:
We took our van in for tire rotation about six months ago. About one month ago I had to take a flat tire off. Further investigation revealed that the lug nuts that were put on the front tires were not the original lug nuts; two lug nuts were left off and one stud was stripped. I had the stud replaced and lug nuts put on.

Today, 5/15/00, I took the van back to get good lug nuts put on the front and the tires rotated and balanced again. They told us it would take about two hours. After nearly five hours the van had not been touched nor the current nail in a tire fixed.

I have paid for the road hazard warranty and cannot get service. On another occasion the steel belts seperated on one tire and my wife took the van to get this fixed. They charged her for the tire replacement when the problem was an OEM problem and should have been replaced for free under the road hazard. We have not received the service that we paid for ahead of time.

Tommy of Irving, TX, writes:
Week 1: Bought 4 new tires and lifetime balance. They forgot to tighten one tire and it almost fell off the car as I was getting on the highway. Brought the car back and they tightened it up. Next day, I brought it back to get rebalanced. They broke 2 studs off from over-tightening the previous day. Brought back the next day to get studs replaced, alignment, and rebalance again. Still not balanced.

Week 2: Brought to another NTB location thinking they have better equipment. Got realignment, re-balance. Still not aligned and balanced. They broke another 2 studs from over-tightening. Brought back next day to get re-balanced, re-aligned and replace studs. Alignment seems ok, balance still off.

Week 3: Brought back to original store to get refund on balance. Manager decided to re-balance. He said one of the tires was bad. They replaced the tire and rebalanced everything. Everything seems balanced now but the tire they used to replace my tires was a smaller size.

Manager and employees don't seem to care. They seem to be undertrained and rude. Worst car experience ever.