Came out of the shop worse than I went in, need advice ASAP

[EBInterceptor]

My Explorer went in last Thursday to the dealership, got a free PCM that was wonderful news. But I had put in a balljoint in the day before, and when I got my X back on Tuesday I thought that I should get an alignment. So yesterday after work I swung into a Goodyear shop for an alignment. They told me that my other lower was bad, not a problem I had the part in my car. But my upper was bad too. So I decided to get it done anyhow because I won't have any time for a long time to do it myself. Get the X back drive it down the road, first thing I notice is that the brakes are squeel. Son of a
b!tch, it wasn't that bad when I drove in. Then I get up to speed, close in on 50 and the steering wheel in vibrating like crazy. Went back in and they check things out, they say everything is tight but they are going to take it for a test drive. He comes back and tells me he thinks the driverside caliper is sticking causing the rotor to warp. And this just happened when I drove it in fine? I'm thinking that I maybe they knocked off a wheel weight when they were in the shop. I noticed the vibration right when I drove it out so I doubt that I threw a weight myself. Need some advice quickly. I'm going to go back in there to complain, but I'd like to have some more info when going in. The real problem is that I'm suppose to go back to school today and I don't have much time!!!

Thanks,
Mike

 

[boominXplorer]

check your ball joints yourself. I just had to do my own because a shop wasn't "good" enough to get the top one off. They busted it all all causing the symtoms your discribing. The brake noise is probibly just grease on the rotor. If the wheel shaves back and fourth then its probibly a ball joint. UNLESS they messed with your tierod ends and didn't corectly center them when they were done.

 

[EBInterceptor]

I just hope it isn't something that I did. The wild vibration at 50 makes me think the wheel is out of balance. Maybe they knocked off one of the weights. The grease on the rotor is something that I considered too. If they are touching my rotor they best be cleaning it right after. What about warping the rotor? Is it possible that it could have happened so quickly? One guy tried to tell me that the left rotor was 30 degrees warmer than the other. I'm not getting much vibration when braking, I know what a warped rotor feels like, but this is vibrating constantly. Luckily I know a guy who works there and is suppose to be in this morning, so hopefully he won't dick me around and tell me what's straight up. I even had one guy tell me that it was common with Fords that they tend to get a shimmy is the steering when they are jacked up. Someone tell me quickly, I need to go in there soon.

 

[jnealg]

Just as a caveat, run away. Run away as fast as you can. There are only two shops that I would not take any vehicles to for repair... Pep Boys and Goodyear. I wouldnt even get a tire changed at either of those shops. Both have screwed up my cars in the past and would NOT stand behind their work. I finally ended up taking one car to a locally owned shop and developed a nice relationship with the owner so all was not lost. Hell I wont even buy parts from Pep Boys, I have NEVER EVER gotten the correct parts for whatever I was working on.
Take yours to another shop for a second opinion and take that info back to Goodyear. Ask the 2nd shop if it appears the damage was done during the repair. They can sometimes tell if you havent driven it much. If they think is was or could have, make Goodyear repair it. You may have to get a regional MGR involved, I did.

 

[EBInterceptor]

It's been a few days, so I probably should give an update. I took it to Goodyear because a guy I've known for a while works there. He assured me that the person that was working on my X was a good guy and that he'd take care of me (this is when I brought it back in). So what had happened was that the guy didn't remove the rotor when he put in the ball joint. He must have bumped the rotor, because there was a build-up of rust that when shifted caused it not to mount up flush. He took it for a drive, took everything off, and polished the back of the rotor and the surface the rotor mounts to. Put everything back together and it works fine now, and free of charge. They were pretty good at correcting their mistakes, didn't have to wait for anything and got me in and out as soon as they could. I hope I don't have to bring my X in again, but if I do I may bring it back to them depending on what the problem is.