I just got my truck back from the dealership for the steering rack replacement. When I got it home I was cleaning all the dirt and grease off of it from the service and I noticed 3 small gouges at the edge of my front wheel. I looked at the others and they all have gouges as well, however the rear wheels are not as deep. I am guessing that the gouges were caused by the camber/caster gauge during the alignment. What I am unsure of is whether it was avoidable or not. Being an FX4 18" rim, there is no lip to affix the gauge to, so do they have to tighten them down tighter or could they have been more careful to avoid damaging the wheels?

On a positive note - the steering is fixed!

 

It is absolutely avoidable when a QUALIFIED person is doing the work. They wouldnt waste a ASE certified mech on an alignement/balancing at my dealership. The qualified guy did the rack replacement and then they handed it off to the grease monkeys...(by which I mean some high school kid who is not certified to pick his nose). Found this out the hard way with my Dad's Equinox when I took it in for an alignment for him for "free" since I had some credit with my dealer for a service delay on my truck. They scratched his 20" chrome wheels he has as part of his LTZ pkg.

As for our trucks I have had multiple alignments, rotations, tire changes (swap to the BFGs) and balancings and no scratches or marking. Take it back and point out the scratches. The nice thing about our alloys is they can be repaired. Had a guy hit me and it scratched my front right rim and when the body shop was finished you couldnt even tell. Sure your dealership has a body shop associated with it or tell them they are paying for the cost for you to take it to a real body shop. Thats how we resolved the LTZ rims problem, they paid and I took it to my body shop.

 

Thanks for the reply. I will be taking it back in this morning to show the service writer the damage and go from there.

 

Have there been problems with the new racks?

 

I've seen threads here where some have had issues with the replacement rack and at least one had a second replacement.

 

Had my rack replaced, no issues yet. I haven't put a ton of kilometers on it yet, but nothing so far. The only thing I have noticed, is it feels like the truck wants to drift a bit to the left now. I might have Ford check the alignment next time I go in to confirm it is okay.

 

Update... I just got back from Firstone! Turns out the dealerships alignment machine was down due to a software glitch, so they sublet it out to Firestone. The service manager at the dealership looked at the damage and brought out the parts manager and told him to order 4 new wheels. She said she would personally take the truck to Firestone to show them the damage and hold them accountable. I told her that I would rather take it there to show them and they can hash it out from there. Firestone was trying their damnedest to not be responsible, like first saying "an F150 yesterday? I don't recall..." and "oh those look like they are surface scratches on the clear coat".


I really appreciate the quality of service the dealership has given me and hopefully this will be resolved quickly. The only aspect of this situation I am still a little miffed about is them not informing me that my truck went out to Firestone. I would have waited another day or so for their equipment to get fixed rather than go through this mess.

 

when you go to Firestone, before talking to them about anything, ask to use the bathroom. Leave a morbid upper decker. Then go bitch them out for scratching your wheels.

 

An upper decker is in order...

 

"I was cleaning all the dirt and grease off of it from the service and I noticed 3 small gouges at the edge of my front wheel"

The fact that you had to clean up after the service seems to me to be a real red flag. To me, the dealer missed out here even if they seem to have come through in the end. Not only should they have told you they were sending it out but they should have cleaned it (and maybe noticed the problem). I am happy with my dealer and always fill out a survey from Ford after service; if you receive a survey via email you've got plenty of comments to make this time.