If you're ever thinking that your car just has way too much oil in the engine, or, you've been…read morelamenting that your car just rides too darn smooth, then this is the place for you!
Let's start with my wife's 2016 Infiniti. Cost me a lot of $$$. She's loved it since the day she got it.
Took it to the Walmart Auto Care center on Scott's Fork. They changed the oil, then shortly thereafter, it began making rainbows on the pavement when it rained.
Took it to another mechanic, asked him to see if he could find anything. Five minutes after putting it on the lift, he came and got me. Put his finger up under the engine pan and touched the oil filter, and showed me how he could spin it back and forth with one finger.
Wow. If that came off, it's a new engine. I asked him if anyone else ever had the same issue with them and he indicated that it happened "all the time, and when there's damage, they never claim responsibility".
Another occasion, I had them install a set of tires on my truck. I told them, as per the manufacturer, "The yellow marks on the tires should align with the valve stems". And of course, when they install tires, they throw in a mandatory extra charge for "lifetime balancing". A ripoff in most cases, but I was able to figuratively beat them over the heads with their own policy until my vehicle was right.
Picked the truck up and drove it home, and it came close to dislodging the fillings from my teeth. Terrible vibration. Got out and looked, sure enough, tires not aligned with the valve stems. And they had PILED the lead weights inside the wheels in an unsuccessful attempt to get them to balance. I mean, halfway around the inside of the wheels was gobbed up with lead weights. That in itself should have indicated that something was wrong...
Took it back and told them. Showed them the marks. "Those marks don't mean nothin". My response was, "The manufacturer seems to think they do," and I showed them the document from the manufacturer stating that the marks must align with the valve stems. Technician's first response was that they weren't going to do it because it might be that my tires were defective. Truthfully, they were reluctant to put my truck back in the bay, lift it up, pull all four wheels, remove all four tires, put them back on in the correct orientation, re-balance them, and reinstall them on the truck. I mean, they would actually just doing the same job they'd already done for a second time without getting paid for it.
So I told them, "That's fine. Re-balance them without pulling the tires off if you think that will fix it. But, remember that I have lifetime balancing, so I'll just keep bringing it back until it's right."
Reluctantly, they removed the tires and reinstalled them with the marks at the valve stems, re-balanced and they were perfect.
I guess my advice is, if you have them do any work for you, take it to a REAL mechanic and have their work checked before it destroys your car. Or, just skip Walmart altogether and take it to a real mechanic.