Took the doggy for some long walks and put about 65 miles on my S, got gas and see the prices are headed up again. Gotta take the wife's car out before the pricing changes...again, and for the trek to MAG with it tomorrow.
Got a package for the Rat-MINI in the mail today... No more stupid Chrono-Pack after a little paint, and some coding.
Wife's S is now all fixed...new water pump and door, window, sunroof actuator...whew..two trips to the dealer in just over one week. Her extended warranty is about to run out...am happy it covered almost everything! Now, I get to bring in the R50 for the power steering recall [whenever that happens...supposedly in March].:fingerscrossed:
I put new Rota RB wheels in Hyper Black with new tires, Continental Contact Sport AS tires in 215/45-17, on my MINI. The new wheels weigh 18.2 lbs each, about four pounds per wheel lighter than stock. The tread on the old tires was getting down to the wear bars and I'd curbed the stock wheels pretty good. I got larger than stock tires so that they would pooch out past the rims to help protect the wheels. The stock run flats were actually inset from the stock wheels, which made it easy to scuff up the wheels. The speedometer is now within two mile/hour of the GPS at 70 mph instead of four miles per hour, like it was before.
I did this... Trust me, they're MINI parts, and a PAIN to mask! Tomorrow will be paint, then you can see.
I've been wanting a set of those bad. But, I doubt they'll be making them in 5X112 because of the spoke design.
It definitely was an act of god trying to prevent me from getting them. Last week I made an appt to get them installed. I use Kaufman tire. Made the appt, show up the day of the appt. the guy tells me there is no appt. or tires for me. I showed him the confirmation, he looks it up. Tells me that "those tires are discontinued", I say "DISCONTINUED" he follows up with, "well going to be discontinued". I told him every tire will eventually be discontinued. He asked why I wanted those tires, I said I'd been researching for months on what tires to get and I want those. He said he'll let me know when they come in. I make an appt yesterday to have some Continental Extreme Contact DW's. I get a call this AM saying they can only get 3, international back order. I was at my whits end. He asked if there was any other tires I would be interested in. I said Goodyear Eagle F1 Asym 2's, he said thats a special order and could take a while. Then I said, the first ones I wanted were the Pilot SS's and he puts me on hold, Comes back"WE HAVE THOSE MICHELIN'S FOR YOU". The reason I wasnt called is because they were purchased from an outside vendor and when that happens, they have no call tag. Also I contacted Michelin about them discontinuing the SS's and they are not discontinued just on national back order. SO, after all that I get the tires I wanted in the first place. Thank ya jeebus!
I work in Automotive service. I can tell you they have no idea what they're doing and need to find another place to do your business. At least until they find new personnel. They were clearly lying to you about being discontinued. And they didn't put any effort to look in their pile of "Special Order tires" in back(I guarantee you there is such a section) to see you had already ordered those and commit to the appointment you clearly made. Use Tire Rack for your business when ordering. I personally talk to Denny (been talking to him for over 10 years, before I had a MINI) but there is a "MINI Specialist" there too. Then look around and find a better installer. There is no reason that should have happened.
I did find them on Tire Rack. I'll be buying a set of rims and tires this summer from Tire Rack. The reason I stay with this shop is because they generally are good to deal with, this was the first time I ran into something like this there. I guess the new guy needs to learn real quick that lying to someone who knows what they're talking about will blow up in his face like it did. I have a credit line with the shop so I get a big discount and road hazard protection, all that jazz. But will be considering different shops after this whole ordeal.
Your allegiance to the shop certainly appears to run deeper than his understanding of customer service and dedication to his job. Sadly, your experience is becoming more the norm everywhere. Just the other day, at Harbor Freight, the worker didn't know what a drop light was, and at AutoZone, that worker didn't know the difference between a shift knob and shift boot... We're doomed.
I've had just the opposite experience at a Harbor a Freight near us with me being amazed that they know where things are and some of differences between similar products. You just have to hope if the person is young or looks to be new to the job they become knowledgeable with time or they find a job more suited to their skills.