We started going to Tire Kingdom because we got coupons in the mail offering substantial discounts on regular services. We brought our car to be inspected a couple months ago, and it failed for tire treads, window tint, and couple minor things like bulbs. So we paid for new tires (the tires did need to be replaced) and had the other repairs made.
We brought the car back two months later (this is how long it took us to save up for these costly repairs), and the mechanic claimed that the car needed new tie rods. These tie rods were not even noted at the earlier inspection (and the thorough inspection reported some items as "recommended", i.E. Needed work in the near future), but the tie rods were not on the list.in the intervening months between inspection attempts, we did not drive the car, because it was not registered due to the failed inspection. The estimate to replace these tie rods was $500.
We thought this sounded strange, since the tie rods were fine at the inspection a couple months ago, and we had not driven the car much in the meantime, so we immediately took the car to another mechanic the same day. The car passed inspection with no problem, and we asked the mechanic who did the inspection whether or not the tie rods needed replacement. He assured us that they did not.
What counts as "safe" in terms of wear is a judgment call in some cases, as the second mechanic commented, but this costly repair was not necessary, and certainly not a reason to fail the car's inspection. I will not be bringing my vehicles back to Tire Kingdom in the future, coupons or no!
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