Alignment - no report of pre & post setting, now excessive tire wear

[gh1953-X18]

Last September at a Tesla SC I had 4 new tires installed and an alignment on my 2018 Model X. Removed tires had approximately 42,000 miles on them, car’s 2nd set of tires with 92,000 miles on car at time of service, and were showing excess wear on the inside of both front tires. Service took longer than expected. Service advisor brought out invoice. I paid and left.

After leaving I realized he did not provide a copy of alignment report. Checked email later in the day. No report. Returned to service center following week to get report (no phone number listed on invoice). When I asked for the report the service advisor initially said he told me when service was completed there was no report. No way - never discussed. Then he said most customers didn’t want report. From my work at garages and prior T SC alignment I know it is customary for report to be provided - customer can discard if not wanted but that is proof of work being performed to specs. Then he said alignment machine interface with printer was down, interface with off-site documentation also down and then due to limited memory on alignment machine the documentation of alignment work performed on my car was lost. He did not blame my dog.

Now after 9,200 miles the tires have excessive front tire wear - down to 3/32 on side tread while 5/32, 6/32 and 4/32 across tire.

Heading back to SC for review of situation. Any chance that September alignment report was and is still available? Tesla being a technology company I would think they have extensive data backup.

Any thoughts on non-T alignment options in southeast PA?

 

[fiehlsport]

Last September at a Tesla SC I had 4 new tires installed and an alignment on my 2018 Model X. Removed tires had approximately 42,000 miles on them, car’s 2nd set of tires with 92,000 miles on car at time of service, and were showing excess wear on the inside of both front tires. Service took longer than expected. Service advisor brought out invoice. I paid and left.

After leaving I realized he did not provide a copy of alignment report. Checked email later in the day. No report. Returned to service center following week to get report (no phone number listed on invoice). When I asked for the report the service advisor initially said he told me when service was completed there was no report. No way - never discussed. Then he said most customers didn’t want report. From my work at garages and prior T SC alignment I know it is customary for report to be provided - customer can discard if not wanted but that is proof of work being performed to specs. Then he said alignment machine interface with printer was down, interface with off-site documentation also down and then due to limited memory on alignment machine the documentation of alignment work performed on my car was lost. He did not blame my dog.

Now after 9,200 miles the tires have excessive front tire wear - down to 3/32 on side tread while 5/32, 6/32 and 4/32 across tire.

Heading back to SC for review of situation. Any chance that September alignment report was and is still available? Tesla being a technology company I would think they have extensive data backup.

Any thoughts on non-T alignment options in southeast PA?

The alignment machine is third party equipment, probably a Hunter rack. I don't have firsthand experience with them but I don't believe they are networked to store the alignment results elsewhere. It's likely all local to the machine.

You're gonna have a tough time getting any goodwill work done on this due to the time it's been since the alignment. They can just as easily blame you for hitting a pothole/road hazard (even though you haven't) which could throw off the alignment as soon as you drove away from the SC in September.

Might have to bite the bullet and pay for another alignment at a 3rd party. Try some Euro specialty shops if any exist in your area. And request the printout ahead of time.

 

[MountainPass]

I still suspect that OP's dog is to blame, but speaking for myself as a technician, I always had to print out the reports. No printout = no alignment = no pay for me.

As fiehlsport said, the machines tend to use local storage and most technicians will not care to fill out your details and save each report.

Did the last set of tires have the same wear pattern?

 

[gh1953-X18]

I still suspect that OP's dog is to blame, but speaking for myself as a technician, I always had to print out the reports. No printout = no alignment = no pay for me.

As fiehlsport said, the machines tend to use local storage and most technicians will not care to fill out your details and save each report.

Did the last set of tires have the same wear pattern?

Last set of front tires did have excessive wear on the outside tread. I’d have to say the same, or at least similar, to these new tires. I document a lot of things in life but I never thought I’d have to document tire tread wear before a $275 alignment. But then again I didn’t expect to not get documentation of the work they performed. Next time …….