Hey guys, lurker since I got my G in the summer (around June-July) I wanna say. Haven't done much to it other than intake, spacer, rims, and a grounding kit. I wish I had pictures but I literally saved every other snapchat than my car's demise...

I have a TL;DR at the bottom for those of you that want to skip my melodramatic story lol

Formatted this for readability as best as I could. I apologized to the mods if I have already broken rules...

Let me rant for a little bit. Screw Pepboys.

--- THE BEGINNING ---

I know this may have been my fault, but basically I bought 4 rims from them (XXR's, but I'm a broke college student) and they were like, "Well your rear tires are good but we have to change the fronts or they won't make it."

So I was like whatever, they probably know better than me, I'm new to this car stuff. The guy at the computer asks me if I want an alignment, I say no because he says very nonchalant, "we recommend it," and I had been sitting at the Starbucks next door for like 4 or 5 hours at this point. He didn't put my car on the machine and show me how every wheel on my car was angled a different direction. IMPORTANT: My 4 rims and 2 new front tires were put on around August 22nd.

A couple of months go buy and I'm getting a weird vibration above 15 mph on the front passenger side. I ignore it until I'm walking out of the gas station on my way to work when this guy goes, "Hey buddy your front tire's about to blow."

I was like "Uhhh, thanks," and proceed to look at my car.

Metal bands are coming through on the far side of the tire. I was like what in the world, I have never seen a tire do that.

So I bring it back to Pepboys after work (I get off at 4, they close at 6). Three mechanics walk out (they all recognized my whip) and go "Holy **** both those fronts are about to blow. Who put these on?"

They go through the history and wonder why no alignment was done and I straight up ask them "So is my car unsafe to drive with the condition that those tires are in?"

They all say, "Yes, bring it back tomorrow. You don't have to drive far, do you?" Of course I have school and work so I can't find time to get back to them.

Come Thursday night I'm bringing my girlfriend by her house so she can change or something and as I'm turning onto her street I go, "Babe these tires are so bad, watch this," let go of the wheel and the car goes way to the right. We're going like 10mph at this point and we can just feel the tire thump thump thumpin along.

Pull up to her house and I'm like "Go get what you need babe, I have a bike pump and the tire should last till tomorrow." Pump pumpin my *** off when I hear this dreaded hiss. 0 psi on the pump and I put my hand out and feel the air just hissing out this patch that looks like someone took a razorblade and shaved the tire.

Ended up having to borrow her car but it was all good, she drove to work and I had to drop the car back off so her sister could get to work anyways. Grab that POS jack and spare and get to work. After sweating and groaning, lower the car with the most beautiful donut in the world (got those red lug nuts ) But the car doesn't level out.

"Huh," I think to myself, "I've never put on a spare before, maybe you're supposed to pump them." Tire will hold absolutely no pressure. At this point I'm like **** it, I'll screw the spare up and limp the 5 miles to Pepboys. Nope. Back up two feet and it's like the car is going over speed bumps. The spare is literally coming off the rim.

So I have to call Pepboys to get a tow (they outsource their towing service btw, so I had a lot of fun repeating information).

--- THE AFTERMATH ---

Finally get to Pepboys after my poor G is lowered off the proverbial ambulance and I walk in the door and mechanics literally laugh saying, "We're surprised you made it that long. Oh and by the way, we did some "research" and you denied an alignment so we can't road hazard those tires out." IMPORTANT: This is the 4th of November.

A few more hours at Starbucks and they have "fixed" my car. They showed me on the alignment machine and it looked like a high school geometry problem. Had they done that in the first place I would have been like "Uhhh yeah four wheel alignment please." But no, they offered me an alignment like I wanted fire sauce with my burrito. They never said "If you don't get an alignment, your tires could shred in under 1000 miles/2 months. Hope you're not going over 45 when they blow!"

--- THE CONCLUSION ---

So that's it, I wish I had consulted you guys before even taking a screwdriver to my car, but I've learned my lesson. Cancelling my Pepboys credit card, burning the coupons, never going there again. Yes I denied the alignment, but I'm an ignorant 19 year old, how was I supposed to know? And why did they let me drive off when they told me to my face that my car was unsafe to drive?

Sincerest apologies if this is one of those posts that gives "us" (however you want to interpret that) a bad name.

(They also found some other issues with my suspension but I will post that in another thread because I have no clue what to do...)

I know this is going to make me sound like a spoiled little brat, but I didn't have 350 something on me for all the crap they charged me for so my mom and her boyfriend tried to talk to the service guy who literally handed the phone back to me in the middle of the conversation. He gave me a discount because he "sort of" understood. My mom's boyfriend ended up paying for it and disputed the charge.

His basis: I was not told my car was so out of alignment when the tires were first installed. I was not informed that two brand new tires would legitimately wear down to the bands in two months without said alignment. They let me drive off and told me to come back after telling me that my car was unsafe to drive. What if a doctor put a new valve etc. into your heart and the nurse/doctor told you to come back the next day when the doctor who performed the surgery was working and that you were in an unsafe condition? (Probably a bit too drastic of a comparison). Not to mention they said they would hold my car unless the payment was made. Idk how all that works, I'm new to all this shady business/credit card/real life crap...

Lemme know if you guys have had similar experience with repair places and maybe which ones you would recommend/avoid. Sorry if I wasted any of ya'll's time...just figured now was a good time to stop lurking and join the party!

--- TL;DR ---

Got two new front tires when I got new rims from Pepboys. Wasn't informed of how off my alignment was so the tires literally blew in two months. Pepboys wouldn't road hazard any of the charges and said that I was the negligent one. Advice, consultations, reprimands, I'll take any feedback from this wonderful community

 

When you get new tires get an alignment
That's it. Simple

 

Sorry to hear but a 19 yr old college student should not have an Infiniti as a first car.
Drive a Honda Civic 5 speed for a few years while you save some money.
And as others have mentioned when you buy new tires you get an alignment.
Your life (and others) depends on tires and brakes.

Telcoman

 

This is not my first car. My first car was a Subaru Outback Impreza 5 speed that I totaled going like 25mph (I have learned from that) but it was scary because the front completely crumpled and the airbag didn't deploy. Nobody was hurt.

I drove an automatic Honda Civic for 2 years before I sold it and talked my parents into cosigning my loan on the G35. I am paying for 90% of it. Each and every month I pay the loan with my own money so of course I want to take care of it. Do I drive my G hard? Honestly not really. When I first got it I gunned it all the time and took the traction control off every so often, but I've honestly only "raced" about 4 or 5 cars. I care more about the longevity and health of my investment (It only has 86k miles as of now). Not to mention affording 93 octane in the South with all of these shortages.

I now understand why an alignment should be done, but they gave me no reason as to why. It's like when you go to an oil change place (I change my own oil now) and they exploit your ignorance. "Hey your air filter has dust on it," "Ma'am, that transmission fluid should not be that color," "We really recommend full synthetic with a vehicle of your age." Of course you'll say yes to what they suggest because you view them as an "expert."

I didn't mean to be a little ***** but I feel like they should have put the car on the alignment machine and told me that the tires would not last. I'm ignorant, dumb, naive, spoiled, whatever you want to call me. However, I feel that if an older man/woman were in the same situation it would have been looked at differently. Granted, they probably would have cared more about the safety/money of the elder than that of a 19 year old driving a sports car.

One minor thing I forgot to mention: they claimed that there had been "front end work" done on the car since they had seen it at the end of August. I know the lower control arms had been replaced at some point, they pointed that out to me when I brought it in the first time. The only "front end work" I have done was replace the grill, headlights, and side markers. All of which were done before my initial visit. The only thing I did after that was remove the lower spoiler/engine guard because so many bolts had unintentionally come loose that it was dragging during bumps.

They spoke to me in terms of "Oh yeah, it'll be fine," "Just come back," "It's not a necessity." I'm really not trying to defend myself, honestly I feel like a dumb**** but it's just hard for me to believe that in 2 months of normal driving (maybe 5 minutes of freeway speed a day, if that) that the tires literally disintegrated.

That said, if I were on the freeway when that **** blew instead of a residential street...I don't want to think about it. I don't drift like an a-hole. I only rev it when a friend wants to hear it.

I apologize if this was a lame excuse for a first post, if anything I'm just venting my frustrations with myself. I'll just use it as motivation to learn more about my car and auto care in general. I just grew up being told that practically every place you take your car upsells items and services that are not necessary.

Also I'm pretty pissed because they pointed out to me that front bushings on the front upper & lower control arms are cracking and the passenger side rear lower control arm is bent at such an angle that they could barely get that wheel in spec. Oh well, that's high on the list after I drop the whip just a hair...

 

Fix the control arm issues, then lower the car(if you must) and you guessed it-get another alignment. Wanna go through another set of tires? Then lower the car on faulty control arms. If they're as bad as they say, the car wouldn't have held an alignment for too long anyways
Do things In the right order here

 

If you don't have $350 to pay for the first round of repairs, you are in deep **** financially with this car. As mentioned above this is the wrong car for a broke college student to own, maintain and operate. My advice? Sell it and get a cheaper car that you can afford.

This being your third car it's almost unfathomable to me you don't know/inspect for basic things like tire wear, alignment issues and the like. Do you check your oil every other fill-up or at any regular interval? How about coolant and other fluids? Checked the brake pads/rotors recently? These are all important responsibilities of a car owner. If you checked your tires on a regular basis for air pressure you would have noticed the unusual wear long before it became dangerous. You mentioned you're "new to this car stuff" then you turn around and talk about your first 2 cars. Please do all of humanity a favor and grow up just a bit, spend some time educating yourself on the basics of cars and ownership and don't live beyond your means. I will give you props for showing humility and humor here and there, those are great qualities for a 19 year old to have.

GL.........

 

So, a couple of things I want to point out. Agree, disagree, criticize, whatevs...
1) An Infiniti G35 isn't an expensive car to own any longer. Mechanically, it's a 350Z with a back seat. Sans a few knick-knacks here and there, parts are relatively inexpensive and maintenance is no more costly than it would be on any other vehicle (or at least mine isn't. I'm sure some forum members are changing their oil with gold flake and champagne, and obviously that will get pricey).
2) Not that I'd ever use, endorse, or defend Pep Boys, but they didn't road hazard your tires, because a bad alignment isn't a road hazard....well...it's a hazard FOR the road but not a hazard OF the road. That only covers hazards OF the road.
3) ALSO, you can't fault Pep Boys for not "selling harder". Ultimately, it boils down to being your fault. But, it still sux.

 

Your first mistake was going to Pep Boys for anything! Watching their mechanics work is like, "Watching a monkey screw a football!" When you rolled into Pep Boys the first time were your tires totally worn similar to the ones they installed when they blew? It's possible they screwed up doing the install of rims/tires...Gary