It seems to be becoming harder and harder to trust a mechanic for many people now. There seems to be a lot of distrust between customers and mechanics, for good or bad reasons, and one man says that white paint revealed to him that his mechanic was lying to him.
In a TikTok video, S.Lee’s Man Cave (@therealsleemancave) said that he found out that his mechanic had been lying to him about rotating his tires. As he already had suspicions, the TikTok user decided to put white-out on a tire before he took the car in.
The TikTok user said that when we all do this, we should all put a secret dot somewhere on our car’s back tires. He put the dot in the gap in the letter A on one of his back tires. There is a very good reason why the TikTok user did this.
“That way when you pick it up, you’ll know for sure whether or not they did the work,” he said. In essence, if the tire with the white-out is in the same place when you got your car back, then the tire was not rotated.
What the TikTok User Said His Mechanic Did
@therealsleemancave Do this to avoid getting scammed #cars #truck #automotive ♬ original sound – S.Lee’s ManCave
Conversely, if the tire with the white-out is in the same place as before, then the tire would not have been rotated. “It’s real sad that in this day and age we got to resort to stuff like this. But believe me when I tell you if you do this kind of thing long enough, eventually you’re gonna catch somebody,” said Lee.
The TikTok user, who owns a Ford, said that he had caught his mechanic with this method a week prior to posting the TikTok video. “How do I know? Just last week I did catch somebody claiming they rotated my tires when they had not,” he said in the video. As we can tell from the TikTok, he wasn’t happy about having gone to the trouble of sending the car in, only to find out the work wasn’t done.
Getting a tire rotated is a necessary part of maintaining your car. It is often overlooked, but turning the tires can avoid them going flat, becoming unevenly worn, or even going bald in the process. Rotating the tires every 5,000 miles or every six months allows wear on them to be distributed a lot more evenly. This helps to maximize tread life, and it can increase the overall lifespan of the tire. It is an easy thing to do, and a very useful one.
The Other Benefits of Rotating a Tire
Other benefits come from rotating the tires on your car. CarFax says that rotating the tires can also lead to better fuel economy, improved handling, and improved safety in cars. Routinely rotating the tires can also ensure a smoother ride, as the treads of each tire will be worn to an even level. Rotating tires will cost between $50 and $100 at most garages, but the benefits of doing so are certainly worth the cost.
Viewers of Lee’s TikTok video were happy to see him share his white paint tip. A few confirmed they had used similar markings on tires to catch out mechanics who lied about doing the work.
“Caught dealership last year, marked it in a black ink pen on a dirty tire, and checked before I left. Called out the service manager and tech. Fixed it for me,” one said.
“This is why I do my own maintenance. I have trust issues,” one other TikTok user commented. So if you can, painting a bit of white on the tires before taking them for rotation is a good idea.