Wheel Alignment/Balancing : Madhus Enterprises (Langford rd, Bangalore)

[_raviShankar_]

Originally Posted by Nikhilb2008

More so from now on! I'm heading to my hostel in an hour. 2 years away from normal schedule.

Does that mean our favorite tyrewala will no longer be available for our queries (Read as - Busy with studies)?
(O.T - What course are you doing?)

[Nikhilb2008]

Ravi Shankar, it's been a month since I started my MBA. And you see me very much active on the forums

Do see the July 11th trackday thread in the motorsports section. No amount of studies can take me away from cars, wheels and tyres

[_raviShankar_]

Well that's good news.
Good luck with your MBA !

[sunishsamuel]

I was happy with Madhu's but not off late

Positives:

Have a good ambience, never faced a waiting problem as i generally go on weekdays.
Good number of staff so can get tyre changes, balancing done super quick.

Negatives:

Not so knowledgeable but "I know everything" attitude of few workers at the alignment shop.

Recently got my safari checked, balancing done and took for alignment. After alignment the car pulls to the left badly. The technician claimed its a fault with the tyre. The tyres are new, so asked him to swap with the stepney, same problem. So i said, its an alignment problem and the technician really got wild at me. I still kept my calm and got the car back to alignment bay and he could not fix it. I asked him to call someone else and complete the job. He went around for about 20 mins and came back saying all are busy (i could see all the folks sitting near the entrance and chatting !) Finally he adjusted the alignment, blamed tata for making bad cars, especially the safari. He did not tight the tie rod end nuts, but said its all done.

Took car immediately to another shop, got it re checked and am all set. I had to do this as i had to drive to Tvm that evening. Maybe it was a bad day for the technician but bad experience for me too.

I generally recommend Madhu's but somehow got a bad day. I hope Mr. Nikhil would help me next time.

[Nikhilb2008]

Sunish, I sincerely apologise for that absolute rubbish experience.

Just one thing:

He went around for about 20 mins and came back saying all are busy (i could see all the folks sitting near the entrance and chatting !)

Well, the guys at the front are clueless about alignment and even if they are free, they will not be able to help.

In any case this shouldnt have happened. Could you please PM me the details? When, what time, name of the technician, etc..?

I can guarantee you some action will take place.

[sunishsamuel]

Thanks a lot for your quick response. I sincerely apologize for complaining in the forum, but just thought of sharing during the feedback post.

I will pm you all the details.

[Nikhilb2008]

No apologies necessary. This is a public thread for ALL feedback, good or bad. It's your right to post your experience here honestly.

Anyway, let's take this to PM now.

[tsk13]

Originally Posted by Nikhilb2008

No apologies necessary. This is a public thread for ALL feedback, good or bad. It's your right to post your experience here honestly.

Anyway, let's take this to PM now.

Nikhil, appreciate the spirit with which you've taken his experience. Seldomly one gets to see such Entrepreneurs, wishing you and your enterprise a very bright future.

[jeeva]

Nikhil,
I am very sorry to say that somehow Madhus isn't working out for me. I sincerely believe its a one/two - off incident but then, let me explain.

1. My Bolero had this issue of pulling to the left when braked. Last month, I had been to Madhus @ Langford road and got the alignment checked. The technician told that there was a vast difference in the settings and thats why the vehicle had issues when braked. I was so happy that finally, things will all be sorted out. I took the vehicle out and on found that the issue still existed. Drove straight to my mechanic and when checked, the brake pads, the Castor rod bushes and the brake discs had issues. Replaced those and came back again to check the alignment. The "left-pulling when braked "issue was now sorted out. I explained the whole thing to the technician and asked him to thoroughly check the whole thing once again. He went ahead and told me that this time there was only a slight difference and he adjusted it. To my utter horror, the vehicle was now pulling to the right under normal driving. I was sort of frustrated and went straight to Vijay Alignment at JP nagar (no computers and sensors here - manual alignment done). He adjusted the tie rod ends and then the castor rod and then the vehicle was fine.
Since it was manually done at Vijay, I wasn't really confident about the tolerances and readings and was wondering is the guy has done kind of juggad to correct the issue which couldn't be set right at Madhus! A couple of weeks back, when I had been to my hometown in Kerala, I got the alignment checked at a computerized alignment center. I explained him the history and asked him to check the readings, which he found to be ok. He had to move in by some minutes to make it perfect.

2. This happened on this Saturday. My friend wanted to change his Fiesta's tyres and I recommended Madhus. We got 4 new Apollo Acereles (185/65/R14) and exchanged the old tyres too. We fill nitrogen, balance the wheels, check the alignment and go off. Apart from the tyres, we were charged 500 bucks for these and another 150 for nitrogen.Yes, I did mention t-bhp. I think, we could have got a much better deal elsewhere : correct me if I am wrong. Anyways, on the way back, my friend complains that the vehicle pulls to the left. I drove it to double check if it was indeed true and yes, it was. Came back to Madhus and explained the technician about the same. I also spoke to Mr.Gopal and mentioned it that it was the second time now that I am facing issues here. He came forward and started checking things personally. We had specifically mentioned to maintain the air-pressure @ 32psi earlier, and when checked now, it was like each tyre had different readings - 34, 28, 43 and 30 psi. I asked them to check the alignment on the machine on the right side as I was curious if there was any machine error on the left side one (My Bolero was done there). Re-Rotated the tyres (brand new ones) and after the adjustment, Mr.Gopal came along with us to check if things are ok. The vehicle was still pulling to the left. He was a gentleman that he accepted the technician's faults, and he explained lots of permutations and combinations on why this could happen and also mentioned about his colleague's santro which had some similar issues. We also appraised the issue with the person who sits in the middle seat (the front office/billing section) who actually handled with the deal, then. Now, he was least bothered too.

All said and done, the Fiesta still loves the left.
It is a well maintained car, driven sedately, done 46k and has no history of accidents or misuse.
The Fiesta driving friend has a lot of hard hitting questions now, like the ones raised by families of t-bhpians when a rashly driven car spotting t-bhp stickers cuts them off or drives dangerously.

I am writing this with an open mind and very honestly do not doubt the capability and integrity of the institution. Probably its some wrong people at the wrong place. Please look into this, so that nobody else will have to undergo this kind of a situation.

[dreamdiesel]

What are the timings Madhu's is open? I was planning to get wheel balancing and allignment done this Thursday but found the shop closed at 9:00AM and while retruning back from work around 7:00PM found the shop closed again.

[Nikhilb2008]

Well, it's open from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm. You must have missed it by a few minutes on both occasions!

[nandishpal]

hey nikhil,

i am going to your rv road service centre on sunday.dont want to miss it this weekend
its like addiction to me wheel allignment

Originally Posted by Nikhilb2008

Well, it's open from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm. You must have missed it by a few minutes on both occasions!

[raftaar]

All my 5 cars go to Madhus regularly. Right from my humble maruti omni to my E-classe! My drivers never have a cause for complaint (as they are the ones who actually take it there). Earlier, i used to get the services from the respective ASSs. But i soon realised the ASSs dont do precise work. But Madhus has delivered till date. Good work. Keep it up.

[condor]

nandishpal i am going to your rv road service centre on sunday.

@Nandish, hope you know that the center is now on Vasavi Temple Road - one (main) road parallel to RV Road.

[quadra]

My car wheel alignment is due and will be going to madhus soon. Till now i have not faced any issues whatsoever. Have got the alignment done for my spark + frnds santro.

Both of us are satisfied with the service.

Nikhil: I think a little tweaking needs to be done here and there to make the experience appeal to more people (increasing the fan base )