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Ultimately, it's not whether it's a dealership or a indy. It's about the reputation and experience at the individual shop.
I've had a dealership scratch and create those circular cuts around the bolt areas of my wheels due to sloppy/rushed install. I've also seen the same from some independent shops.
Watching them perform the service on your car will give you a good idea how they treat the car. Things I watch for.
- Clean/properly maintained mounter/balancer
- More than sufficient amount of mounting lubrication
- Watch the balancer for any bends in the wheels
- Check of the wheels for cracks
- Removal/Install of loose bolts by hand
- Speed at which they torque down the bolts (pretending they are a Nascar pit crew is BAD)
- Tighten with proper star pattern
etc....
There's so much to watch for. I only trust the shops that treat the car like I would.
I had one shop that would keep trying to rebalance my wheels, as I kept complaining about highway vibrations. Finally, they said it's the tires (they were still new).
Took it to a different shop, they quickly found some bends in the wheels that would cause higher speed vibrations even after proper balancing. Had the bends taken out. Silky smooth.
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