[Guest]

I took my car to the shop yesterday (for the first time since I bought new tires for it the week I got it) to have the rotors turned and the caliper replaced. The reason I decided to take it to the shop was because the pedal feels spongy and I assumed there was air in the system, but the bleeder screw was rusted in the caliper and it sheered off when I tried to loosen it. So, instead of fight with it myself and possibly break something else I figured I would take it to a professional and let him do the job right with all the right tools and whatnot. So begins my nightmare.

They decided to close early for some unknown reason the day I was supposed to pick up my car, so I had to find another way to work which consisted of me making my girlfriend stay up till 2am the night before school. The next day after several phone calls I go get my car...and almost run off the road on the way home. They didn't tighten the fitting where the brake line meets the caliper and I had no brakes. I take it back and they tighten it, now there's no leaks but it still doesn't stop the way it should and I don't feel safe. I take it back for the third time and watch them do a poor job of bleeding the brakes. Now it feels a bit stiffer, but still not near what it should be. So, now here I am having to flush the system myself because I have given up on the shop that was supposed to do the job better than I could have. Never again will my baby be touched by anyone but myself.

Sorry for the rant but this really made me mad.

 

[Stern90LX]

Oh man, I know how you feel. I had to take mine back to Big-O tires after getting new Falken rubber all the way around and new strut shocks on front about a month ago. Apearently the Shmuck that did my Shocks at that shop loosened the damn camber plate on the right!! I noticed it only because on the way home making right hand turns I heard a loud POP. Got all the way home and started looking. When I open the hood I about had a heart attack.

So back I went and started to chew some ass. They offered a free Alignment right then and there. Guess what? The same idiot that did my shocks got tasked with doing the Alignment. He got it up on the Alignment rack and all setup... then the unthinkable happened.
He comes and finds me and says he won't beable to align it becuase the Camber plate bushing it too worn. I get up there and looked at it and said "mind if I use your tools?" And went to work. He went and got his boss. I kept wrenching. His boss comes out and watches me align my own car on there own equipment. Came out Perfect.

The look on shmucks face was classic. His boss just smiled an said Have a nice day as they got it off the rack for me.

 

[Guest]

HA! The guy at napa wouldn't let me in his shop, he made me wait in the lobby. He kept asking me to take a seat because I stood in the doorway and kept telling the mechanics what to do. I really was amazed at how calm this guy was when I brought him the car with a loose brake line, at first he tried to tell me it wasn't really leaking. He didn't seem to care how much crap he could've been in if I had hit someone when my brakes didn't work.

 

[Stern90LX]

Ya most garages like that won't let you in the maint bays for Insurance reasons. However an employee invited me in to show me what he precieved to be a bad camber plate bushing. I was at that point they waived themselves from liabilty. Not that I would of hurt myself anyway and if I did I wouldn't sue if I hurt myself... my own fault right? I'm not one of those "I'm gunna sue!!" types. I hate those people.

I did however appreciate the fact that the boss of the place recognized I knew what the hell I was doing with his alignment system without having to ask the obvious. Half expected him to ask if I wanted a Job.

Hmm, reminds me, I really should finish my ASE Cert one of these days.

 

[fishingjts]

man I have lucky!!! The couple of shops that have worked on my car have been great and they know me well enough that they let me stand right there in the bay and watch.. and on some occasions lend a hand!!! LOL! Even my Ford dealership has been very cool about my mods... Guess I finally am catching a break when it comes to my car! LOL!

Glad you're ok... having no brakes can be a little unnerving! Like in a 1967 Lincoln Continental... 19 feet long, 5000 pounds, 70MPH and then no brakes! OOPS!!!

 

[Guest]

The V6 apologist...that's good.
Yeah it has been a bit unsettling. I still don't have fully operating brakes. I'm gonna try and replace the master cylinder tomorrow, I think it may be leaking past one of the pistons. Who knows maybe I'll go bring Napa the receipt from Autozone and see if they'll reimburse me. :laughlitt

 

[rickyracer]

I ways try to fix it myself.
No one cares about your car like you do.

 

[meangreen92]

Oh man, I know how you feel. I had to take mine back to Big-O tires after getting new Falken rubber all the way around and new strut shocks on front about a month ago. Apearently the Shmuck that did my Shocks at that shop loosened the damn camber plate on the right!! I noticed it only because on the way home making right hand turns I heard a loud POP. Got all the way home and started looking. When I open the hood I about had a heart attack.

So back I went and started to chew some ass. They offered a free Alignment right then and there. Guess what? The same idiot that did my shocks got tasked with doing the Alignment. He got it up on the Alignment rack and all setup... then the unthinkable happened.
He comes and finds me and says he won't beable to align it becuase the Camber plate bushing it too worn. I get up there and looked at it and said "mind if I use your tools?" And went to work. He went and got his boss. I kept wrenching. His boss comes out and watches me align my own car on there own equipment. Came out Perfect.

The look on shmucks face was classic. His boss just smiled an said Have a nice day as they got it off the rack for me.

That takes the cake!!!
Never let anyone else touch your car!
'95.0 stang, you can remove the caliper, just get the proper line wrench, and use :worship P.B. Blaster spray(not WD-40) on the fittings before you loosen them.
I would almost always rather mess up and have to fix something else, than entrust my car to complete strangers, or even some of my profesional-mechanic friends - often it's still cheaper my way.

 

[Guest]

I replaced the master cylinder, and after a couple of days bleeding the system it's back to normal now. One thing I had to laugh at in the middle of all this was when I brought my car back one of the times one mechanic was spraying everything down with carburetor cleaner to get the brake fluid off while he was smoking. :sterb: I was just hoping to see that moron go up. :happyhapp

 

[meangreen92]

That was at a NAPA?!!! And I'll bet that they wouldn't hire me.

 

[Guest]

I don't know, this guy doesn't look like he sets his standards for employment very high. If you can turn a wrench, even if it isn't tight enough apparently, your in.

 

[meangreen92]

[QUOTE='95.0 stang]I don't know, this guy doesn't look like he sets his standards for employment very high. If you can turn a wrench, even if it isn't tight enough apparently, your in.[/QUOTE]It seems like that type of blatant incompetance and the high employee turnover rates which bring it about, are rampant across the service industry.
If someone insists that I work on their car, I insist that they go out and buy a Haynes manual. Then I try to talk to someone knowledgable, if I feel the need. I notice that people don't balk when you tell them that you're not gonna start wrenching until you do some research to find out if there are any surprises in doing the job.