Firestone Sucks... Damaged My Wheels

[RFeldes]

Ditto: Threadcutter....SRK, my cars only go to a "one man band" mechanic I know and "trust" 30 minutes north of here. Never let me down and actually keeps my own honesty in check! Like anything else..good ones are hard to find but worth the effort.

[914lps]

..........If they don't pass the "flake" test, I send them to the competition.

You fail.

SRK.. Are you suprised? If you have read his posts, you would allready have had a taste of his personality... Not my type or yours......

Now before we start a war, I'm not saying other folks would not side with him, but lets just say that most of the time some knowladge comes with age, and he still has some growing time.

Almost everytime I have been shafted etc., on my car it was by a big chain or dealer. Not to say all big guys are bad... There not. I was a big fan of 4 day tire before they closed. and now think highly of America's tire store.

My best dealings with car work, have been from small shops where the owner gets his hands dirty. And that's not to say there are not small shops out there that are as bad as any big shop when it comes to messing folks up.

As for "they have insurance for that".... Most big shops pay those claims out of thier own pocket. If they put in all those small claims their rates would be though the roof. Thier insurance is for when thier workmanship kills someone.....

[SRK]

Thanks for your comments gentlemen.

In re-reading my post I find I was a bit harsher than intended - I hope Mr. Couto doesn't hold it against me

In working for others, and for myself, and as revealed in many surveys on "finding a good mechanic" the same advice keeps coming up, and that is to develop a business relationship with a mechanic who works on your car. When you know someone personally the chances of a rip-off, or a mis-understanding, are greatly reduced. We all "know" our cars well, every little vibration and idiosyncracy. Allowing a mechanic to develop a sense for the same car helps in the long run. As many have mentioned, that can be difficult in a large chain or franchise shop where the turn-over of employees is high, and the experience level is low.

[akewlguy]

Hey SRK, sorry.

Sorta came out wrong.

My number one mechanic is a small shop and there has never been an issue. Typically the final price is less then what I thought. Sorry for the confusion. I was thinking about a previous shop that did a bad job.

I have been involved with small business for a long time and do understand that word of mouth is key.

[sv7887]

Hey SRK, sorry.

Sorta came out wrong.

My number one mechanic is a small shop and there has never been an issue. Typically the final price is less then what I thought. Sorry for the confusion. I was thinking about a previous shop that did a bad job.

I have been involved with small business for a long time and do understand that word of mouth is key.

Hey kewlguy,

How are those Bridgestone's treating you? I have to get some new tires soon and was trying to decide between the Turanza and MXV4. (I"ve read all the old posts, just wanted your opinion).

It's too bad there aren't smaller mechanics in the Boston area for Lexus cars. (At least I haven't heard of any) If that's the one good thing about Benz and Jaguar, it's the fact that there are so many smaller places that can work on them. I noticed the same thing about small shops, that they don't feed you BS and are pretty upfront and honest.

-Sam

[akewlguy]

LS-V's are good so far. Also I did not rotate them for about 7500. Now at 10k they look good. I really don't know what I would get until I have another 10k on these. I hear the MX'ers get like 60+k.

[sapper_daddy]

I understand all of the things you guys have said about small and big buisnesses but i have had such horrible luck with my mechanics, five in my town and they all have ripped me off.....just this weekend i took my valve cover off to change the gasket that the mechanic had messed up when he changed the head on my ford. I should have done it myself but i was pressed for time and space. Needless to say he put the valve cover on and hit one of the rocker arms in the process knocking the gasket off and just bolted it down...i actually had a bead of silicone stuck to the rocker arm towards the rear, come on RTV inside my motor!! I could list some of my other experiences but needless to say the small mechanic shops have ripped me off every single time i have brought them my vehicles and when i get it back i ask a few questions about the work, go home, check it out and find something that they have messed up! Okay now the real complaint i can't find a local mechanic who will even take my car to work on it!! Every single mechanic says, no i don't want to work on it. Even my friend's shop (who claims to be a high performace shop but works on the most horrible excuses for vehciles) won't take my car. Doing the work myself wouldn't bother me as i could take my time but now i can't afford the time so i have to get someone to do the work for me. I'm just complaining because it seems like the only place i could think about taking my car is to a dealer because if i don't like something (like an oil leak) when i get it back the mechanic won't look at me and go "i dunno" and walk off. Sad thing is i'm very polite to them, i even give them a hand sometimes when i stop by their shops!!! So i think they know i won't get upset. My 2 cents, i wish could find some of your guys' local mechanics!

[SW03ES]

SRK.. Are you suprised? If you have read his posts, you would allready have had a taste of his personality... Not my type or yours......

Now before we start a war, I'm not saying other folks would not side with him, but lets just say that most of the time some knowladge comes with age, and he still has some growing time.

I know you're just trying to be supportive, but these comments are innapropriate. You can counter other members opinions and engage in friendly debate all you want, but denigrating your peers here and saying that their opinions and viewpoints are any less valid than yours isn't acceptable. Either agree or disagree with him, but don't suggest his opinion isn't valid because of his age or anything else about his personal situation. If you disagree, then debate the point with him like the rest of us have.