A reminder why i dont let other people work on my cars

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kelsodeez

Active Member
so yesterday, i was leaving school in my fit when i hear a clack clack clacking noise coming from the rear passenger side. so i pull over and find that my tire is flat and there is something in it that looks like a chewed up ball bearing. i drive down to the nearest gas station to put some air into it. it was leaking pretty bad, so i peek my head into the garage and ask one of the techs if they can plug my tire. they guy says "yea pull your car up" so i do and he walks over with an impact gun and a huge jack. my car is pretty low so i knew the jack wouldnt fit. i ask him "how many ft lbs is your gun set to?" he says "oh about 150 ft lbs." WHAT!!! YOU WERE ABOUT TO TAKE MY LUGS OFF AND PUT THEM ON AGAIN WITH 150 FUCKING FOOT POUNDS!!!! he casually says "ive done it 100 times, dont worry." so i say "okay well i am worried and you need to use a ratchet wrench and a torque wrench to deal with the lugs. he says "oh well that will cost you extra". i dropped my car from the jack stand and said to him "if you are ASE certified, then im a fuckin gorilla. you shouldnt be working on cars" and i filled up my tire with about 65 psi and limped it back to my shop to plug it myself the correct way. incompetence makes me angry.

the thing in my tire was a caliper pin that was about 4 inches long and the head dug into the tread. im surprised the plug held.
 
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I go through the same thing when people work on my car. I'll tell them straight up, if they are going to take the wheel off, they can impact them off, but they are going to hand tighten and torque them to spec when they put them back on.. If they have a problem with that, I'll go elsewhere. But they don't touch my car until they've agreed. And then I'll stand out there and keep an eye on them. Its an asshole thing to do, but you have to or you'll get stripped lugs and who knows what else.
 
The only time Honda hasn't worked on my car is when I have new tires put on.
 
My nearest stealership is 90 miles away. I have a "tire guy", an "Alignment guy" and the alignment guy is also my exhaust guy.. I do everything else myself. The tire guy is awesome.. He smokes crack and looks like a scrub, but he is psycho about wheels and balancing. I've never had him nick/scratch/scuff a wheel, and they are always balanced to perfection.
 
My nearest stealership is 90 miles away. I have a "tire guy", an "Alignment guy" and the alignment guy is also my exhaust guy.. I do everything else myself. The tire guy is awesome.. He smokes crack and looks like a scrub, but he is psycho about wheels and balancing. I've never had him nick/scratch/scuff a wheel, and they are always balanced to perfection.

Sounds like a misunderstood genius
 
its just the fact that the dude wanted to charge me extra to do it correctly. makes my blood boil.
 
My nearest stealership is 90 miles away. I have a "tire guy", an "Alignment guy" and the alignment guy is also my exhaust guy.. I do everything else myself. The tire guy is awesome.. He smokes crack and looks like a scrub, but he is psycho about wheels and balancing. I've never had him nick/scratch/scuff a wheel, and they are always balanced to perfection.

yea, my tire guy has a glass eye and is missing two fingers but he has never ever scratched a wheel and he knows to use the good weights on nice wheels and shit weights on not so nice wheels.

my exhaust guy is super fobby chinese guy that can make anything work. and he is not expensive.

i would never even consider bringing my car to the stealership. my fit got a recall and i went into honda and had one of the techs explain to me the problem and how they fix it, then i just went home and did it myself.
 
impact guns on oil drain plugs FTMFW
Yeah, and the genius "professionals" who don't even bother starting the nuts and bolts, just hit them with impact. When I worked at a stealership, I was helping a tech line up some bell housing bolts. He got frustrated after about 30 seconds and just started blasting them with the impact gun. "That's what's great about these aluminum blocks," he said "they're self-tapping!"
 
It's amazing how many hacks are out there. Whats worse is that not all of them are at NTB/Pepboys/Sears, etc. Lots of independent shops have sketchy characters.

Seen too many jobs go horribly wrong when so called 'ASE Mechanics' try to be expert Audi techs and epic fail. Had a shop try to fill a transmission with Dexcron IV, and ended up grenading a $8000 transmission. Another shop said they had a vacuum leak causing a MIL light. In their quest to find this vacuum leak they removed the front bumper, broke and removed the weathertight ecu/e-box, and replaced the ECM. Car comes to us with water in the car and a bunch of random parts replaced. Turns out the vacuum leak was a $28 evap purge valve.

It helps to find a trusted mechanic - even a dealership trade mechanic who does sidework.
 
Yeah, and the genius "professionals" who don't even bother starting the nuts and bolts, just hit them with impact. When I worked at a stealership, I was helping a tech line up some bell housing bolts. He got frustrated after about 30 seconds and just started blasting them with the impact gun. "That's what's great about these aluminum blocks," he said "they're self-tapping!"

omg:eek:
 
"That's what's great about these aluminum blocks," he said "they're self-tapping!"
lol... its funny because its true

if the hole is stripped out a little, throw some paper or card board in there to help bind the threads up.
and if the hole is completely stripped, throw the bolt in a vice, and give it a little bend with a pipe and then send it home with a hammer.
 
Wow, you are a pro...good thing you are an accountant!
 
lol... its funny because its true

if the hole is stripped out a little, throw some paper or card board in there to help bind the threads up.
and if the hole is completely stripped, throw the bolt in a vice, and give it a little bend with a pipe and then send it home with a hammer.

I'm never buying a used car from you. lol
 
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