Be careful who works on your vehicle…

Posted on 07/12/12 1 Comment

I took my car to Brakemasters in a pinch.  I needed new front pads and rotors and figured they could handle the job.    The installed the new rotors and pads OK, but they quickly warped as I was initially sold sub-par parts, especially for the heavy, 3800lb Mercedes 300sdl.   I was able to get a complimentary upgrade to premium pads and rotors.  They also said they would replace any bad “hardware” for free.   That went well.   There was a night and day difference in my braking with the upgraded pads and rotors.

The next week I was finally getting my suspension worked on by local Mercedes Diesel expert Garrett.    As he was removing the wheels and caliper for some suspension work, he noticed the following nominal errors:

 

-Wheels not spinning freely as locking nut was overtorqued

-ABS sensors covered in grease

And the mistake that put him and I over the top was they used the wrong bolts to hold the caliper on the spindle.  The thread pitch is clearly different.  Thanks for the free replacement hardware, but at least get the bolts right!  They bolts had stripped the threads on my spindle, making it dangerous to drive or fix.  Fortunately we have numerous pick n pull scrapyards nearby and my mechanic was able to furnish a replacement.

Brakemasters wanted to bring the car back to the shop and repair, but I won’t let them touch my car anymore.  Fortunately the district manager agreed to pay my mechanic for his time to replace the part.

*Damaged Spindle

*Good bolt flanked by the bad bolts.

So, I thought I’d pass along a warning…stick with a shop you trust even if you have to miss a day of work to go there, pay twice as much or wait a week…it will save much aggravation.   I have been to Les Schwab 6 or 7 times recently as well.  I just wanted my tires rotated and balanced, and boy did they mess that up…they used clip-weights that damaged my tie-rod ends…twice…etc.

-Jason Jelonek

One Comment

  1. Passin Thru says:
    Thursday, July 12, 2012 at 11:56pm

    Bunch of nerds! I had Chevrolet work on my Duramax diesel and they twisted off 2 Glowplugs and replaced all 8, then claimed it wasn’t under warranty, it was also a recall and charged me $945.00 for 2 hr labor and 8 glowplugs which you can buy on ebay for $89.

    Reply

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