Car problems.

My wee C3 goes for MOT on 6 March and I know the front tyres were needing changed, so I took it in to Tyre dealer place who quoted £45 per including valve, balancing etc. Not too bad, wheel comes off and discs are pitted to hell and only shiny halfway across. New discs and pads are £150.00. Nearside ball joint has too much play, new one £25.00. Came out £265 lighter...manager says bring it in tomorrow and we'll do you a free tracking check and adjust. Well, I suppose that's something at least.

They will enjoy a few dozen pints with the profit from the discs and pads Cam. Well over the top.

Perfectspecimen wrote:They will enjoy a few dozen pints with the profit from the discs and pads Cam. Well over the top.

Just had a wee look on E-bay
E-Bay...
I'm off to slit my wrists now. I wish I was more mechanically-minded.

Ouch ...
Have you tried Kwik Fit for pads & discs pay once and they will replace them for the time you have the car for free.
So if your keepin the car it's worth it and they don't over charge initially as you might think to cover future charges.

Blyth Spirit wrote:Ouch ...
Have you tried Kwik Fit for pads & discs pay once and they will replace them for the time you have the car for free.
So if your keepin the car it's worth it and they don't over charge initially as you might think to cover future charges.

Nah, it's pads and shoes they'll replace for as long as you have the car BS. Discs aren't included. See here.

Discs should last about 10 years or 100,000 miles if not abused. Replaced all Patsys over the last 2 years for Mots on her Beetle.

Having a new ball joint fitted, They should do your tracking anyway, Dont think they will adjust it , A few months down the road and your new tyres will be worn, Go back to complain, And they will say you hit a pot hole,
One of the biggest cons going, Have your tracking done at two different places, Both will say its out,
Have 5 Mot 's done and every one will be different,
Vosa should carry out Mot's, Then no rip off,
The motor trade has a lot to answer for Especialy quik fit and places like them, The lads are on bonus, if they come back in reception and say your shockers are shot, Or your brakes, they get a bonus, What do you think thet will say, A car shouldnt fail a test on discs if it shows the correct brake efficency, What about brake drums that you cant see inside, Wrong call just because your discs are rusty, Dangerous yes, But otherwise no,
They always say oh we did wotsit, No charge, They already had you on something else,
Stick with your local independent small fry, They have to look after you, Or else,
I'm ashamed of what go's on,

I used the same ebay supplier Cam, they arrived the very next day. Now thats what I call service.

Mcqueen wrote:Having a new ball joint fitted, They should do your tracking anyway, Dont think they will adjust it , A few months down the road and your new tyres will be worn, Go back to complain, And they will say you hit a pot hole,
One of the biggest cons going, Have your tracking done at two different places, Both will say its out,
Have 5 Mot 's done and every one will be different,
Vosa should carry out Mot's, Then no rip off,
The motor trade has a lot to answer for Especialy quik fit and places like them, The lads are on bonus, if they come back in reception and say your shockers are shot, Or your brakes, they get a bonus, What do you think thet will say, A car shouldnt fail a test on discs if it shows the correct brake efficency, What about brake drums that you cant see inside, Wrong call just because your discs are rusty, Dangerous yes, But otherwise no,
They always say oh we did wotsit, No charge, They already had you on something else,
Stick with your local independent small fry, They have to look after you, Or else,
I'm ashamed of what go's on,

Yeah, they said they would have done the tracking but no ramp available, which is why I've to come back tomorrow. I have to be fair though and say the manager did say it might not fail the MOT, it all depended on the rolling road results. But on my last MOT I got an advisory "discs pitted" warning, so I thought, well I got another year out of them, time to change then now. I'd rather be safe than cheap to tell you the truth, though that doesn't excuse them from ripping people off. It was this lot...
Farmer Autocare

Tom Farmer was the guy who originally founded Kwik-fit and sold it on. He then realised what an exceptional money-maker it was so opened up this new venture.

On Thursday afternoon I ordered a brass 45amp cooker switch, £3.17 including postage. It arrived on Friday at midday with the postman. Magic. It is going on the boat to facilitate the charging of the auxillary battery and replace the current crocodile clip!

He sold it to ford , He trousered £80mil i think, He had to stay out of it for a while, Wish world in action or something like would do a sneaky check on them, But they just blame the lad that doe's that job, move him somewhere else untill the dust settles, It really want cleaning up, Tracking-Yes sir do you just want the front doing ?, Or do you want 4 wheel alighning Err I dont know, Which do you recomend ?, Ah you really want the £65 0ne, Much better-Gulp

Mcqueen wrote:He sold it to ford , He trousered £80mil i think, He had to stay out of it for a while, Wish world in action or something like would do a sneaky check on them, But they just blame the lad that doe's that job, move him somewhere else untill the dust settles, It really want cleaning up, Tracking-Yes sir do you just want the front doing ?, Or do you want 4 wheel alighning Err I dont know, Which do you recomend ?, Ah you really want the £65 0ne, Much better-Gulp

Haha! I was trying to explain to Mermaid why the rear tyres lasted so much longer than the drive wheel tyres. £25 it would have been for tracking.

About 10 year ago, I got the wishbones done on my car with Kwik Fit. Got the car back and it was travelling like a crab. Brought it back and asked why wasn't the tracking done. He told me it was. Left the car with them to get the tracking done again. Same shite. Again, I was told it was. This happened a third time. Got an independent guy to do the tracking and got a computer print out. Brought Kwik Fit to the small claims court.Cost me 10 euro. Court gave me the price of all the work done as compensation for the bullshit from Kwik Fit.

Two years later, the same Kwik Fit garage did the brakes on my mates car (even though I warned him). I might have got the terminology wrong here but they didn't tighten the bleed nipple afterwards (or something similar). My mate lost his brakes 2 days later travelling at 60mph. Rear ended a van. Long story short, after lengthy court case, claim was settled in my friends favour. Turned out that his was the 5th case to come before the judge from this particular garage. Feckin place is still operating today. Don't know how these places get away with it.

Plenty round here, But not that big, Ooo, Thats got to hurt,

Kids fitting tyres, Then graduate to exhausts, Then the rest, Not trained, Lethal cocktail, no regulations, Anybody can do it, Saw Simon this morning, (where Ian dropped dead) Said whats up with your mush ?, He was just about to sack a lad that had been with him years, Now its not easy to sack people, You have to go about it in the correct way, But this lad took up with a loony girl, He has been going down hill for a couple of years now, But crunch time, He started making mistakes, And Simon wont stand for it, So he said in future when he interviews mechanics he wants to know if there in a stable relationship, married or girlfriends etc. Because it has such an effect on how they work, He will only employ main dealer trained mechanics. Seat cover, floor mat ,job sheet, all that stuff that you learn early, Pay them more than anywhere else, Warm well equipped workshop, but then he has to pass the cost on, But he is still cheaper than any quik fit place, Example Mot and service £99. Impossible, An mot is £55, so £44 for a service , Bet they find other work, But people still go there, Crazy,

3rdforum wrote:About 10 year ago, I got the wishbones done on my car with Kwik Fit. Got the car back and it was travelling like a crab. Brought it back and asked why wasn't the tracking done. He told me it was. Left the car with them to get the tracking done again. Same shite. Again, I was told it was. This happened a third time. Got an independent guy to do the tracking and got a computer print out. Brought Kwik Fit to the small claims court.Cost me 10 euro. Court gave me the price of all the work done as compensation for the bullshit from Kwik Fit.

Two years later, the same Kwik Fit garage did the brakes on my mates car (even though I warned him). I might have got the terminology wrong here but they didn't tighten the bleed nipple afterwards (or something similar). My mate lost his brakes 2 days later travelling at 60mph. Rear ended a van. Long story short, after lengthy court case, claim was settled in my friends favour. Turned out that his was the 5th case to come before the judge from this particular garage. Feckin place is still operating today. Don't know how these places get away with it.

Mother in law should have gone there for her brakes.
My son is a Mechanic and has worked for 3 major Dealers, VW, Merc and now Audi. He used to complain about one of them because he could never hit target. He said "I can't book hours to people when I finished their car 2 hours previous. Stick them up on the ramp plug them in, little while later do the work, bit later unplug, digital read out 5 hours for 1 hours work.