Daughters first trip to shop to get Crosstrek inspected
- Thread starter Donald
- Start date
I said many shops.......not all shops. Reading comprehension.That’s not true. I just paid $600 for both fronts and rears. And that was for the premium brand
CKN is on a roll!
Basically you came on here and created a thread based on over charging and you were not there. We have had worse threads on here .
Every forum has its "The customer is always wrong!" member....
Actually I do not believe it needed brakes much less being overcharged. I had driven the car in December and did not notice any issues that would lead me to think it needed brakes. I know how much brake parts cost and how long she was there when they actually worked on her brakes. They charged her about $500 an hour in labor. And past dealings with this tire chain.
When was the last time you had the wheels off and were able to inspect the brakes personally?
The only way you could tell if it needed brakes was either by the "squeaky" wear indicator or a metal on metal sound/feeling. Otherwise it could have had 2/32nds and you would never have known.
The pads that were on the car had wear indicators on them. Unfortunately my spreadsheet for repairs seems to be missing a few entries or I could have determined the exact duration in miles the pads had been on.
A Subaru dealer would give you a report stating the thickness of each pad in 32nds. The tire store said the brakes were rusty.
Here is a picture of one rotor that the tire store said was rusty. This looks like surface rust that would go away if the brakes were applied. Not sure if this rusted in the few hours between when she drove in and when they got to work on her car.
To me this looks like a few days of rust rather than a few hours but either way I think applying the brakes a few times would remove this rust.
To me this looks like a few days of rust rather than a few hours but either way I think applying the brakes a few times would remove this rust.
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that looks like a lot more than surface rust on my 27" iMac but photos can be deceiving...
Bill
Bill
Pics can be deceiving but that’s shot.
Is this a joke? That rotor looks like it came out of the bottom of the ocean. There's no way that's surface rust that occurred after being driven into the shop. The slides are probably frozen on that caliper and that's why they recommended replacing which would have been the right way to do the job, instead they were asked to do it as cheaply as possible which means they cleaned them up and lubed them.
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If that was surface rust which you say would have gone away if the brakes were applied, why didn't it go away when she drove it there? No, that rust didn't occur in the few hours between when she drove there and they worked on the car.
I would have wire brushed the rotor and see how it's looks. If not pitted or otherwise damaged I would reuse the rotor.
I think Subaru brakes are more temperamental than other cars as far as getting jammed from corrosion from salt.
As far as the caliper goes, it gets replaced if the piston is stuck. If it is just the pins then they cleaned and examined. If pitted the pins get replaced. I don't think the caliper gets replaced for anything to do with the pins.
When I work on the pins I squirt brake cleaner in the hole for the pin and clean it out with a Qtip. I also use brake cleaner to cleaner to clean the boot. So a more involved process than just wipe the pins and re-lube them.
I think Subaru brakes are more temperamental than other cars as far as getting jammed from corrosion from salt.
As far as the caliper goes, it gets replaced if the piston is stuck. If it is just the pins then they cleaned and examined. If pitted the pins get replaced. I don't think the caliper gets replaced for anything to do with the pins.
When I work on the pins I squirt brake cleaner in the hole for the pin and clean it out with a Qtip. I also use brake cleaner to cleaner to clean the boot. So a more involved process than just wipe the pins and re-lube them.
My 2020 legacy has 8500 miles. Due to lack of use they just replaced rotors And pads on front as they were 1mm and 5mm.
I had a similar experience with Canadian Tire at Shoppers World in Brampton.
Was selling the car, needed a safety on a Sunday afternoon. They were the only shop open.
My brother was a certified mechanic - he has worked on the car and done an inspection just over a month prior, and I hadn't really driven it since, so I knew it was in good shape.
They called the car for rear brakes and rear shocks, with a quote of nearly $1k.
I asked them to show me what was wrong with it.
They said the rear rotors had rust on them. (This doesn't fail a safety in Ontario). I asked him if the pads and rotors were within spec for thickness. Yes, they were. Okay, why did they fail? He grumbled something about failing a Jag the other day for the same thing - told him that's completely irrelevant.
Okay, now show me what's wrong with the shocks. He takes me to the front of the car (still in the air). Tells me to push up on the front wheel, and compare against the rear wheel, and comments on how much easier the rear wheel is to move. I told him that's obviously going to be the case in a FWD car as the spring rate in the front is probably double that of the rears.
He grumbled some more. I told them just to put the wheels back on the car, paid for the inspection, took the quote home with me, and told them I'll be talking to their manager the next morning.
When I looked closer at the quote, and compared it against Mitchell's on Demand, they were 1.5-3x higher than the listed labour rates for those jobs.
The next day, I took the car back to my brother who worked at an independent mechanic an hour away, and had a proper safety done with zero issues.
Went back to Canadian Tire the next day, and the shop manager was super defensive right out the gate, and got really pissed off when I said I would have taken it to a real shop if I could have found one open on Sunday. So that war the end of conversation. I dropped it, figured it wasn't worth fighting.
A few weeks later, Canadian Tire guest services calls me.
"How was your most recent experience at our service center?"
Well, since your asking.....Told them the whole story.
"Oh, you need to talk to the service manager".
Already did; he doesn't like me.
"Then you should talk to the store manager".
Gives me a number, call them, tell them the story.
"Oh, you need to talk to the service manager."
Already did; he doesn't like me.
"Well then you should talk to the store owner. Here's his number".
Call the store owner, tell him the story, had an apology and got a check in the mail for the cost of the inspection a few days later.
Moral of the story - if it seems suspicious, the sad reality is, it probably is.
Was selling the car, needed a safety on a Sunday afternoon. They were the only shop open.
My brother was a certified mechanic - he has worked on the car and done an inspection just over a month prior, and I hadn't really driven it since, so I knew it was in good shape.
They called the car for rear brakes and rear shocks, with a quote of nearly $1k.
I asked them to show me what was wrong with it.
They said the rear rotors had rust on them. (This doesn't fail a safety in Ontario). I asked him if the pads and rotors were within spec for thickness. Yes, they were. Okay, why did they fail? He grumbled something about failing a Jag the other day for the same thing - told him that's completely irrelevant.
Okay, now show me what's wrong with the shocks. He takes me to the front of the car (still in the air). Tells me to push up on the front wheel, and compare against the rear wheel, and comments on how much easier the rear wheel is to move. I told him that's obviously going to be the case in a FWD car as the spring rate in the front is probably double that of the rears.
He grumbled some more. I told them just to put the wheels back on the car, paid for the inspection, took the quote home with me, and told them I'll be talking to their manager the next morning.
When I looked closer at the quote, and compared it against Mitchell's on Demand, they were 1.5-3x higher than the listed labour rates for those jobs.
The next day, I took the car back to my brother who worked at an independent mechanic an hour away, and had a proper safety done with zero issues.
Went back to Canadian Tire the next day, and the shop manager was super defensive right out the gate, and got really pissed off when I said I would have taken it to a real shop if I could have found one open on Sunday. So that war the end of conversation. I dropped it, figured it wasn't worth fighting.
A few weeks later, Canadian Tire guest services calls me.
"How was your most recent experience at our service center?"
Well, since your asking.....Told them the whole story.
"Oh, you need to talk to the service manager".
Already did; he doesn't like me.
"Then you should talk to the store manager".
Gives me a number, call them, tell them the story.
"Oh, you need to talk to the service manager."
Already did; he doesn't like me.
"Well then you should talk to the store owner. Here's his number".
Call the store owner, tell him the story, had an apology and got a check in the mail for the cost of the inspection a few days later.
Moral of the story - if it seems suspicious, the sad reality is, it probably is.
Looks fine. If I go out to the driveway my NEW ford's rotors look like that.
Rotors are IRON, they develop surface rust after a rain and a overnight sit. Or Winter driving. Surface rust is not a reason for failing the part. That is ludicrous. Fail would include: below min spec thickness or heavy spalling or uneven wear or excessive warpage.
I did my wife's '17 Crosstrek rear brakes for 26 dollars parts and 1 -1/2 hour labour in the driveway ( would be less than an hour on a lift ) Biggest issue encountered was file fitting the stamped pad ears so they had correct clearance and movement.
Subaru and Honda rear brake are criminally undersized give the that the TCS is modulating them all the time. The rear pads are slightly larger than a domino.
A proper charge for a shop replacing rotors and pads would be < $300. - Ken NIASE Master, BSME
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