I would like to warn all of you who stumble upon this thread, that this is going to be a long winded post about a recent experience I had with a repair shop.
The Monte Carlo in my signature belongs to my fiance. When I met her it wasn't in the greatest shape and was long over due for some care. I started by ensuring that all preventative maintenance items were properly taken care of; flushed out the radiator, transmission fluid was exchanged, power steering fluid exchanged, air and cabin filters replaced, spark plugs and wires changed. After this was taken care of I took care of some mechanical aspects that needed attention; new mufflers, replaced the oil filter housing gasket, replaced the coolant temp sensor, replaced the cooling fans and replaced her a wheel bearing. All of this work was done either by myself or with her dad.
Most recently I set out to take care of a high speed vibration issue that she has had and replacing a TPMS sensor. Since I don't have the proper tools to a) diagnose what TMPS sensor is faulty (I knew for sure 1 was), b) replace the sensors, and c) balance the tires; I decided to find a place to do it for me.
I looked into a place that is right around the corner from my work (thinking I could drop it off in the morning and pick it up in the afternoon), and found nothing but positive reviews. Yelp, nothing but 5 stars. Google, nothing but 5 stars. A third site that I don't remember, nothing but 5 stars. All in all I found about 15 reviews all of which were positive. This is an independent tire/suspension shop but also claims to be full service and they've been in business since '97.
I decided to take a walk over and get a quote. I made them quote for diagnosing and replacing the TPMS sensors, 4 wheel balance, and 4 wheel alignment. Grand total was $199 and some change. I questioned and asked why the lack of labor for sensor install, "The tire is going to be off anyway for the balance, I'm not going to charge additional labor for the install of a sensor." "Hmm, nice change of pace" I thought. During this conversation I explained to him that I was aware that two of the tires were close to getting replaced (the rears) but I was not going to do so yet, I also told him that I was aware that one of the tie rod ends had a busted bushing and leaked grease. At this point he makes the comment that "It's common for the control arm bushings on these models to fall apart so we'll take a look at the whole thing over." I get a bit of a red flag at this point simply because I don't like a mechanic to state what he thinks may be an issue without even glancing at the vehicle, makes me thing that they're going to look for anything that needs "fixing".
I think it over and decide a day or two later that I'm going to have them do the work, minus the alignment because I was planning on swapping out the tie rod end anyway which would require an alignment afterward anyway. I schedule a time and let them know that instead I would just like the TPMS sensors that are faulty replaced, a 4 wheel balance, a rotation, and finding why my driver side tire is leaking. I drop the car off and walk to work. About 4 hours later the shop gives me a call, "So and so decided not to rotate the tires because one of the rear tires has a slipped belt which would make drive ability poor if switched up front, also he did not balance the rears since he recommends replacing the tires sooner rather than later, he also found that both control arm bushings need to be replaced, outer tie rods need to be replaced, and the sway bar end links should be replaced but he recommends replacing the whole rod. However, after looking at the sensors only the one that you were able to figure out is faulty so he replaced it. Also the driver front tire wasn't completely sealed on the wheel so we took care of that as well." So I get off the phone and walk down to the shop to pick up the car, my total was $109.98. I'm pretty content at this point, this guy didn't take advantage of me not being there and say that all sensors were bad, he refused rotating the tires (thus reducing the bill), and he didn't try to push for the repairs to be done then and there. Instead he gave me two different quotes for two new tires and two different quotes for the suspension repairs (one for just sway bar links and one for the entire bar). I'm thinking I may have finally found a stand up guy to take my cars to when I don't have time or can't handle a project. I pay and leave.
I get into the car and as soon as the vehicle moves I hear a pop coming from the front end. Drive some more and hear a couple different thumps, pops, creaks. I have driven this car for a long time and have never experienced any front end noise of the sort. The car drives just find but it has a noisy front end. I begin to think that perhaps I'm over thinking things, after all I'm driving with the stereo down and paying extra attention for any noises. Perhaps these noises have always been there but I've just not picked up on them due to stereo, conversations, etc. I can't shake the feeling that perhaps they did something to the suspension. I tell the fiance of the experience and ask her to drive as she normally would on her way to work the next day. After work I ask her about the drive to and from work, even she noticed some definite popping noises during slow speed bumpy terrain and turning.
Now guys here is the question. This is going to be a he said, she said situation. I'm not quite sure how to properly handle this and I can't believe that a place with all of these great reviews would actually do something to intentionally damage the suspension. However, I'm a BITOGer, I'm in tune with my vehicles and know almost every square inch of them. So let me ask you, am I over thinking this? Is there something that they may have done which accidentally damaged the suspension, I'm thinking of the screwdriver test? Is it possible that simply balancing the front tires could somehow cause suspension noise to become more pronounced?
The Monte Carlo in my signature belongs to my fiance. When I met her it wasn't in the greatest shape and was long over due for some care. I started by ensuring that all preventative maintenance items were properly taken care of; flushed out the radiator, transmission fluid was exchanged, power steering fluid exchanged, air and cabin filters replaced, spark plugs and wires changed. After this was taken care of I took care of some mechanical aspects that needed attention; new mufflers, replaced the oil filter housing gasket, replaced the coolant temp sensor, replaced the cooling fans and replaced her a wheel bearing. All of this work was done either by myself or with her dad.
Most recently I set out to take care of a high speed vibration issue that she has had and replacing a TPMS sensor. Since I don't have the proper tools to a) diagnose what TMPS sensor is faulty (I knew for sure 1 was), b) replace the sensors, and c) balance the tires; I decided to find a place to do it for me.
I looked into a place that is right around the corner from my work (thinking I could drop it off in the morning and pick it up in the afternoon), and found nothing but positive reviews. Yelp, nothing but 5 stars. Google, nothing but 5 stars. A third site that I don't remember, nothing but 5 stars. All in all I found about 15 reviews all of which were positive. This is an independent tire/suspension shop but also claims to be full service and they've been in business since '97.
I decided to take a walk over and get a quote. I made them quote for diagnosing and replacing the TPMS sensors, 4 wheel balance, and 4 wheel alignment. Grand total was $199 and some change. I questioned and asked why the lack of labor for sensor install, "The tire is going to be off anyway for the balance, I'm not going to charge additional labor for the install of a sensor." "Hmm, nice change of pace" I thought. During this conversation I explained to him that I was aware that two of the tires were close to getting replaced (the rears) but I was not going to do so yet, I also told him that I was aware that one of the tie rod ends had a busted bushing and leaked grease. At this point he makes the comment that "It's common for the control arm bushings on these models to fall apart so we'll take a look at the whole thing over." I get a bit of a red flag at this point simply because I don't like a mechanic to state what he thinks may be an issue without even glancing at the vehicle, makes me thing that they're going to look for anything that needs "fixing".
I think it over and decide a day or two later that I'm going to have them do the work, minus the alignment because I was planning on swapping out the tie rod end anyway which would require an alignment afterward anyway. I schedule a time and let them know that instead I would just like the TPMS sensors that are faulty replaced, a 4 wheel balance, a rotation, and finding why my driver side tire is leaking. I drop the car off and walk to work. About 4 hours later the shop gives me a call, "So and so decided not to rotate the tires because one of the rear tires has a slipped belt which would make drive ability poor if switched up front, also he did not balance the rears since he recommends replacing the tires sooner rather than later, he also found that both control arm bushings need to be replaced, outer tie rods need to be replaced, and the sway bar end links should be replaced but he recommends replacing the whole rod. However, after looking at the sensors only the one that you were able to figure out is faulty so he replaced it. Also the driver front tire wasn't completely sealed on the wheel so we took care of that as well." So I get off the phone and walk down to the shop to pick up the car, my total was $109.98. I'm pretty content at this point, this guy didn't take advantage of me not being there and say that all sensors were bad, he refused rotating the tires (thus reducing the bill), and he didn't try to push for the repairs to be done then and there. Instead he gave me two different quotes for two new tires and two different quotes for the suspension repairs (one for just sway bar links and one for the entire bar). I'm thinking I may have finally found a stand up guy to take my cars to when I don't have time or can't handle a project. I pay and leave.
I get into the car and as soon as the vehicle moves I hear a pop coming from the front end. Drive some more and hear a couple different thumps, pops, creaks. I have driven this car for a long time and have never experienced any front end noise of the sort. The car drives just find but it has a noisy front end. I begin to think that perhaps I'm over thinking things, after all I'm driving with the stereo down and paying extra attention for any noises. Perhaps these noises have always been there but I've just not picked up on them due to stereo, conversations, etc. I can't shake the feeling that perhaps they did something to the suspension. I tell the fiance of the experience and ask her to drive as she normally would on her way to work the next day. After work I ask her about the drive to and from work, even she noticed some definite popping noises during slow speed bumpy terrain and turning.
Now guys here is the question. This is going to be a he said, she said situation. I'm not quite sure how to properly handle this and I can't believe that a place with all of these great reviews would actually do something to intentionally damage the suspension. However, I'm a BITOGer, I'm in tune with my vehicles and know almost every square inch of them. So let me ask you, am I over thinking this? Is there something that they may have done which accidentally damaged the suspension, I'm thinking of the screwdriver test? Is it possible that simply balancing the front tires could somehow cause suspension noise to become more pronounced?
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