Do you take your car to "tire shops" for service?

[exodus]

My wife blew out a tire last week and we went up to firestone to have it replaced. The car has been leaking coolant for a little bit and we asked them to take a look.

After SIX HOURS, they finally get the car in, and after a few minutes they take us back into the shop. Guy says they don't have the right cap to do a pressure test on the cooling system... OK, fine... then he points to the power steering pump, where coolant has settled on the top fitting (just below the thermostat housing)... and says

"We think the leak is coming from this fitting on the water pump, however we don't want to wrench it down and break something until we do the pressure test, though this is the only evidence we can find of a leak"

This was Saturday, already after their closing time. I hate getting jerked around. If you don't want to stay after hours to do the pressure test you shouldn't have taken the car in the first ****ing place (which was at NOON). Second... in what ****ing world is the water pump EVER driven off the accessory belt... My knowledge may be limited, but in every car I have ever seen, it's always on the timing belt.

Either way, the next day I fill up the surge tank... let the car warm up and go out and take a look... sure enough it's dripping from the thermostat housing.

/gripe

[y2dgone]

only reason i ever take my car to a tire shop is to get a quick fix on a tire...

[virtualdemo]

My Aveo goes to the dealer due to the warranty, but for the most part I dont take anything to shops. About the only thing I use a shop for is exhaust work, since I dont really know how to weld and dont have the special machinery to do good work.

I dont trust most shops because you can take something in to get fixed and, at least in my cases, the problem still exists or a new one mysteriously arises. The dealer is no different.

Due to all this shop/dealer stuff I took it upon myself to learn everything I could to fix my own vehicles. At the time it wasnt something I wanted to learn but I was getting tired of taking something in to a shop only to be told, "We dont find anything wrong". Now that I know some stuff I realized that a majority of "mechanics ASE Certified" simply plug into the OBD port, see no codes pop up, then report nothing is wrong. Never once popping the hood. Dang ok a little too long here on the explanation...haha

[g0ast]

What I try to do is get as many shops as possible for everything...

I go to a seperate shop for all my wheel/tire things (it's a good shop, so I take care of both there).

I go to a seperate shop for all my general maintainence stuff (oil changes, ect, it's a privately owned shop HIGHLY RECCOMENDED - DON'T GO TO CHAIN SHOPS NO MATTER HOW CHEAP!)

I have a seperate shop for all my more advanced maintainence (like engine damage, drivetrain damage, anything the general maintainence shop can't do, it's also privately owned).

I go to another shop for my body work, they are next door to my advanced maintainence shop and also privately owned, and did my body work for me when someone hit me and f*cked up my front bumber.

I go to a seperate shop for my muffler work, privately owned.

Basically I go to places that specialize in what I need to get done, and never places that do "all of the above", for instance I don't go to the "advanced maintainence" place for basic oil changes not because they can do it, but because they charge a little more because they are more of an "advanced" place.

It's taken me alot of time to look for those places, but I'm lucky that the body shop, oil change place and advanced place are within a block of each other, I didn't intend it but they are all good.

I reccomend going to privately owned places more than chain stores even though it might cost a bit more because you get better service, also you tend to not have to wait as long, or schedule too far in advanced, you also usually get the owner of the store either make sure your work is being done right or does it himself, and he's probably ridiculously experienced in it so even better.

When you go looking for a shop, and want to find out how good they really are (too see if they are worth your $), try to find out as much as you can about what you want to get done, find prices on equipment and materials, how it usually happens and stuff like that and compare what you find out to what they tell you, it'll help you find out the ones who care more about profit - much less likely when you go to a private shop, highly likely from a chain shop.

[ClintCart]

I have never ever seen a water pump driven off of a timeing belt ever, not trying to be an ass, it is driven off of the accessory belt as far as I know.

[B1rdbrain]

My wife blew out a tire last week and we went up to firestone to have it replaced. The car has been leaking coolant for a little bit and we asked them to take a look.

After SIX HOURS, they finally get the car in, and after a few minutes they take us back into the shop. Guy says they don't have the right cap to do a pressure test on the cooling system... OK, fine... then he points to the power steering pump, where coolant has settled on the top fitting (just below the thermostat housing)... and says

"We think the leak is coming from this fitting on the water pump, however we don't want to wrench it down and break something until we do the pressure test, though this is the only evidence we can find of a leak"

This was Saturday, already after their closing time. I hate getting jerked around. If you don't want to stay after hours to do the pressure test you shouldn't have taken the car in the first ****ing place (which was at NOON). Second... in what ****ing world is the water pump EVER driven off the accessory belt... My knowledge may be limited, but in every car I have ever seen, it's always on the timing belt.

Either way, the next day I fill up the surge tank... let the car warm up and go out and take a look... sure enough it's dripping from the thermostat housing.

/gripe

Dude you have the Plastic housing right? they break. it's how they are made. the new 07's and 08's the housing is metal. all you have to do is hit a speed bump to hard and the plasic housing breaks. i would think the 07's or 08's would be a match and fit.

[ontarian_frog]

I have never ever seen a water pump driven off of a timeing belt ever, not trying to be an ass, it is driven off of the accessory belt as far as I know.

Yeah. motors with timing chains run it off the accessory belt. Motors with a timing belt run the water pump off the timing belt.

[exodus]

Never had a car with a timing chain... never had a car with two cylinder banks

[sappy96]

^^^
Ecotecs have timing chains.

I never take it to a tire shop. Id barely take tires to a tire shop for install.
Some flaky people work there.

[B1rdbrain]

^^^
Ecotecs have timing chains.

i swear i saw a belt not a chain