The Jeep has sat in the garage since I came home with the car for just about this reason. Needs something fixed that makes it annoying to drive and just haven't had the time or energy to get to it. So enjoying driving daily without a part of the vehicle making lots of noise reminding me it needs fixed is nice. I'm gonna try and do more at home to save money but it also means the Jeep will sit longer.
The Ohio Random Thread... aka We Should Probably Be Working
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The Jeep has sat in the garage since I came home with the car for just about this reason. Needs something fixed that makes it annoying to drive and just haven't had the time or energy to get to it. So enjoying driving daily without a part of the vehicle making lots of noise reminding me it needs fixed is nice. I'm gonna try and do more at home to save money but it also means the Jeep will sit longer.
oh i would never take my car to a dealership, but then again both of mine are atleast 11-12 years old and no warranty so no need to touch a dealership haha
i have a good buddy who is a damn good mechanic. he and his old man have a little shop pretty close to me. they are more than fair on prices and if i dont have the time to do it myself. i have no problem taking the work to them. hell last time i took the truck to them it cost me less than 100 bucks for them to do all new brake lines on the ram... it cost me more for the mandatory yearly state inspection and emissions tests haha
i have a good buddy who is a damn good mechanic. he and his old man have a little shop pretty close to me. they are more than fair on prices and if i dont have the time to do it myself. i have no problem taking the work to them. hell last time i took the truck to them it cost me less than 100 bucks for them to do all new brake lines on the ram... it cost me more for the mandatory yearly state inspection and emissions tests haha
I'm really weary of 3rd party service shops. Back in the analog days every one had a "trusted mechanic" but with the complexities of modern vehicles you really can't throw a "one-size fits-all" mentality at auto repair. Even oil changes are complex on some vehicles nowadays. There's always the performance/specialty shops that cater to specific makes/models but their prices aren't usually any better than the dealership. To make matters worse if your vehicle is 15+ years old even the dealer service shop will likely have little experience.
I think it depends on the job, brakes I would have no issue going pretty much anywhere. Engine/electrical issue are a different story. I'd still try to avoid the dealership if possible. My car is turning 12 (or is it 13? model year/date built always tricky) with a widely used engine, so I would probably be fine at most places anyway.
I'd have agreed with you before I did the rear brakes on my wife's Jetta. I had to buy some unique tools and much of the brake hardware is single use only (torque-to-yield bolts). Then there was the issue of it being a late 2010 MY car, which actually uses 2011 MY brakes. I just don't think I'd trust any non-VW-specific shop to know all these nuances.
I know there are alot of stupid dealership mechanics and alot of stupid self emplopyed mechanics. For me personally, i talk to the mechanics before i take the car there. If the mechanic has no clue what im talking about, i leave. in my case my mechanic is a car guy and is actually really knowledgeable about alot of cars. he could easily be a lead mechanic at any dealership in the area if he wanted. But as he said "why work for someone else when i can work for myself and make my own hours in the garage my old man started" ive personally watched Steve track down an animal chewed wire going to my emissions system on the truck and take care of it in less than an hour. in that same hour the dealership got it hooked up and werent sure were to start looking and wanted to keep it for 3-4 days to run all these tests on it. We arent talking about hyper performance cars here, everything we have all mentioned has been econoboxes or pickup trucks, and while they might have special little quirks, i still think a knowledgable mechanic can figure that out, especially seeing as there is a mechanics website that gives them the manufacturers workshop manual for whatever job on whatever car.
For those that dont want to read alot.
I suggest doing your research and talking to mechanics before automatically taking the car to a dealer or specialist. Might find a very capable one for alot less than a dealer
Found the problem
Levi, all completely valid points. My main point is some makes/models (e.g. German cars) require very specific knowledge and tools. Being intuitive and hard-working isn't enough to get around that. If I had an older Ford/Chevy/Honda/Toyota/etc. I wouldn't hesitate to find a "trusted" third party mechanic.
Say what you want but that car is the most reliable vehicle I've owned. Over 80,000 miles of trouble-free operation. It's build quality trumps every Japanese and American car I've owned and despite being over 5 years old it has every feature you'd find in a 2015 model sans internet connectivity. The only annoying thing about it is the specialized maintenance.
Hope everyone had a good weekend. A co-worker and neighbor helped me take down one of the trees in my front yard. Big diference, you can see the house now when pulling into the court and I don't have to worry about future roots in my drains. It really didn't provide much shade and now I have less leaves to rake.
Saturday my township has what they called Heritage Day with a car show and old timey baseball. The car show was decent for how small the township is and really no advertising. About 40 cars showed up, mostly 60-70's muscle cars, a couple late models and some 40-50's ear cars. There was a really nice early 60's Ford F-100 that was completly done in a pro-touring resto-mod with a new 5.0 in it. Supposedly $100k worth of work. A C-10 with a cammed small block that really thumped showed up while we were there. Carter loved it, pointed and clapped when it went by to park.
Saturday my township has what they called Heritage Day with a car show and old timey baseball. The car show was decent for how small the township is and really no advertising. About 40 cars showed up, mostly 60-70's muscle cars, a couple late models and some 40-50's ear cars. There was a really nice early 60's Ford F-100 that was completly done in a pro-touring resto-mod with a new 5.0 in it. Supposedly $100k worth of work. A C-10 with a cammed small block that really thumped showed up while we were there. Carter loved it, pointed and clapped when it went by to park.
Speaking of moves, if everything plays out as planned we won't be Ohio residents too much longer. With the kids getting older it's getting harder to be 600+ miles away from family. Looking at places back in Virginia (Hampton Roads and Richmond) and North Carolina (Raleigh/Durham).
Fiji Mazda3
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- 2014 Ford Focus ST
Spent the weekend running around with the wife mostly and went up to Delaware to a customer's house to play with his new Boxer puppies. Got to hang out with a few ST people Friday up at Quaker Steak. I am sad that I missed another auto cross but I had zero motivation for some reason.
Leaving Friday for Nashville for the weekend. Should be a fun time and I get to see some of my old fraternity brothers.
Leaving Friday for Nashville for the weekend. Should be a fun time and I get to see some of my old fraternity brothers.
Good luck. We have family all around and it seems like we hardly get any help. Everyone offers to babysit until we actually ask.
Sorry I couldn't help motivate you. On the plus side, a box truck decided to pull out to turn left in front of me and I was able to a complete stop from 45ish mph. Bonus! I didn't get rear-ended either. Maybe my brakes aren't as bad as I thought. And my horn works, but maybe I just look into upgrading that. I've used it a lot lately...
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I live in Copley, What area of Akron are you moving into?
