Measure twice, cut once
A few weeks ago, my PT Cruiser GT started shimmying like mad on the highway. I pulled over, then made it to the next exit and limped home. It didn’t stop shimmying, the steering wheel pulling an inch over one way and then back the other.
I took it down to the tire shop, assuming that it might be a tire-unrelated issue but that, since they had recently rotated and balanced the tires, it might be a weight falling off (which has happened to me). They pronounced the wheel bent, but rebalanced it.
That lasted until the next highway drive. I returned it and asked them to look at the suspension and such for other problems, but they insisted it was the wheel. Until now, I hadn’t paid a penny for the rework.
The next time I took it down to the shop three blocks away. They came back with the same diagnosis and I paid $30 to have the tires rebalanced.
It didn’t work.
The next stop was to Teterboro Chrysler, my last stop before sending the much-accused wheel to a straightener in Fairfield. My request was simple: put the car onto a lift and check things out. I asked for “no road test.”
It took the mechanic almost a minute to find the problem, including putting the car onto the left. The first thing he did was to spin the wheels to visually observe them. One of the front wheels had a bad caliper which, when heated, caused a bad chatter, which has roughly the same symptoms as shimmy.
The cost for replacing the caliper is less than rebending the wheel, though to be fair, I’ll probably need a new disc, too.
The moral of the story is in the title. An extra minute of diagnosis can save an hour of repair.
Now, why didn’t the two other mechanics (three, really, since I had different people on each trip) take two seconds to spin the wheel? (Which, incidentally, Teterboro’s mechanic found to be just fine.) There was a lucrative brake job in front of them – and they gave it up for free work.
A friend of mine had a similar problem a few years ago with his 2001 PT. It had lots of KMs for the year (240 000 if I recall correctly), and I remember it did that on the highway.
If I remember correctly, his problem were the tab bushings (whatever it’s spelled in English).
I’d take your title and associate it with another issue. “measure twice, cut once”. Sometimes automakers cut a little too much in the quality and design of their cars.. maybe they should have measured twice.
The real moral of the story should be, you get what you pay for. Im sure the Chrysler shop was more expensive, with better trained techs.
cbrseadude: It’s not a matter of payment; but a matter of competency. Any shop worth 10 cents would have put it on the lift, and spun the wheel first. I’m not a mechanic and I know to do that first if there’s a shimmy at speed. In fact, my tire shop did that first, recently, before diagnosing my rim as bent. But then, they’re a rarity; a shop that isn’t out to screw their customers.
I’d avoid those two first shops. Like the plague. If they consistently refuse to do basic diagnosis on simple issues, then what will they fail to do with a major issue?
My comment is: Hearing what some shops do to seperate you from your money is staggering.. I’ve always been a believer to use your dealer if you can find one you trust. Most technicians are trained and receive bulletins on problems with the cars they service, whereas other shops just hunt and peck. Pay the price, take that pride you drive to the dealer, remember, in most cases, ” less is more”.
I saw at the local “Giant Mart” today that an oil change is $30.00. My local Dodge Dealer only charges me $24.95, so the dealer is not always the most expensive.
I’ve found the same thing to be true. Tire places, as a group, are not the best places to have anything complex done. If the problem requires any sort of diagnostic skill the dealer (a good one) is almost always a required trip. Fortunately in my area there are two I can choose from. Both have provided good service at reasonable prices and you end up getting what you pay for as well as what you expected.
Yes, finding competent mechanics can be a challenge at times. I always give the dealer a first shot at most things. Although now that the warranty is off on the Grand Caravan, I will do some things myself because there’s nothing to void if I screw up. I have found the prices at the dealership climbing though. I needed a new battery a few months ago and they wanted $128 for it plus $40 to install. I ended up buying a Die Hard with more CCA’s and a better warranty for $85 and installed it myself. A piece of cake on the Caravan, a nightmare to install on my 300M.
Last week I decided to address the clunking noise I heard when making turns. I was thinking with 107K miles on the odometer that the ball joints or tie rod ends had finally given out. Took it to the dealer just in case it was something more critical like the steering rack. Turned out to be bad strut mounts. Dealer estimate to install new front struts and strut mount kit: Over $900.00. Alignment extra. WTF.
Instead, I took it to a local tire shop I have done business with from time to time. Yep, they confirmed it was the strut mounts that were making the noise. Cost to replace the struts with upgraded Monroe struts and the strut mounts: $600.00. (Which I still think is way too high…but maybe I’m living in yesteryear.) Ended up negotiating to have them do the front struts/mounts, replace the rear shocks with heavy duties, and got a 4-wheel alignment for $700.00. They even took the time to check out my sway bars to see if they might be a source of noise as well.
To the dealer’s credit, they did call me a couple of days later asking me if I was going to have the work done. I said I found somebody to do the same work they quoted me for over $300.00 less and, in fact, I had other work done and was still $200.00 below what they had quoted. Guy on the phone said he’d pass the info. along to the owner.
Honestly, I have sometimes found the dealer to be less expensive than independent garages and national chains. I’ve learned to get a second opinion though. I really do believe that the dealer has better trained mechanics that also have the benefit of working on Chrysler products every single day. That can only improve their knowledge and quality of their work….I hope. If the dealer’s prices are 5%, 10%, or even 15% higher, I still would likley use them. When the pricing gets beyond that, I no longer see the value in whatever might differentiate the dealer from the rest. And let’s face it, using Mopar OEM replacement parts isn’t necessarily a good thing. Other brands may have higher quality and be an upgrade to Mopar. It’s a bit of a crap shoot.
It’s a shame but true that Mopar parts are often inferior, especially with the residual “Buy Chinese” effects of Nardelli and (mainly) Campi. To Bob Nardelli’s credit, he did finally eliminate Campi after dragging the #*&!&* over.
I do think that once you get a diagnosis at the dealer, as Scott said, one should use the dealer unless their rates have an absurd premium. Otherwise they end up spending a lot of extra time on training and diagnosis that never gets paid back, and then they will do what so many bad dealers did – do the bare minimum of both.
This is why I drive almost 30 miles for service. I reward competent work….
I take my car to the dealer and only the dealer. 1 they stand behind there work, 2 they are factory trained with tsb,s etc. Also they know there brand of cars all the little quirks etc. Also what I have found they are actually cheaper than the independants, oil changes, brakes etc. Also I know what brand of parts are going into my car. I have had no issue with Mopar pars what so ever.