Fresh off the suspension upgrade and 1LE upgrade, I took my car in to XXX Chevy in Rock Hill, SC this morning. I set up an 8AM appointment for the alignment and decided to have them rebleed the brakes while I was there...save me a little crawing around time. How long could an alignment take anyway?

I'm usually a patient guy, but at 10:15 and after 6-8 other customers had came and went, I went walking around and saw my car just sitting there, nothing going on with it, parked next to a 'Vette. I went and asked the service guy to check on the status. He came back and said they had a truck in the bay that he didn't know about and it would be a couple hours before they could get to it. So, being on nights this week, I called my wife at her work to take off and come take me home, I needed some sleep. I got to bed about 11AM or so.

Here's where it gets good...

At 1:15, the phone rings and it's the service guy. He asks me if I mind if, while doing the alignment, they "put a few scratches and possibly some dents" in the upper strut mount itself and the mounting area because they don't have the tool required to do the alignment correctly. EXCUSE ME?!?!?? He tells me that large adjustments like my car needed (since the rebuild) aren't usually required on an alignment and they don't have that tool to do the job right. He continued by saying that this was their only real option because no one else had the tool either " 'Cause adjustments like this just aren't that common. There's really nothing else we can do, Mr. Miller."

I told him I thought that was unbelievable that a CHEVY DEALER of all people didn't have tools required to do a proper service and to forget about it and I'll pick up the car later.

So I call up YYY Pontiac, about 5 miles away from XXX, and talk to their service foreman. I told him the story, he was suprised at the whole deal, and told me he had that very tool in the shop, even said he broke it and they replaced it to have it on hand. I dropped the car off and I'll get it tomorrow.

Am I just tired or is that the biggest load of shixnit you ever heard?

"Can we damage your car with your permission?"

 

Wow, very unprofessional. I work in a dealership (Nissan) and if we don't have the right tool (which is extremly rare) we would find a way to get the job done with NO damage to the customer's pride and joy. Good thing you took it somewhere else before they dropped it off the lift or something.

 

yeah that sounds weird, very unprofessional indeed.

 

Hmmmm....
Did you find out what "miracle" tool this would happen to be ?

 

yeah i was wondering what tool this was also .

 

What a tool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Man, that is unbeilivable. I am dropping my car off to the dealership monday and their doing a diagnostic check on it....hopefully they don't call me at work and go "is it alright if we fry ur wiring and create a huge electric problem for u? Cause we can't seem to find the spot where to hook up the computer to the machine." LoL

 

Wow, That story is right up there with some of the crap Ive dealt with on my Truck. Good old Brager Chevrolet, who is know for being kinda shaddy, but I needed truck and they put me in one cheep, with a warrenty. So it starts out the truck was labled as being a 5.7 350 ci, which seemed right being that that is pretty much standard on a z71. The day after I got it I found out it was only a 305 ( after much yelling, I was rembursed for the difference in value between a 350 truck and a 305 truck) Any ways all is well the truck rocks, after about 2 weeks the water pump takes a crap on me, so I take it in and tell them to fix it being that I have a warrenty ( once again alot of yelling, they decided to pick up the warrenty deductable so as not to lose my business) 1 month later water pump takes a crap again. I take it in and this time they tell me oh its not the water pump this time. Supposidly the intake manifold was leaking on the back corner. But how does that explain the coolant dumping from the pump ??? After a whole lot more yelling I get stuck with the warrenty deductable and all they did was remove the manifold, replace gaskets, and put it all back together. When I brough it to them the engine compartment was imaculate all clean, armoraled, no dirt what so ever. I get it back and it looked like they dumped about a gallon of used oil on the entire motor. When I confronted the service manager on this, he sided with the mechanics and offered no compensation what so ever. I hate shady mechanics but its even worse when they are a certifided GM shop at a dealership.

 

Recently President Bush gave a speech and stated that he had changed his mind about Iraq and was taking them off the axis of evil list. He decided to put bad dealer/mechanics on in their place.

Hope you have better luck next time.

 

EDIT: the names of the guily was removed to protect this site from any potentiol slander alagations. if anyone wants the name of the dealer in question i'm sure an e mail to Mr. Miller will get it for you.

i may be wrong but i thought it was a requirement for the dealer to buy and have the "special tool kit" for each model year. i know the local dealer has a big peg board rack with the special tools on it.

 

At least he phoned and asked you, I used to work for a auto shop and some of the **** they pulled off was unbelievable.

mostly just fleet trucks but still.

I quit there shortly after, I refuse to work for ppl that make a living ripping their customers off

 

According to the GM manual, there is a special tool that attahces to the fender and the strut tower. It has an adjuster nut in the center of it and by turning it, it will adjust the camber. IIRC it can also be used for setting caster.

I've yet to see ANY shop use one of these. I was freaked out to see one shop POUNDING on my strut towers to adjust them.

Thankfully the mech. used a rubber mallot, but needless to say, I haven't returned to that shop since.

 

LOL! 91BIRD305. I worked on a truck last week. It had a short in the meter circuit, which is probably the worst circuit to have short in, since it powers just about everything. It was a "hand-me-down" from another dealership. They must have tried to fix the short by putting a jumper wire across the fuse box and following the smoke, because this guy's harness was fried! Not all butcher's work in the butcher shop. Even the dealerships have them.

 

This is an older story, but along the same lines. Might make a few of you guys feel better about your mechanics when you hear about it

When my dad was in Med School waaaaaaaaaaaay back in the early 70's, he had a 67 Chevelle SS ragtop. Both he and my mom loved that car. It was hit in the rear, and the dear's shop did an absolutely terrific job in repairing it. Later on, someone sliced through the top, and stole the car. It was found stripped, no engine, etc. Insurance decided to have it rebuilt, and here the dealer decided to go as cheap as possible. Instead of finding the correct parts for my dad's car, they found parts that were "close enough" (Carb for one). They replaced the nice white ragtop with some POS tan thing from some parts car, not even a chevelle. Replaced the nice stereo with another cheap AM only crap. I forget all the other things, but it wasn't even close to the same car. Mom and Dad had nothing but problems with it when they got it back. It ran rich, then lean, then rich all without adjustments being made. Just random changes. Lack of power, poor air flow, all sorts of problems. So Dad took it back again to have them fix it. While they were working on it, they took the hood off and propped it up in the corner of the shop. Apparently it "blew over" onto some tools, putting a big dent right in the middle of the hood. They didn't bother telling Dad, or even trying ot fix it. He noticed it as he was leaving the shop, and came right back around, understandibly furious. To fix the dent, they drilled some holes, and filled it with Bondo. They didn't bother to mix the paint when they repainted it, so there were silver streaks all over it. When Dad lifted the hood, there were strings of Bondo hanging down onto the air intake on the carb. I believe that was the final blow, and they ended up selling th car to some mexican guy.

That's not everything that happended, Dad had to go back to the shop 4 or 5 times to get things done over again. I guess no matter how bad things seem with the shop, someone else has a worse story. Later guys.

 

Very un-professional . Do they have a better business bureau in your state ? I would contact them . Because thats just plain tacky what they did you .

 

I'd say your really lucky that they called you. Most places would have beat the crap out your car and not said a word. Then they might have taken it for a test drive coming sideways out of the shop at 60mph.

I think if I ever have to go to a dealer for repairs again, I'll stand behind the "technician" with a baseball bat.

 

yes GM requires that dealerships maintain a certain special tool inventory but there are ways around this, ie one owner having 3-4 dealerships and "sharring" tools when the yearly tool inventory comes around, where I work there are many special tools that we do not have, however many of the people have worked without them for long enough that they know how to do the repair without damage to the car. Often if there is one specific thing(tool) that must be had we will force our service manager to either find a dealer that has it and will let us borrow it or we will eventually get it from GM, oh another big thing, granted we may have to tool, but uhh when you find it, I will use it!

 

My girlfriend took my 91 Z28 in for a detailing about half a year ago. SHe handed the keys over and the guy who actually got the car to pull it into the bay thought she had left becasue he ROMPED on it from the parking lot to the bay. SHe flew off the handle and got free detailing...then when he opened the hood and had his ear right next to the alarm siren she set off the alarm, which is pretty damn loud and irritating. I think I'll keep her around.

 

sounds like a keeper to me

 

When I used to work at a body shop as an alignment tech I purchased this required tool from MAC tools..I remember around $40.Made the job so easy.Since I got out of the automotive business I still have it (actually have two) and whenever I go for an alignment I bring them with me so this type of situation doesn't arise.I have had more than one tech ask to purchase it from me.If I ever saw a tech grab a hammer to align my car...DEATH.

 

Well, at least they called, and didn't just do it. If it were my shop, I would've just done it. Granted, they should have the right tools, but c'mon, a few nicks and scratches on the strut tower? I could see if it was the fender or bumper or hood or anywhere a scratch would be noticed, but really! Throw one belt or drop a wrench, and you've got a scratch underneath the hood. Just seems like you're making it out to be worse than it is (or could've been), that's all, no flame intended. Imagine if you found out they took a hammer to it without asking you!

 

Thanks for the replies guys. I thought that maybe I just overreacted, but I'm still torqued over it so I guess I didn't. At least the guy did call, I give him that. But I still think the dealer SHOULD have the tool required, or at least be able to get one to use for the job.


Yup, that's the one they needed that YYY Pontiac had. They did a great job...no scratches either!!

Matthew, keep that girl around!!

Tom, I guess I'm just **** about unnecessary damage. I would like to pop my hood at a show eventually (with those super-duper cool HMS strut mounts I've got coming!!) and not have to explain the cat-like scratches around the struts.

Ed

 

I think I'll make her pose in a bikini next to my car. I think she's a little pissed at me becasue I bought that car from her dad and she loved it. Whats really cool is during gift-giving times she gives me money for car stuff. Way cool.

Hey ebmiller....got the car back the other day with the springs all loaded correctly. It looks fantastic. I really thought I was going to have prob with that clearance, but it has not been an issue.

 

Yea, few nicks and scratches here and there what's the difference, come on! Heck why torque the nuts down to spec either? I mean what's a few pounds between friends? Hmm why use this shock he wants? It's probably too stiff, I'll just use this old one I have here, what's the difference? What the heck, I'm getting paid $75 an hour, why should -I- have to go out of my way to avoid damaging this fool's car? It's not like he's paying me or oh wait he is, maybe I should actually do stuff CORRECTLY since that's what I'm getting paid to do.

 

o.k. - yeah - the dealer was WRONG to even think about damaging the car to do the job - but heres how I do alignments:

Most of the time once you loosen the strut tower and unload the suspension the tower will just move nicely by hand - no need for "special" tools. This "special" tool from G.M. (Kent-Moore) is used to make the job easy - I.E. you don't have to unload the suspension to adjust the camber.

Sometimes if the strut tower is really stuborn - and won't move by hand - I will use a soft faced dead-blow hammer to persuade it. Leaves no markes or anything else of concern - and works just fine. The dealer obviously was intent on pounding away on the strut tower with a 5lb ball peen hammer - which of course is unacceptable.

Many shops would have just pounded the thing without asking. There are very few independant shops that actually have this special tool for ThirdGen alignments - and most of the gorillas working the rack are very adept with their 5lb sledge.

I am astounded that a G.M. dealer would actually call for permission to damage a customers car. This is so far out it almost seems unbelievable - but I have seen stranger things. It just goes to show that these "factory trained technicians" that work there are really not nesscsarily the cream of the automotive repair and service industry. As with anything - there are the good ones and the bad ones.

Ed - good call on getting your car out of there as fast as you could.

Oh - and one more thing: That fancy G.M. tool wont be any good on the strut towers I am making - in fact I have seen them damaged by that tool - so the soft faced dead-blow is preferable when you get those. Just FYI.

 

Lol that's like taking the car for a new paint job and them asking "Would you mind if we got a bit of paint on the windshield? It's really hard to remove windshields and I'm lazy. It won't look that bad, HONEST!"

 

i took my car to get tires
parked in front of the store an dgive the desk the keys
i see teh tech go get my car, heres where the fun starts, you have to pull onto a road to get to the shop side of the building from where i was parked well when he pulls onto the road i can hear the tires squeling from inside the store
then when he pulls off the road he hits the drive way and bottoms out the car
he pulls it into the bay and gets out and gous and looks under the car for damage, well by this time im outside and i say comley
man is this your car and he says no, then why were you drivin it like that, cause these are fun to drive and hell never knowthe difference, i blow at this time and needless to say the next day i had a new "discounted" pair of tires and he was lookin for another job

 

A friend of mine in highschool was having in Bronco repaired. He said he was driving around one afternoon, pulled up to his car at a stop light, and the dude was blasting the radio. All he got out of it was a free tank of gas

 

Hey bythe way...I'm going in for an alignment this week. What is the name of this tool so I can ask? WHat would I ask the guy at the shop? Is it a special tool only used on third gens? (I have a prokit if that makes any difference).

 

I don't know..........

But doing an alignment on my car SUCKED!!!!

I work at an Auto dealer myself (Toyota). I decided to do
an alignment on my car 'cause I like to "keep it up". I usually get the aligment done every other year. I last one was in 1999 or 2000, somewhere around there. This was my first time doing an alignment on my car. I set it up, no problems, look at the specs. , everything good except, of course, the toe. This usually goes out more often than the other "angles" of the car's wheels. (Camber,Caster).

So, I started to loosen up the tie rod end bolts/nuts, no problems, started to move the sleeve, FROZEN, BOTH SIDES!
Damn , I ended up having to "Heat up" the sleeves just to move them! After about an hour or so, boom! I got it in spec.
Drove off, all set!!!!

I'm so glad that I'm an Auto mech. 'cause at least I know what's going on with the car.

I just wanted to let you guys know about my experiance on this alignment....HOPE EVERYONE ELSES GOES OK!!!!!!! lol

:hail:

 

Dude, NO Mechanic makes $75 bucks an hour!!!! That's the labor rate ( the money that goes to the Dealer's pockets). The most I ever heard of a Mechanic make , a master tech, with like 10-15 years experiance with ASE certified, is like $25 bucks an hour!!!!
But,of course, if he's flat rate, then he can make like 70-80 hours at $25 bucks an hour , and make a good living!

 

Thats odd, After rebuilding my front end, I just had my car re alined at an every day shop, no problems they did for me while I was there. Sound like the chevy place just didn't know what they were doing, they probably had the tool just didn't know it.

My worst experience however was getting tires on my car one time. The lift arm woudn't go under the exhaust to the front frame rail. So this idiot puts the lift arm under the fender mount. Needless to say I was pissed. I was standing out side the bay and hear it pop, I look and my finder is buckled out, I scream at the guy the fender is bending, he just stops and looks at it. They fixed my car but still neglect like that, they fired the guy but I still will never take my car there again.

 

Oh come on, you're getting ridiculous now. How many times have we pounded a bolt to get it out, or used a cut off tool on a bolt head, or beat on a rear drum? Hell, even with Camaro_nut using heat on his suspension- what if he used too much heat, and wound up ruining the temper of the steel, and it's now softer? Who here hasn't used their foot on a lugwrench, or jammed a screwdriver into a flywheel to loosen the torque convertor bolts? All of you have a tool to install the harmonic balancer, and never pounded it on with a hammer and block of wood, right? Nobody here's used an SAE socket on a metric bolt, stripped the head, then used vise-grips to get the bolt out? You mean to tell me that all of you have pristine looking, scratch free, dirt free, oil free, engine compartments?? If so, my hat's off to you- even though I don't wear a hat. If all it took was a couple hammer blows to align the thing, what's the big deal?? If you don't have, or can't get, the proper tool, you improvise. Now granted, a GM dealer should've had that tool, or should've been able to borrow it from another dealer, but wow! You guys act like the dealer was going to torch the shock tower off, and put it back on with zip-ties, and hope nobody noticed. A scratch! Geez! More damage gets done in a parking lot. One of the reasons we call mechanics is because they've seen just about every situation and know how to handle it, they know their tricks, how far to go with one thing before coming at it from a different angle.

I'm just saying, lets stop being So Amazed that the Dealer was going to Damage The Car! Lets be happy the dealer called him. What some of you guys call "Damage" is much, much, much different than MY idea of "damage the car". When I first read this message, I thought the dealer was caught trying to kick the fender in, or something like Aviator857 mentioned. Not a few knicks by the strut tower. I see the concern, but like I said, if I owned a shop and had to do that job, I doubt I would've called anyone; I would've just hammered at the strut mount, probalby using a piece of wood between the mount and the hammer.

But in case I'm being misunderstood, I'm not trying to insult anyone, or make fun of anyone. I'm trying to make the point that I think it's great the dealer called- that's what we should be happy about.

 

Nicely put Tom. And I'm tired of seeing this post on the top already... its over.

 

I AGREE!!!

TOMP, YOU SAID IT! I do that stuff all day long! I'm not a hack
in anyway. I love what I do, I take pride in my job. But sometimes, you HAVE TO damage or even alter a part in order
to get to or "adjust" another part! Once that part is damaged, I replace it. Of course we tell the customer first and explain into detail if we have to remove,damage,and or replace a part to get to the part being replaced/fixed.

'NUFF SAID!

Later.......

 

if he wanted a jack-leg working on his car, he wouldnt have taken it to the dealer. they are supposed to be the top of the line when it comes to turning wrenches. any greenhorn or jackleg can beat on your car, but the dealer is supposed to do the job right. i turn wrenches everyday, and if its not within factory specs i will fix it. sounds like we have a few butchers in here.

 

WHOA!!!!

You calling me a butcher??!!!


You better not be! LIKE I SAID....

I take pride in my work, I love what I do, I respect other
people's cars (customers). I ALWAYS<ALWAYS<ALWAYS...
Take the best effort in my job, day in, day out. I have a
Foreman in my shop to check up, or help me out if needed.
I think you misunderstood!!!!!

If you know what I'm talking about in my previous post
above, then I don't need to explain, but.....


If you have found or "created" a broken, frozen, loose,
seized, bent, misadjusted, out of spec. part on the car...

( "found" or "created" meaning, I had to remove the left front wheel, but in the process, a lugnut came off very hard, found that the stud threads were stripped, or visa versa...
I put the left front wheel back on, in the process, the lugnut went on very hard, resulting in a stripped stud and lugnut.)

WHAT DO YOU DO??? YOU fix it right??? Tell your service advisor to tell the customer what happened or what is needed to repair his/her car/truck. right????

If you had damaged something, or broke something
in the process of repairs on a car, you fix it ,right???


ACCIDENTS CAN HAPPEN AS WELL!!!!!!!
Don't forget that , too!

Stuff like this can happen!!!! It's normal!!!! Cars do build up rust/rot, wear/tear, break down, etc!!!!!!!!!!!


YES, unfortunately, there ARE hackers, butchers, whatever you
want to call them.... OUT THERE!!!! I see it a lot!!! I work on cars for about 7 years now. So I know what's right from wrong!!!!!
I went to school just for Auto. I was taught by some very nice, well educated teachers, and techs, through my career so far.




'NUFF OF THIS SH*T ALREADY,LET"S MOVE ON!!!!!!!!!!!

 

im not calling you a butcher, i just think there is a difference between working in your driveway without all the right stuff, and being in a shop with every tool available. there is no way i would pound on this guys car just because i dont have the right tool. it obviously falls back on the manager for not even trying to get the tool needed, they just wanted to make some quick dough instead of having to wait on a tool to do the job right. in turn, they will never have this guys business agian, nor anyone he tells. so they lose in the end. anyone working on commission will cut corners as long as they get away with it. i take my time and do the job right. sorry if i offended anyone. i just hate jack-legs!!!!

 

YES, YOUR RIGHT!

I'm sorry for "flying off the handle" like that. But I needed
to get my point of view in.

I understand about what you said about that Chevy Dealer
not having the right tool to do the job right. If this ever happened
in my dealership, they would simply come out honestly and say,
"I'm sorry, but we can not align your vehicle because we don't have the right tools to do that job right." But will never happen because we DO have every tool for a particular job on Toyotas. Unless, of course, they come in with a 1990 Ford F-350 or something! Then, we may turn them down, because it won't fit on our alignment rack!!!!
(Yes, I work for Toyota, and LOVE it! Better than Ford, Dodge, and all imports, except Toyota and Lexus of course. Worked on all of these.
I left out all GM brands because some of their cars I like and are OK to work on. Too bad Pontiac and Camaro/Firebirds are no more!
You will be missed!

I never heard of , all places , a Dealer do something like that! This sounded like it came from a garage or backyard mechanic. Not from a dealer.

Take care.

Later.