I thought it might be a good idea to post about the bad shops I've run into over the past few years. I'd hate to see someone else go through the crap I've taken from some of these guys...

Tirecraft Burlington, near Appleby and Harvester. These are the infamous guys with the $100 rad hoses (for a "rare" setup, a 305 Firebird). Lets see, I got them to replace my rad and waterpump (I was stuck). Not only did they reuse the old radcap which was covered in stopleak from the previous owner, but I just now realized they left everything finger-tight. Three of the four TB bolts could be spun by hand, and the thermostat housing wasn't cranked down enough to prevent a leak. Not only that, when the fuel pump and IAC motor in my Jimmy died they recommended I replace the EGR and the cat (it must be clogged, just because it's aftermarket) to the tune of $1000. I'll never forge that phone call. Him: "To be blunt, what did you do to this truck?" He noticed the new cap/rotor and assumed that I screwed it up. Plus, they claim my brother's trannyfluid pan ('93 Pathfinder) is leaking because it has become "porous" due to age. Funny, it didn't leak before they changed the fluid.

Burlington Tire, south-west side of Harvester between Appleby and the south service road. These are the guys who had my limping truck (see above), and my work number, for a full day. They drove it around back and left it there all day long, and when I went to ask about it he said a tune-up would fix it, although he'd have to buy a timing light first. These guys do engine work without a timing light? And he couldn't have told me that over the phone? Next...

Collegeway Auto Centre, on the corner of Glen Erin and The Collegeway, Mississauga. Their tune-up on my Jimmy included setting the timing without disabling the advance. They "heard" a lower-end knock during that time and said it would need serious work soon and wanted to start working on it right away; that was two and a half years ago and I still haven't heard a damned thing. They decided my quickly disappearing ATF and smokeshow problem was actually an oil leak and the tranny was fine (smokeshow must've been in my head I guess). And finally, they took my GTA for a test drive when it went in for a tranny fluid change, BEFORE they changed the fluid! Bastards... I wish I noted the mileage before it went in.

Now I do what I can on my own (including breaking my reluctor... damn...), screw these guys. Anyone else care to share?

 

altho I've never had a personal experience with them I've heard of many many retarded stories so I'll just say.... Canadian Tire garages anywhere. Bad. Nuff said

 

Not a BAD garage, but a good one...

Hometown Automotive, off of the 115 South in Newcastle, Ontario..the people there are super-friendly, really know thei carsd, and have always been more then fair...always would do all they could to help me when I had to pay for college at the same time, and would go the extra mile for me. A+.

 

I caught a Midas employee doing a burnout in my car behind the shop.... but I kinda knew the guy so we laughed it off.

Midas on Wonderland Rd. in London owns for exhaust work.


Crappy Tire is the worst garage on the planet.

 

Should maybe have a sticky for stuff like this - local version of the vendor review etcetera.

 

I thought it might be a good idea...

Okay, good shops too. So far I've liked Wilf's Automotive (something like that) just behind the gas station on the north-east corner of Third line and Speers, in Oakville. He's slow but he's good.

I also liked Mr. Tranny just off of Hwy 5. here in Mississauga, but I'm not so sure now... Three times I went in to make an appointment and he told me to come back another time. I eventually just fixed the damned thing myself.

JPG Exhaust in Oakville. Very impressive. They took my Jimmy on the spot and installed a new cat without an appointment in around twenty minutes. Plus there were no hassles when I asked them to check if it was clogged (Thank TireCraft Burlington for that miserable mis-diagnosis). A very religious shop though, kind of unsetling for those of us who don't practise.

 

Well here in Ottawa, Mr. Transmission tried to build me a 700R4, then another, then another, then another, then i just got them to build me a th-350.

I broke 4 of their 700R4's in less than a month. They are garbage DEFINETLY when it comes to building that one!

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Stroked-Z
[B]Well here in Ottawa, Mr. Transmission tried to build me a 700R4, then another, then another, then another, then i just got them to build me a th-350.

honk!

 

Hey cool, my thread has been stickied. lol

There's a garage with a Sunoco gas station on Hwy 5, just west of the 427 that my father and my brother have both had negative experiences with. Hearsay I know, but still worth mentioning.

Hey Easy, who keeps trying to fix your clutch?

 

SureFire Automotive- Brampton

USED to be a good honest shop in years past...Owner got rich and turned into a greedy *****.
$$ changes everything.

 

I heard a story about Woodbridge Alignment on hwy 7 just east of Islington (that one that is beside the body shop). Apparently a guy bought what he thought he was great car since it looked mint.. until he put it up on a jack to change a tire and the jack went right through the frame.

 

Garage on the north side of Lakeshore east of Cawthra rd....can't remember the name but its across the street from Tim Hortons, anyways MAJOR SCAM ARTIST......DO NOT GO THERE.....just west of that another shop called Rosewood.......do not got there.......

 

Muffler's and Exhaust
Best:
Exhaust:
Minute Muffler - Large shop located on St Clair East of Jane on the North Side. Tons of staff and they only specialize in one thing - exhausts!

Driveline:
Dynamic Shaft - stocks the most parts. Dana/Spicer. Balancing, u-joints, etc. Very good!

Cardanic - Very good driveline place!

Worst:
Driveline 2000 (old name Driveline Specialties) - Stay away. Period.

Humberview Chev Olds - Do NOT bring your car for service there.
Left numerous bolts on my car hand-tight and broke my relay plastic holder under the hood. Received full apology from shop foreman.

Mister Transmission - Jane & Lawrence. They broke my tranny and tried to blame me for it. Returned to me and the gears would not stay engaged. I brought it in to fix a leak. Don't go there...
Numerous letters to MT head office yeilded nothing.

 

Here are my two cents,

BAD Shops: When I had bought my vert, it wasn’t exactly running that great. I figured it needed a tune up, maybe a new fuel pump. At red lights/stop signs, the car would tremble. Much like a carbeurated car would if it were running too rich or lean. I took my car to garage to get e-tested. It failed. Ok, no problem, I’ll spend a couple of bucks and fix’r up real good like! I took the car to Towne Chev/Olds in Oakville on Trafalgar road. They cleaned the injectors, changed the MAS, and gave it a tune-up. Wow, lot of work eh? Any ways, they had the car a week, and it cost me $1800.00. After all that, the car still failed. They had to test the car again, but this time retarding the timing to get it to pass. Oh yah, the car ran the same as it did before I brought it to them. Money well spent..**** heads!

I took the car to Halton Electric on Speers road in Oakville. Even though they’re known for selling parts, they have a mechanic named Mike there who really knows his ****. He went through the car front to back. He found that the injectors were clean as a whistle, but were bad electronically. The morons at Towne Chev/Olds just assumed that the injectors were good and never tested them before they installed them. Halton replaced the all the injectors, and charged me $1800.00 for a week worth of diagnostics, and injectors. Too much, maybe….but the car runs great so no complaints from me.

Ok, everyone makes mistakes, but when I went back to those crooks at Towne Chev/Olds, they treated me like some biatch. They gave me $500.00 back for my troubles. Geez, thanks…that’ll cover my first months payment on the VISA you fack’rs…what about the rest of the money you owe me for poor service received?

BAD Exhaust: TAG Motorsport on Royal Windsor Drive in Oakville installed an exhaust on my ’86 Mustang several years back. I dropped the car off, it took them a couple of hours to install a dual exhaust, and it cost me $400.00. I though it was a bargain considering I gave them the mufflers. Two years later, the exhaust needed replacing. No fault of theirs, that’s just the nature of the beast. Well, this time I took into Speedy (corner of Speers and Kerr), who’ve done work for me in the past and I’m happy with the work they do for me. Well, they hoisted the car up and told me everything had to be ripped apart. The guys at TAG used “metal”, not aluminum, but metal pipe that looked like swiss cheese after two winters. Oh yah, everything was welded. Can’t remember what I paid at Speedy, but it couldn’t have been that bad otherwise I would have remembered.

BAD Exhaust: Hot Rod Scott’s. This shop is all hype, and expensive. I had a flowmaster muffler put on, cost me $500.00. 6-months after installation a rattle was coming from the back end. I took it back to Scotts and they said that the cc was bad and that a part of the honeycomb probably broke off and was nested in the muffler. They were correct; the cc was bad and I had it replaced. BUT, that noise wasn’t a piece of metal in the muffler. Later that year at my mechanic (S&K Automotive Specialists-good shop) I complained about the rattle. They inspected the exhaust and told me that the long pipe between the cc and muffler was bad. In particular, that the part of the pipe, which extends over the axle, was where the rattle was coming from. Well, just this past week ( a year after my mechanics diagnosis) I took the car to Scotts. The guys there did a visual inspection, and banged the exhaust a couple of times. They put a couple of spot welds on the air-return (from cc), and on the cc flange, and said that would cure the rattle. Before they could lower the car, I grabbed the tail pipes and shook the muffler about….rattle, rattle, rattle is what you heard. The installer then took a closer look at the exhaust, and found that the part of the pipe, which extends over the axle, was split down the seam, it was rusted actually. They replaced the long-pipe, and didn’t charge me that much, but it took 2 visits before they could take the **** from their eyes to inspect the exhaust properly…and a bit of persistence on my part.

GOOD Shops: SK Automotive on Woody Road off of Speers in Oakville.

 

Bad shop- Santings OK Tire Stores


install cat and y-pipe which i supplied---$383. RIPOFF

job shouldnt have taken more than 2 hours at $75/hour, do not go there