Well, my brakes went out Friday afternoon. 65mph on an offramp with no brakes is always fun (long live the manual transmission!)

Anyway, since I don't have any decent tools, and my stepdad has tools but no shop space, and given it was going to be bloody cold out this weekend, I decided it would be worth it for the "pros" to do it. (It was the steel line that runs along the inside of the frame, behind the gas tank and everything.)

So I took my truck into Expert Tire in South Bend. The guy calls me up after he has a chance to look at it. He starts going on about how all the brakes are shot (pads "wore over 90%", rotors are "grooved". The rotors aren't even a year old yet!!), and that they would have to replace those.

Well, as soon as he started talking about the rotors, I called bull****. Told the guy to just do the brake lines and the wheel seal. Ended up being out $500, but at least I can stop now.

I think I'm in the wrong line of work. Their sheet shows that they want $202 just to do the front wheel bearings!

At any rate, one of the items caught my attention, simply because I don't know much about it. They recommend that a ball joint and steering knuckle be replaced. Now I know how the basics of a vehicle, but that stuff is over my head. Anyone willing to steer me in the right direction on that one?

 

Sounds like they are trying to suck money out of you. The knuckle recommendation is Horse ****. Get your truck back, pay the bill for the brake line and tell him to GTF outa here with his recommendations. The ball joint may be plausible, but with him adding that extra crap take it somewhere else.

 

Were they atleast going to use lube?

 

if u need a new knuckle you would no.
you would only need one if urs is either broke or bend and ur truck would not be drivable like that.
ball joint could be bad but i'd take it some where else and have them check it if you dont no how to.

 

Knuckle meaning the whole spindle or just the tie rods. Tie rods (especially inners) go out all the time on these trucks.

 

The paper says, verbatim, "remove and replace f steering knuckle, one side". Likely were going to try to do the whole knuckle. They even had an oil change on there, even though I just changed my oil not even a month ago.

Now that I look at the paper, it's listed as QTY: 2. They wanted to do both.

Never going there again.

 

At which point this raises a bigger red flag.

A) They are pricing the work and parts of a knuckle for a simple tie rod. F them. Go somewhere else.

B) They think that a tie rod and or spindle are in fact what a knuckle is,.... F them. They are incompetant and would not be allowed to further touch my vehicle if they don't even know what they are working on. Go somewhere else.

 

This makes me want to learn how to fix a automatic transmission so I DONT ever have to go to a place like this cause I will know how to do almost everything then,

 

Actually they are very competent at finding things to fix that don't need fixing.

Actually they are dishonest, not incompentent.

 

your knuckles broke, blinker fluid is low, exhaust fluid is gone, your Rotary engine need new rotars, and new pistons.... looks like $6,000 in work.

 

we need to repack the muffler bearings as well. I hear goodyear has a good line of premium muffler bearings.

 

Did they also try to say you need a catastophic Converter as well??
Tell them to go F*#* THEMSELVE
Twisted Hipster

 

I hear the offer a 50,000 mile warranty, but you need to add a Catalytic converter bearing to to comply with the warranty. and you also need to ensure that you dont release catalyst in the converter when you do so!!!

 

lol u guys crack me up

 

Oh lord, what have I started?

I'm going to check the front pads this weekend just to be sure. If they are worn, it may not be a bad time to go to ceramic pads.

 

Did they adjust your timing to daylight savings?
How about rotating all four valve caps on your tires?

It's not a complete screw over untill those things are done.

 

**** I never thought of those, I need to have a dealership check that out. They just replaced my steering wheel with a left hand user steering wheel.

 

Yea I would agree those guys sound like they are trying to con you, and its easy for them to do it because its all over the phone. Now if you were there in person then itd be different.

Id either have them show you, just for ****s and giggles, or take it to another more honest mechanic and see what he has to say.