Friday, August 12, 2022

Not A Bad Car Shop ... With A Hiccup

So I went to the shop, dropped off my car, went downtown to eat, and went back up to my town to get a handie from ******e.  Sadly, she didn't let me sleep in for a couple hours because she said she "wanted to start moving stuff to the hotel she'll be staying at starting this weekend" (she was staying at her parents' place, which ain't too shabby), so I had her drop me off at the shop where I was hoping that the guy's hopes when I dropped off my car that it'd be ready by noon -- she dropped me off before 11:30 -- were true.

And such a coincidence, it was!  When I walked through the door, the guy said he had just called me and left me a message!  It was ready!  And the cost for doing all the things that needed to be done was ridiculously reasonable!  Cool!  And so I drove out, seeing that I had an afternoon where I could both get my hair cut (for free at this school close by) and get a workout in.

But then I noticed something.  I didn't hear anything initially.  But after I pulled away from the school where the free haircuts are being given on my way to the gym, I heard a loud, rhythmic grinding/knocking/clicking noise whenever I stepped on the brake.  I thought I would drive it for a bit just in case it was a lubrication issue and the car just needed to warm up, but once I drove it to a Subway close to the community center, the noise was so loud that I just had to call the auto shop back.

The guy was flummoxed.  He swore they didn't touch the brakes, and I didn't ask them to do anything about them.  But he told me to come back to the shop and let him drive it so he could tell what is now wrong with it.  From the front where I had to sit I saw my car up and down the lift, the mechanics working on it, the guy at the front driving it around the block, him telling the guys to put it on the left again, and him driving it again before he pulled my car right up front, which means it was now OK.

The problem, according to him: Corrosion on the spindle.  When the spindle came in contact with the wheel, the rust comes into contact with it too, and so when I apply the brake pad, I hear that corrosion.  I don't quite understand that, but the second time around the guys in there cleaned off the corrosion, and I haven't heard that noise since -- well, at least much; I think I hear it quietly when I brake slowly.

Anyway, I am not all that happy because this noise obviously didn't happen before I brought it in.  The guy swore up and down they were nowhere near the parts where this noise suddenly occurred.  At any rate, I think they have fixed the problem, and they didn't charge me for it, even though, at least according to him, this was an issue separate from the maintenance I asked them to do and therefore, theoretically, would mean this would be an issue for which to be charged.

This noise after I brought the car was the exact thing I was afraid of when I decided to go to a different shop.  But they rallied to fix this problem that may not have been of their making, and so I think I will give them another chance, and a good review on Yelp.

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