I tend to agree it is very part dependent. If you snap a bolt off, no biggie, you drill it and pull it, it sucks but no biggie. At most you pay a extra $2.00 for a new bolt.

But when you start messing with more pricey parts I think the customer should at least be notified.

Case in point, I went to get an alignment on my other car, they called me and said I needed a new ball joint. Then explained they couldn't do the alignment unless it was replaced. I went in and took alook myself and pointed out that the ball joint wasn't faulty but rather the tech. The bolt that held the ball joint in was loose and thats what was causing the loosness in the wheel.

After the tech's face turned back to normal from all the redness they did the alignment.

Point is they called rather than continuing on with the job b/c of the added price that was envolved.

 

That made me laugh aloud at work... thanks a lot.

I think that anytime you car is in a shop's hands, they are liable. I would ask for them to cover it. It wasn't like they were being careless, but it was still in their hands. Like others have said, being that the part was $140.00 they really should have given you a call.

 

Fred,

U seem to be very negative in your posts. I just got done reading the guy with the different sized wheels. R u a business person who has been screwed in the past and that's why the consumer is always wrong? Sometimes people just need to vent, rather than be told to grow up or given the "Duh."

Jonny

 

The customer is only ever wrong when they are wrong. Do you support that guy's claim that he was sent defective wheels?

I am in business, yes. When something is my fault, I admit it straight away, and make it right, no matter how much it costs me. But "the lip on the wheel I ordered is too small" is not the vendor's fault. I don't believe this to be their fault either. They did everything they could and it broke. If they had called you, would you have honestly told them to stop because the part "may break"? Just because "it wasn't a $2 bolt" doesn't wash with me either - almost every part a mechanic deals with on your car is not a $2 bolt. I happen to have a pair of rear V8 Soarer calipers in my garage spare. I'd happily send you the one you need for free (I collect these from people who would throw them out otherwise), except I am in Australia

That loosening of the bolt from the pin basically is the whole job, apart from just clipping in new pads.

 

The bolt costs 11.57 retail 8.75 my cost.

Its not so much the fact that it happened. I talked with the manager of the firestone, he was really short with me and treated me like I had no idea what a caliper guide pin is.

Fact is I probably, have the same if not more mechanical experience than his lead mechanic.

I didn't goto school for three years to have some a$$ on the phone lie to me and Johnny about how it is his(Johnny's) fault that he (the shop) broke the part. I know how this crap works, the only problem that the firestone shop has is that he dosen't want to spend the tech time on removing a rusted bolt that will eat up time that could be used to make him more profitable money.

The end result is this,,

The shop has reacted very poorly to the situation, it could be handled in a much better way but have not taken the action to do so.

I have had to pull strings and teeth to get his parts for the calipers. The fact is that yes, there was guide pins in stock at the Lexus of Tulsa dealership, and when I called the firestone store to give him the part number he wouldn't even let me tell him the number.

If you can't tell I am on a rant.
And johnny sorry, got caught up in the weekend.
Tell you the stories later!!!

Josh

 

Huh. An $11 bolt. Wow. Go figure. As I said, go find the part yourself - this is how they make their cream.

 

First they break the part... then they want to charge $140 for it when it costs $8.75

Talk about a stealership [Firestone]

 

Just goes to show how nice it is to have a reputable mechanic that you can get to know. Dropping your baby off at some random stranger's shop is just trouble waiting to happen.

 

Okay, all this liability aside, what were they doing removing the guide pin anyway?!? I just changed my rear pads and rotors last weekend on my '92 SC400 and you don't remove the guide pins to perform the work, there are two 17mm hex bolts that hold the whole caliper on the car. The guide pins have nothing to do with it. Unless you have a SC300 and it's completely different, WTF?

 

R u sure about this?? This could put a whole new spin on things?? So it is held on by 2 hex bolts, therefore they tried to remove something that didn't need removed to replace the rotors and pads??

Please let me know asap as I am planning on picking the car up soon,

Jonny

 

You did it the hard way. They were doing it the correct way. There are (2) 14mm bolts (the guide bolts) that hold the caliper to their bracket, you remove one or both of these to access the pads. The way you did it was way harder than it had to be

 

Uh oh, if it turns out they royally screwed up, you made need me there for my "be crazy" technique. Just kidding. Be careful. Have them take you through everything step by step. They should show you how the broken part was being manipulated when it broke.

 

You have to hold onto one of the pins while you break the bolt loose. Then the caliper kinda opens up. The bolt kinda goes into the pin, from memory. I am guessing they are saying the bolt was frozen in the pin and broke off.

 

Dont feel too bad, when my brakes started squeeling 10k miles after I replaced the front brakes, I was a little concerned. I took off the rear wheels and found the outside pads were great but the right rear inside pad was worn into the metal. Closer inspection revealed a frozen caliper slide bolt. I had to torch the frame and use an airhammer to extract the frozen caliper slide. I cleaned the slide up and cleaned the frame. Put everything back together, no more problems. It seems like this is something common with these cars. I am sorry to hear about your situation, but you know what they say, it happens to the best of us.

 

this is exactly why i take my car to the dealer