Date: Wednesday, 13 January 1988 16:00:52 EST
From: Reg.Willson@galley.ece.cmu.edu
To: bovik@faraday.ece.cmu.edu
Subject: Car brakes, (dis)recommendations
Message-Id: <1988.1.13.19.57.42.Reg.Willson@galley>

The car:
   84 Mazda 626, 35k miles, front disk & rear drum brakes. 

The problem:
   required front and rear brake pads.

The first place I tried was Midas in Oakland.  I had taken it to them 6
months earlier for a free brake inspection and they had told me that things
looked good and would probably hold out until the fall.  At the time their
over-the-phone quote was competitive ($119) with both Speedy ($130) and
Meineke ($110) and they offered a life time warranty.  I left the car with
Midas and they phoned back to inform me that "The front rotors (disks) are
badly pitted and need to be replaced.  They can not be resurfaced." Suddenly
the price jumps to $295.

Wanting to get a second opinion I had Midas put the wheels back on (no
charge for the visit) and took the car to Meineke (on Washington Blvd).
Bovik had previously recommended this shop and its proprietor Joel.

Meineke examined the brakes and said there was no problem with resurfacing
the rotors, the complete job with pads would be $150.  Gee, I though, I just
saved $145.  They resurfaced the rotors and only needed to take off 1/3 of
the maximum thickness that the manufacturer recommended.  I guess the pits
weren't that deep after all.  

Unfortunately the story doesn't end here.  One week after getting the car
back from Meineke, a rotor bolt that was left UNTIGHTENED by the mechanic at
Meineke, came loose destroying a dust shield and lodging itself in the
brakes rendering the car inoperable.  The noise when this happened sounded
like the transmission dropped out and was dragging on the ground.

The next morning Meineke had me phone the AAA, on my membership card, to tow
the car back to the Joel's shop.  Visit #2. FOUR HOURS later they had
replaced the bolt and I was out of the shop.  As I left, I noticed that the
wheel squeaked slightly.  I wrote this off as being temporary because of the
new brake pads.

One week later I pulled the wheel off to find the source of the increasingly
annoying squeak.  It turns out that the damaged dust shield that Meineke had
simply pounded out, had jammed up against the rotor.  Visit #3.  THREE hours
later, Meineke had the shield replaced and I was back on the road.  Joel
offers a "good deal" on a muffler and pipes for my troubles.

The nightmare continues.  A few days later a new grinding sound appears from
the rear of the car.  Not wanting to set records for most visits to Joel's
shop I stop at Speedy in Munroeville (the only people I hadn't tried yet)
and got them to take a look.  The problem turned out to be a crushed bearing
in the rear wheel.  The folks at Speedy say that either the bearing was
improperly relubricated or it was tightened too much (at Meineke).  Total
damage $18.

Finale.  Visit # 4. I take the crushed bearing and sales slip from Speedy to
Joel the next morning.  Joel reemburses me for the $18.

The final score:     	Midas - clearly a rip off.

			Meineke - cheap and honest, but unfortunately
				  technically incompetent.

			Speedy(Munroeville) - came off the best.

To be fair, Joel was extremely helpful during all of the visits.  Its just
too bad that they botched things up so many times.  I don't plan on taking
him up on his muffler offer,  I can't afford the multiple visits to the
shop.

Postscript:  A friend recently had the brakes on her Dodge Colt done at
             the Speedy in Penn Circle.  They botched the job too and she
             had to make a return trip the next day.  I guess two trips are
             still better than four.