Who can you trust anymore

[DHFB]

I don't post much but view all the time. I have to tell you guys that lately it has become almost impossible to find good people to work on your car anymore. I have run into everything from people missing critical bolts to my most recent experience of hitting my car while they where working on it. It has become growingly more depressing and a crap shoot everytime I leave my car with someone... and I pay top dollar. My last experience I even tipped a guy $40.00 to just be careful with it and I came back after the police called me and some guy had dropped a u-haul that free fell off a flat bed into it.

Anyone from Cary NC out there??? Where are you taking your cars???

 

[ShelbyGuy]

the $99 craftsman set should cover you for nearly everything you would need to do to these cars.

You cannot trust anyone doing commercial work. its the nature of the beast. there is a strong financial incentive for the "technician" to half-ass everything. If the job pays 5 book hours, you had better get it done in 2 otherwise you're losing money. Thats why all the bolts dont get reinstalled and hammers get used instead of pullers...

 

[ViciousJay]

the $99 craftsman set should cover you for nearly everything you would need to do to these cars.

You cannot trust anyone doing commercial work. its the nature of the beast. there is a strong financial incentive for the "technician" to half-ass everything. If the job pays 5 book hours, you had better get it done in 2 otherwise you're losing money. Thats why all the bolts dont get reinstalled and hammers get used instead of pullers...

couldnt have said it better myself... there is one place locally id go but thats for jobs that require a lift of some sort

 

[01strimbullitt]

if you dont mind driving about 300 miles.... take it to Rick... amazon racing is the best place for our cars imo...

http://www.amazonracing.com/index.html

 

[OrangeCobra04]

I take my car to Competition auto in Spring Lake for local work.

 

[DHFB]

I would never take it to a book hour tech... All this stuff that has happened was at reputable speed shops. The only guy who never screwed me was Randy Haywood, however, he moved to Benson NC... I am going to have him do my Whipple and supporting mods but it is a 1.3 hour drive one way. I am now a proffesional and if I want something done, between my 4 kids and job, I need to drop it off now and again. Well it was worth fishing for a diamond in the rough in Raleigh or Cary... I guess I better buy a better floor jack and tell the kids to get out... "Daddy is doing his hobby thing."

 

[CobraBob]

Sometimes you can find Mustang guys locally who do quality work in their own garage and charge a fair rate. Case in point. There's this local Terminator owner who loves to work on cars. He started doing his own work and then started helping one or two fellow Mustang owners. Before long he was getting a lot of work. I even used him a couple of times. The guy is about as careful and knowledgeable as you're going to find. If I still had my Cobra he would be the ONLY person I'd allow to touch it besides myself.

Bottom line. It is so hard to find competent shops you can trust will do the job right all the time. Inevitably, as ShelbyGuy said, they end up rushing a job and shortcuts follow. Or worse.

A negative case in point. Another local guy offered to change my pulley, since I didn't have a pulley removal tool. He and another Mustang owner swore that it would be fine to heat my installed pulley with a torch. I reluctantly agreed. The pulley did come off rather easily. The shaft was literally orange/red at this point. But my new pulley still wouldn't slide on. (By now I'm getting more and more ansy/upset at what I'm seeing.) So he proceeds to use the torch on my brand new pulley and ruined it! Lesson learned the hard way. LOL! So, yes, you do have to carefully seek out a good repair shop or a good, competent mechanic you can trust your car to. But if you're at all mechanically endowed yourself, I agree that doing the work yourself is the best thing to do whenever possible. JMO.

 

[Snakebite2k3]

I do feel bad for some of you guys that have a hard time finding someone reliable to work on your cobra. I know how much this car means to you guys.

The only 2 guys that I trust with my cars are Lyle and Dan from LDC. I don’t care if I have to drive 1 hour to get something small fixed I wont take it nowhere else but to them. My friends feel the same way.

Hans from Deansperformance is another guy I would trust.

 

[SicStang03]

WOW that sux. I kinda know what you mean. I personally won't take mine to the dealership anymore. I had a leak on my rear diff. and went to three different dealerships. They all looked at it and charged me $45. The cheapest quote i got was $700 to reseal the diff. I them took the car to one of my best friends dads place because he has his own lift and knows a little about cars. He looked at it for 5 minutes and then said, "Did anyone check the bolts". He reached up there and half the bolts were finger-loose. All he did was tighten the bolts and fill the diff. back up. WOW DEALERSHIPS ARE STUPID!!!

 

[03yellow]

There are 2 ford gear heads ot out local ford dealership.
One has a fox body and does a ton on GT and Mach work and has worked on several Cobras. The the other guy can work on anything.

Its my money so I ask for Jason at the dealership!!! Also I am very good customer they help me by shaving off Book hours (up front and when things go well).
I am not opposed to All Ford Dealerships for Cobra work.

For tuning issues and upgrades I go to HPP. However their prices are going thru the roof...huge demand.

 

[TT04Cobra]

Thank God my g/f's uncle is a master mechanic and has his own shop so he can do major work for me, anything minor I could do myself.

 

[RedfireVNM]

Thank god my dad is the Service manager at Ford here where I live...knows EVERYTHING about our cars and his assistant has a Comp Orange with like 700 to the wheels...so if my dad doesnt know about it, his assistant does

 

[Kevin the Clean 1]

the $99 craftsman set should cover you for nearly everything you would need to do to these cars.

You cannot trust anyone doing commercial work. its the nature of the beast. there is a strong financial incentive for the "technician" to half-ass everything. If the job pays 5 book hours, you had better get it done in 2 otherwise you're losing money. Thats why all the bolts dont get reinstalled and hammers get used instead of pullers...

I agree 100%.

 

[OrangeCobra04]

I would never take it to a book hour tech... All this stuff that has happened was at reputable speed shops. The only guy who never screwed me was Randy Haywood, however, he moved to Benson NC...

Randy did the tune on my Cobra :beer: He also did alot of work on my buddies Cobra and I don't mind the 2 hour drive to his shop because he does a good job. Now for local things I go to Competition, and they have great service from what I have dealt with. That and it's pretty close to where I stay. If I had more time I would do the work myself. Good "Excuse" to buy new tools anyway.