GlesgaKiss

My car has needed a few things done to it recently. Last was the power steering and now it was the brake pipes, rear calipers and a wheel bearing.

Anyway, a guy I know well started up his own garage a few years ago and I always use him now as he'd never leave a job unfinished, would never try to give me anything I didn't need etc. I went to pick up the car today, even though it would really have been handier getting it back yesterday. When I got there the car was still in the garage (he was test driving it when I phoned, so I thought it would be ok to take the chance of getting a lift to pick it up).

He said everything was fine but that the brakes felt a bit spongy... told me to take it out and see what I thought. Took it out and sure enough, the brakes did seem spongy, I thought they had much more feel before. Obviously I wasn't going to be taking it back like that, so I just said I agreed with him and at that he bled them for the 5th time today! Took it out and it was the same. Bled them again. It was the same. Bled the front as well in case they somehow needed done. It was the same.

He only has one guy working for him and by this time he was back it and they were both trying to work out what was going on (that guy was the one who'd actually fitted them). Anyway, after more head scratching he thought the pads might have been put in the wrong way round (they were the pads that had come off it). So up on the ramp again and swapped them round. Took it out, told me to take it out, and it was still the same to me. Obviously, after every attempt, he told me to take it out and see what it was like. With me still looking disappointed he would try something else.

In the end he only charged me the couple of hours labour for originally fitting everything, and with me still looking disappointed he was obviously concerned that I was going to leave unhappy. He told me he didn't want me feeling like he'd done me out of some money, and said he'd send the calipers back and try another set (that's the only other reason he could think of).

So off I go. And as I'm driving home it starts to feel quite familiar. Suddenly I'm thinking this is probably the way it was after all - I'd only tested it in the industrial estate at low speeds before that. I start thinking "yes it was definitely like this", it must be the combination of old disks and pads, but it definitely wasn't great when I put it in there. I think because he told me it felt spongy, I was looking for the problem, and at slow speeds I thought there was one.

So the result of my stupidity was that he put the rest of his work on hold for the later half of this afternoon, took labour charges off my bill, and was prepared to do yet more free labour and send the calipers back if I still wasn't happy with it a week later. And there was really no problem.



I'll be reimbursing all this afternoon's labour tomorrow.

Anyone else done something like this? Just to make me feel better, come on.

PaulC72

Nope, sorry.

Jamz3k

So is there something wrong with your brakes or not?

95turbowagon

iTrader: (17)

Was wondering this aswell.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Sounds like a french car Or a Subaru with lips on the disks. In the end of the day if you are re-using the old pads and disks there will always be an unknown factor in terms of pedal feel/travel if he didn't test drive the car before doing the work. He should be able to spot this, but its not always that obvious...for example if the pads have been mixed up like you say, they'll need to bed in again. What you should do is sand the pad flat again and resurface the disk on a brake disk lathe (you'll still need to allow a little bed-in time though, but this will resolve any knock-back issues).

Thats the way of the game with cars. And the big difference to independants to specialists/dealer. Where some will write off alot of wasted hours, weher some will bill you for every penny of time spent.

I've just installed an new engine into an X5 (after a big turbo+engine failure), turn the key....nothing not even a click. Its supposed to go out the gates tomorrow and there is no chance of that happening. It could be something stupid, but knowing my luck it'll take a load of hours trying to find out what it is. Of which can't really be billed to the customer. Thats the way it is, and it nice to see a garage operate on the same level of honesty.

Buy him a few drinks if it makes you feel that bad. He'll appreciate it

GlesgaKiss

Sorry, it was typed in a hurry and reads crap. Long story cut short: They fixed my brakes (fitted new rear calipers and brake pipes), and when I went to pick it up the mechanic himself said he thought they were spongy. This led to me also thinking they were spongy and that there was something he'd done to make them like that by fitting the new stuff. After hours of effort on his part, it turned out to be my mistake, he'd fitted them fine and they were only as spongy as they were in the first place, which, to be honest, is to be expected considering the pads and discs were never changed.

ALi - I think I owe him more than a few drinks, but cheers. The thing is that he's kind of a mate, and when I'm dealing with people in general I want to be fair. The way I see it is I've caused him to work for 2 hours for nothing and he's also lost the cash he would have made in those 2 hours otherwise.

I think you could be right regarding the bedding in, but as I said, it's not that different to how it was before (I now realise).

It is a bit of a coont when you make a mistake that takes ages to fix, especially if you have other work you really need to be getting on with.

It's a Ford Focus btw. Heap 'o crap, and I'll be upgrading to a newer model soon!

Leslie

Thing is, he is obviously a good bloke and you are acting as your conscience dictates. I would say that is good thinking.

Les