I'm so disappointed in my mechanic that I could scream!

[ML North]

I started using Bastone's in Shadyside and have been very pleased. Just had them do about $800 worth of odds and ends including a brake job on my old car and was very satisfied with the pricing and quality of parts and labor. And they're located near the busway, which makes dropping it off and picking it up very convenient.

[ebyrnes]

DH is a car nut (an otherwise sane man, he has seven vehicles at last count); he can fix almost anything, but is willing to let these folks work on his cars:

James Dean Autoworks
579 Jacks Run Road
Pittsburgh, PA 15202-4005
412 761-4180

Hope that you get the problem fixed!

[soniqV]

Sears Auto is the worst possible place to take your car. Their prices are high and pay for mechanics low. And the way they pay their employees incentivizes the mechanics to work quickly over carefully. Useful in emergencies where there are no other options (has saved me on the road around the country a few times), but would never take my car there on the regular. All mechanics make mistakes sometimes, but that is just asking for trouble.

[Hopes]

I talked to my mechanic. He said my lower left ball joint was replaced twice in the past 6 months. He said the only thing that could continually cause my ball joint to wear out is the arm being worn out. I'm taking it in tomorrow. I suspect I will only need to pay for the arm part since he should have figured this out in the beginning or at least the second time. He'll offer that without my even asking. He's good like that. He's a very honest man.

Sears might be awful, but at least he pointed out that something was wrong with my car! I agree Sears is a good place to go on road trips. I've ended up at Sears a few times while on vacation, like when our alternator caught on fire returning from the Adirondacks. It caught on fire as we were pulling into the garage and everyone came running with fire extinguishers. We ended up renting a U-Haul to tow that vehicle home.

[norcider]

Control arms don't necessarily wear out but the bushings in them will. Or, you could have a bent control arm from hitting a curb etc. But yeah, the balljoint itself could have been the wrong part from the get-go but the piece is sealed. If you have control arm bushing wear that shouldn't cost too much, may want to have them done on other side at same time.

[South Range Family]

What's the word on your car?

[Hopes]

I have my car back, but I won't know details until next week. They tried a different size ball joint on Tuesday, but that didn't work. On Wednesday evening, the manager told me they were ordering a control arm. When I called looking for my car on Friday, a mechanic said they were ordering a spindle or something that began with an "s." When I expressed my dismay that they had my car for so long and hadn't even ordered the parts, someone went in to work on it on Saturday (when they are normally closed).

I picked it up yesterday without knowing what was done to it. The mechanic didn't what to bill me because he didn't know how much of the work the manager would warranty since this was the 3rd ball joint in a few months and they should have figured out what was causing the ball joint to wear so quickly. I'll find out when I call Monday to pay the bill. Chances are the manager will be too busy to calculate my bill until later in the week, but I'm not worried because he is always honest about the financial aspects.

[greg42]

I'm not sure if details like type of car and how old would make a difference, but on the surface it at least doesn't seem like a mechanic worth going way out of the way for, which it sounds like you are doing. I'm sure there are decent mechanics closer to you.

Then again, I'm not 100% certain but usually if they're trying to replace ball joints individually as opposed to the whole control arm, that could be seen as an attempt to save you money. Many shops don't have the capability of pressing in a new ball joint and aren't going to take the time to have that done somewhere, so their solution is to jump directly to the control arm. I know my car got a new control arm that way. I think a lot of factory specs don't allow for replacing anything but the whole larger part. But DIY types and such sometimes will have a ball joint replaced in existing control arms.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by greg42

I'm not sure if details like type of car and how old would make a difference, but on the surface it at least doesn't seem like a mechanic worth going way out of the way for, which it sounds like you are doing. I'm sure there are decent mechanics closer to you.

Then again, I'm not 100% certain but usually if they're trying to replace ball joints individually as opposed to the whole control arm, that could be seen as an attempt to save you money. Many shops don't have the capability of pressing in a new ball joint and aren't going to take the time to have that done somewhere, so their solution is to jump directly to the control arm. I know my car got a new control arm that way. I think a lot of factory specs don't allow for replacing anything but the whole larger part. But DIY types and such sometimes will have a ball joint replaced in existing control arms.

I'm not sure what specific parts were replaced in addition to the ball joint the last two times. I know the ball joint was replaced when my struts were replaced last fall. When I took it back a month later, everything on the left side was replaced again. From what he said last week, it didn't sound like the arm was ever replaced. That's what he said could be the only thing that could cause a ball joint to continually wear out. All I know is that I have had problems with this left front side for eternity. I hope it's finally fixed.