Eliminating another shop from my list

[INVALID]

Dear Mazdaspeeds.org,

Is it me, am I setting too high of expectations when taking a car in for repair; pay for services rendered and leave with the car in the similar or better working condition than when brought in. It's summer, and while people are going to the beach, having cookouts, taking their family on trips or whatever the heck people do I'm building momentum resolving issues and finding better understanding of the Speed 6. But every time I take the vehicle in to a place, I end up bringing it back home and finishing up the work that was paid to be completed.

I took the car in to replace the wheel bearing (I know there is a how-to here). I'm sure I could have done it, but for the cost of time saved and tools required to purchase, it "was" supposed to be worth it. I had other projects I wanted to complete for the week, getting this done by a shop would help accomplish that. This was set up last minute, so I chose not to ask anyone for a ride and took the two mile walk to work and two miles back despite a few co-workers asking to give a ride. This isn't important, I'm choosing to include it to be thorough. It allowed them enough time to finish the vehicle before 3PM as we discussed. Upon my return everything from the exterior seemed fine, but during my exodus I stopped and returned back to the shop. I mentioned the brake pedal feeling like something was wrong. In my head I was saying it wasn't bled properly. I was told it was okay since it was only needing some pressure to stop and felt fine. [Pardon me, but I don't agree that the brakes should feel squishy or begin engaging at the absolute bottom of the pedal. There was no physical feedback from the pedal, just the car slowly decelerating. It wasn't engaging at the bottom when I brought it in. It was firm. Stupidly, I left without further debate. I don't understand why.

Returning home I needed to go back out for some things, well I didn't make it half a block before turning around. Something sounded wrong in the passenger front area wheel area, the bearing area was getting louder. I wanted to video to see if the wheel was wobbling or looked odd. I say that because with the bearing coming off, isn't it standard to do a wheel alignment afterwards? I'm unsure. What I do know is the passenger wheel toe looked outward at the top. Anyway, during the video the ABS light / Traction control / DSC and DTC all turned on. Pedal went straight to the floor at one point and also got stuck up at one point as if a pad had turned and wouldn't allow the pedal to press lower. GREAT! I put the AP on simply for curiosity. P2503. I may have chosen to see what the code was from curiosity, but I'm not f---- fixing this or anything. I haven't had codes for two weeks, it's not just a coincidence.

Now, I need to handle this tomorrow morning. Shop #3

Sincerely,
Getting old and irritated

 

[Raider]

Finding a quality shop is getting difficult. I feel ya.

 

[automaticonlyspeed3]

Definitely doesn't sound normal..

Did they say or mention anything?
Did they test drive it?

 

[INVALID]

I talked myself away from INVALID ver. Scorched Earth. Chose to drive it late last night for 30 seconds to see if it seemed safe. Seemed OK, wasn't as loud in the wheel area and didn't seem unsteady and seemed to brake OK. Shut it down and waited for morning to arrive.

I brought it in and even then the pedal was mush as I parked. Two hours and change later the tech let me know the wheel bearing was bad and that everything is fine now. I am satisfied with the tech and the work, I just wish the front desk guy wasn't as non-chalant and heard or addressed my original concerns. I do give the shop credit for seeing me last minute yesterday and quick turnaround then.

We're now all good and hopefully back on the path of switching out my power steering pumps on cars until I can do a quick rebuild.

 

[JohnnyTightlips]

Dear Mazdaspeeds.org,

Is it me, am I setting too high of expectations when taking a car in for repair; pay for services rendered and leave with the car in the similar or better working condition than when brought in. It's summer, and while people are going to the beach, having cookouts, taking their family on trips or whatever the heck people do I'm building momentum resolving issues and finding better understanding of the Speed 6. But every time I take the vehicle in to a place, I end up bringing it back home and finishing up the work that was paid to be completed.

I took the car in to replace the wheel bearing (I know there is a how-to here). I'm sure I could have done it, but for the cost of time saved and tools required to purchase, it "was" supposed to be worth it. I had other projects I wanted to complete for the week, getting this done by a shop would help accomplish that. This was set up last minute, so I chose not to ask anyone for a ride and took the two mile walk to work and two miles back despite a few co-workers asking to give a ride. This isn't important, I'm choosing to include it to be thorough. It allowed them enough time to finish the vehicle before 3PM as we discussed. Upon my return everything from the exterior seemed fine, but during my exodus I stopped and returned back to the shop. I mentioned the brake pedal feeling like something was wrong. In my head I was saying it wasn't bled properly. I was told it was okay since it was only needing some pressure to stop and felt fine. [Pardon me, but I don't agree that the brakes should feel squishy or begin engaging at the absolute bottom of the pedal. There was no physical feedback from the pedal, just the car slowly decelerating. It wasn't engaging at the bottom when I brought it in. It was firm. Stupidly, I left without further debate. I don't understand why.

Returning home I needed to go back out for some things, well I didn't make it half a block before turning around. Something sounded wrong in the passenger front area wheel area, the bearing area was getting louder. I wanted to video to see if the wheel was wobbling or looked odd. I say that because with the bearing coming off, isn't it standard to do a wheel alignment afterwards? I'm unsure. What I do know is the passenger wheel toe looked outward at the top. Anyway, during the video the ABS light / Traction control / DSC and DTC all turned on. Pedal went straight to the floor at one point and also got stuck up at one point as if a pad had turned and wouldn't allow the pedal to press lower. GREAT! I put the AP on simply for curiosity. P2503. I may have chosen to see what the code was from curiosity, but I'm not f---- fixing this or anything. I haven't had codes for two weeks, it's not just a coincidence.

Now, I need to handle this tomorrow morning. Shop #3

Sincerely,
Getting old and irritated

An alignment is not at all required for a wheel bearing. None of those components would be adjusted only removed. You put a lot of text into this story but did not explain much about what needed fixed on the car. Was it the front or rear wheel bearing? Was it all of them? How did you know the bearing was bad? Did you ask them to do an alignment? There is no brake bleeding and nothing needs to even be touched on the brakes when doing a wheel bearing other than moving the caliper out of the way. If it was me and I could not find a shop that I could trust I would just start buying/renting the tools and doing it myself. I started doing that early on and now I have all the tools I need to do anything I want. The shop should make it right or at least try to before you fix it yourself. You may also want to do some reading up on the things you want done before you get them done so you can know exactly what to expect.

 

[INVALID]

An alignment is not at all required for a wheel bearing. None of those components would be adjusted only removed. You put a lot of text into this story but did not explain much about what needed fixed on the car. Was it the front or rear wheel bearing? Was it all of them? How did you know the bearing was bad? Did you ask them to do an alignment? There is no brake bleeding and nothing needs to even be touched on the brakes when doing a wheel bearing other than moving the caliper out of the way. If it was me and I could not find a shop that I could trust I would just start buying/renting the tools and doing it myself. I started doing that early on and now I have all the tools I need to do anything I want. The shop should make it right or at least try to before you fix it yourself. You may also want to do some reading up on the things you want done before you get them done so you can know exactly what to expect.

You make a good point. They wouldn't have needed to fiddle with my brakes. My mind got tracked on brake bleed once I got in the car to reverse and felt my brake pedal.

I was only having the front passenger wheel bearing replaced, no brakes, no alignment. When I had my engine installed (different shop) I asked for a rundown on things that I'd need to address. Wheel bearing was one. I had already heard/felt the wheel bearing and figured as much. It just provided confirmation.

I've done springs/struts, seized calipers, brakes/rotors but that's the extent on anything related to suspension (not on this vehicle, Hondas). While I am just getting back into some of this, I assumed more suspension parts needed to be removed for the bearings. All I was thinking about was the hubs and things attached (mental pic).

But again, assumption of what they touched while doing bearings was based solely on what I could see off and experience about the car after the work was complete (causality?).

It has all been fixed. They said it was a bad bearing. I have no noise/thump, and my brake pedal is back as it should be. Something about pressing in and out kept and wheel safety kept me from coming close to doing or look hard into this repair.

At this point, aside from ac charge, everything remaining I should be able to tackle.