From: tom@nds.com (Tom Williamson)
Subject: Re: recommendation on brake repair?
Reply-To: tom@nds.UUCP (Tom Williamson)
Organization: Northwest Digital Systems
Distribution: seattle
Date: Fri, 02 Oct 92 21:07:02 GMT

In article <dudgeon.717869479@milton> dudgeon@opus.cheme.washington.edu writes:
>I need to have the brakes serviced on my 88 Mustang:  new pads, rotors
>resurfaced, etc.  The dealer wants too much, of course.  Midas & Walt's
>want about 1/3 of what the dealer wants, which makes me wonder about just
>what kind of job they could really do.
>
>Any recommendations for (or against) a particular shop are greatly appreciated.
>I'm looking for something in the U-District/Ravenna area, but I would be
>willing to travel further for "the right shop."  Thanks.
>-- 
>Doug Dudgeon                              Dept. of Chemical Engineering, BF-10
>dudgeon@opus.cheme.washington.edu         University of Washington, Seattle

The only input I have regarding this subject is a warning about Midas and 
their "Lifetime Guarantee" for the brake work they do.

Several years ago, my 1985 Blazer needed a brake job.  Unfortunately, I fell 
prey to the Midas song and dance regarding the lifetime guarantee on their 
brake work.

I had them do the work and everything worked as it should.  The down side to 
this story is that after putting another 60K miles on the old Blaze, I noticed 
that the brakes weren't getting me stopped like they should.  I went back to 
Midas to have the brakes done again. (This time at their expense - HA)

Upon inspection they informed me that I needed to have extensive (read 
expensive) work done.  Then they gave me the bad news.  The parts that they 
guarantee (mainly the brake pads) were fine.  My brake drums were worn out and 
needed to be replaced.  Of course the drums were not replaced to begin with, so they were not covered by the guarantee.  Then they laid the BULLSHIT story on 
me that it is entirely normal for the brake drums to wear out and not the pads.
(I must have been wearing my "I am stupid and don't know anything about cars" 
button.)  After listening to this guy tell me that brake drums and not the 
pads were supposed to wear out, the little light went on in my head.

Here is my summary of what I call the "Midas Scam":

The first time you take your car in for brakes (usually the pads) they replace 
them with pads that are considerably harder than the original equipment.  In 
fact they are harder than the metal that your brake drums or rotors are made 
of.  The net result is that now instead of your pads wearing out, you are 
grinding down your drums or rotors.  Of course you will take you car back to 
them for the next brake job because of the guarantee.  They usually end up 
doing the more expensive work and the customer gets screwed!  When your car 
is up on the rack and they break the news to you, it is usually easiest to 
just have them deal with it instead of having them put everything back together and going out to start shopping for the best deal.  Please bear in mind that 
brake pads (by design) are supposed to be softer than the drums or rotors.  
That is so that they wear out rather than the much more expensive drums or 
rotors.

Needless to say, Midas will never touch another car of mine.  They are outright scam artists taking advantage of the generally unknowing public.

If anyone out there feels that I have the wrong opinion about this matter, I 
would really like to hear about it.  Also, I would be interested in hearing 
about other shops that do good work, as I still need to have the brakes redone.

Buyer beware!


-- 
|Tom Williamson                   | Northwest Digital Systems                |
|UUCP: uunet!nds!tom              | Voice: 206-524-0014                      |
|Internet: tom@nds.com            | FAX: 206-524-0018                        |
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