Looking for a shop for wheel alignment near San Jose and more advice please

- K
- Kai Fan
  
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posted
20 years ago

Wed, Aug 27, 2003 8:27 PM

I don't know who are reliable mechanics. But I do need one. This February I got a slight accident because the front brakes blocked when a BMW in front of me pulled to a full stop suddenly from 70mph in the dark night. Fortunately, I only hit the BMW very slightly. Almost no scratch. After that I've checked brakes and found out "God, the brake pads are obviously distorted. Because the backing shims are missing!!! And the brake pads doesn't fit well, definitely not the right parts". So, I changed them myself. As a student, money is always an issue. Now I need some maintenance which I could not do it myself, like the wheel alignment, replace camshaft drivebelt (my 93B has 97k, does it really need replacement? What's worse there seems no 60000miles maintenance done on previous records. I just bought it last year and I am the 5th owner. I guess this car is not well maintained. Now I realize that it was not a good deal. Anyway, what kind of maintenance is necessary? The total price must be huge. I guess :( So I really need a reliable mechanic to help me on this. Would you please recommend to me some not too expensive shop but with good reputation? Thank you.

-- Kai

- K
- Ken Stoorza
  
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posted
20 years ago

Thu, Aug 28, 2003 5:22 AM

I have been using Wheel Works for years for alignment with pretty good results.

Ken

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- Leon van Dommelen
  
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posted
20 years ago

Fri, Aug 29, 2003 1:02 AM

PR Motorsports in Hayward (east of the bay) has a good reputation, but I do not know what they charge. Could be orders of magnitude cheaper than having your brakes fail again.

It seems to me that you should have a look at the Bay Area Miata Association. You should be able to find the link on miata.net. There you should be able to ask local people about good and affordable shops in the area. You could attend one of their meetings once to see whether you like it. Web page should be on the club directory at miata.net.

Whether your timing belt will fail within so many miles is a crap shoot. It may not, but suddenly losing power in heavy bay area traffic would not be my favorite, though I would probably greatly prefer it to being without brakes in the same circumstances.

Note that Miata clubs (and I seem to specifically remember the BAMA as one) often have collective "timing-belt-change" parties, which would be the cheapest way to deal with this major expensive maintenance item (order of $500, maybe more in the bay area).

Leon