The Midas touch

That's what they do. They loss lead the pad swap figuring most will need more, higher margin, parts.

What most people forget, is that you have a choice to say no, buy the parts, and do it yourself, as the OP did here.

Midas, Monro, Pep Boys, Meineke, and a host of others all now subscribe to MAP, a set of rules that they must go by in order to be accredited, that simply states they must tell you what they find. It doesn't keep them all honest, but most basically are honest guys just trying to make a living, and doing it on commission. Most people perceive it to be a load of salesmanship, and in some cases it is. But, if they see something in your brakes that is dangerous, and don't tell you, then you have an accident, they can be liable for not bringing it to your attention, and get sued. It is a catch 22 for them. The price they gave you, while high initially, was for "loaded" calipers. That included a complete caliper with pads and hardware. It would have come with a lifetime warranty, including labor. If you plan on keeping your truck and driving it for a long while, it would have been much cheaper in the long run, but not in the short term. Everytime you wear out your pads, you get the complete caliper all over again, as long as you own the truck.

Just my .02 c

Spdloader

Tire Kingdom in Florida the same way. I went in because I wanted them to check a tire that was making noise. I bought a set of four from them. Ten minutes later, I had an estimated bill for $1,300. In ten minutes they saw both front wheel bearings bad, all six shocks were worn and my tie rods were loose. I also told them to just put it back the way it was, they charged $35.00 for that. I replaced the four front shocks and the tire noise went away. A little bit of robbery without a gun, never will go back again!

How exactly was it determined that your calipers were shot?

This is a typical visit to Midas..c'mon in for the $69.00 pad special, that turns out to cost a grand or so.

I wasn't reasoning, I was giving you direct knowledge from my experience working for one of those companies as a regional manager for 13 years.

Spdloader

The calipers on the rear had worn out rubber dust boots and the technician said he had to apply a lot of pressure to move the pistons when removing the pads during inspection. They did look bad, but I really don't know if he was giving me a line or not. They were not leaking. I figure for a couple hundred extra bucks I can get a quality rebuilt caliper loaded with pads from NAPA and do the install myself. The brakes are "weak" - even though the pedal travel is OK, I have to mash them with tremendous effort to get decent braking when pulling a 3 ton trailer.

John

Or at least a rebuild kit.. No sense paying some shop $65+/hr when you can turn your own wrenches for free..

I hope that trailer has brakes on it.. "Weak" could mean inadequate pads or even a bad hose.

Agreed, you need electric brakes on a trailer that weighs that much.

Spdloader

The trailer has excellent brakes - I wouldn't consider pulling a 3 ton trailer without them (its actually a Vermeer chipper mounted on a trailer). I use an electronic brake controller so I can adjust the brake response.

John

"The OTHER Kevin in San Diego" <skiddz "AT" adelphia "DOT" net> wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

Have you checked the hoses? A bulging hose will make brakes feel weak. I just don't trust the "chain" stores to properly diagnose problems.

I have a lifetime muffler from Midas. It has been changed out three times. The first couple of times, Midas said I also needed the pipe from the manifold, about $20. I didn't argue and had them go ahead and replace the pipe.

The last time, however, Midas said I also needed a catalytic converter or I would never pass pollution inspection (Texas), about $300-400+ if I recall. I refused this.

Truck passed inspection, no problem.

I think next time I will just get a new muffler somewhere else.

82 F100 302 V8 138000 miles

John

Thanks for the suggestions. I am tearing it apart now and I will check hoses and replace if necessary.

John

"The OTHER Kevin in San Diego" <skiddz "AT" adelphia "DOT" net> wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...

I don't recall the replacement muffler requiring everything be fixed for the deal. I can see replacing the pipes, and hangers if needed. I'd tell them to just do the muffler so shop around for a cat.

you're correct Roy.

i was just pointing out that Midas was attempting to sell me something i didn't need.

however, i'm sure everyone has seen that movie. "Roy Brown" snipped-for-privacy@sympatico.caNADA wrote in message news:2ZT6f.2751$ snipped-for-privacy@news20.bellglobal.com... I don't recall the replacement muffler requiring everything be fixed for the deal. I can see replacing the pipes, and hangers if needed. I'd tell them to just do the muffler so shop around for a cat.

I didn't mean to write a novel, but I just wanted to share my experience with one of these mechanics who lives near me and actually worked (mostly out of shop) on a vehicle given to me.

FWIW, before my grandfather passed away a year ago and his 1983 Ford F-150 was passed on to me, his neighbour used to do most of the repairs to the truck. At the time, this neighbour worked at Speedy Muffler as a "mechanic" (I'll use that term very lightly as I refer to him). He was renting the trailer that was located on my grandfathers land, and I should also mention he was and still is, a complete alcoholic. Calling him a hillbilly would be nice in his case, but he was generally a user who took complete advantage of my grandfather and nobody in my family can stand him to this day.

Seeing as how this truck was bought only when it was a year old, it was not used alot. Mainly for my grandfathers travel to work, which was only around

10 km a day. It has very low mileage, right now the odometer only reads 105,000 km. It also has one of the toughest engines built by Ford, the 4.9L inline six. But, when it was not used, it normally ended up parked in the grass. It was painted last year before he passed away, and the floor was in great shape. However, because he used to use it for hauling junk, bails of hay and general farm usage, quite a few of the body panels needed replacing in the painting process. It also needed the rear leaf springs replaced, the carburetor (apparently) needed replacing, and it had the common fuel gauge failure (it still does, actually).

Needless to say, this neighbour "mechanic" ( I refer to him as Ace) was asked to fix/replace the leaf springs, so Ace did this in exchange for rent payment about three years ago. When you look at the truck in my yard, it leans to one side by probably two inches, and on a hoist you can tell that the spring pack was taken apart and some of the old leaf springs were reused, while some were replaced with new ones. Unfortunately, Ace obviously cannot count, because there is one additional leaf spring in the passenger side.

The second repair he was asked to make was the carburetor. Now, when the truck was given to me, I knew that it usually started quite well, considering its age, but that it never really idled all that great. So you can imagine how suprised I was when I lifted the hood to find a brand new carburetor with parts missing and a wire tie tied around the choke linkage holding it wide open all the time. There was a screw missing from the idle plate and I think the reason the choke never operated correctly was because the spring element that activates the automatic choke was missing altogether.

But I really had to laugh when I attempted to figure out what was wrong with the fuel gauge. The gauge stopped working about 2 years ago and Ace decided he was going to take the dash apart and find that "broken wire" that he claimed he knew was causing all the problems. When I got underneath the truck to drop the tank, I noticed the gas tank was brand new (I don't ever recall anything being wrong with the old tank, I know it never leaked) and when I dropped it down, I also noticed the sending unit was new. There was so much hi-temp silicone between the sending unit base plate and the gas tank, that the metal between the two parts wern't even touching each other. The funny thing is, he used the brand new rubber gasket between the sending unit and tank, so I really have no idea what the hi-temp silicone was there for. Now keep in mind that the fuel gauge still doesn't work despite all my efforts, but after I cleaned the silicone off the two parts, the gauge actually did work for about a day or two. My guess was that the sending unit was not properly grounding through the tank, but seeing as how it stopped working again, I'm still not sure what is wrong with it. I suspect that the sending unit he used was quite a cheap part because there was a fair amount of residue on the intake pipe when I cleaned it and put it back together, and it really just looked like it was manufactured cheaply. I can also tell from taking the dash apart that he's had his hands in there before because of his sloppy wire splices that he used on his aftermarket fuel gauge (that one never worked either, AFAIK). Needless to say, there was nothing wrong with the wiring to the old gauge inside the dash (except that he cut both wires at the firewall to run the old wires to his aftermarket gauge).

In no way do I believe that I am a perfect mechanic myself, but I do know my way around a vehicle. Enough to fix some of his stupid mistakes and to make that truck run at least twice as good as it did. The more I work on that truck, the more of his mechanical work I find. At one point, I almost wanted to set the truck at the end of the road and sell it because of something he did to it, and my attempts to repair it correctly. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against this truck, in fact, I always told my grandfather after he was gone, I would be happy to take care of his truck for him. And I also know that these trucks are far beyond the quality that Ace turned it into, any old Ford truck like that I've seen has always been tough and I know alot of guys still driving their old trucks, favoring them over the new vehicles you see today.

AFAIK, Ace still works at Speedy Muffler, but he may have tried to advance his career by being hired by Midas Muffler. I know he works for one of the two, just not sure which one. Either way, you'll never see my vehicles parked near any of the two, or any other place like that.

Sharky

Funny you mention that. Some years ago my mother took her Pontiac to the local Midas for a muffler swap. She got it for a reasonable price and a lifetime warranty. About a year later the muffler puked and she took it back. They replaced the muffler and than proceeded to tell her she needed new rear suspension springs at about $300.00 Knowing I do all the maintenance for her she dismissed him and went home with her warranty muffler. I have replaced rear springs once in the 25 years I have been in car repair. Amazing what some people will do.