Should I go to Kwik Fit?

Perhaps usenet can at times be a worlwide game of chinese whispers, I get your point :-)

Kwik Fit Brand penetrating oil in aerosol form , otherwise known as WD40, considerably thinner than most oils have encountered used in shock absorbers.

They noticed nothing, there `showing me this` was a fresh squirt of release oil from an aerosol on to perfectly servicable , roadworthy and MOTable shock absorber. As I say on more than one occasion at more than one branch, Golfs would not leak oil outside their cartridge housings and the Escort ran through 3 more MOTs before requiring rear shocks.

Plain and simple its a scam, the look, feel and smell of a scam .

Again it relies on the Customer having enough knowledge to decide wether what they are being told is the truth, a lot of people have no knowledge of how their car and its sub systems operates. Being shown apparently leaking shocks or corroded brake pipes accompanied by the Kwik Shit look of serious concern and being told it is major safety hazard I`m sure sells many un-required parts to many less than knowledgable car drivers.

As far as the wheel cylinder goes, the soaking wet wheel interior would have alerted a first year apprentice to a problem, it`s of concern that a company that represents itself as a brake specialist, should have training so inadequate that the fitter did not notice , despite the advantage of having the rear wheels at eyes level.

I`m sure there are some Kwik Fit branches that have staff , that have their customers best interests at heart , regret that have yet to encounter one.

Adam

Well, yes. But then you get the type like we've had on here who thinks gas pressure shocks can't leak oil.

I can't help but think the majority who use KwikFit are likely to have a less than thorough knowledge of how a car works. Otherwise, they'd probably be DIYing, since price is so important.

BMW have the minimum thickness stamped on the hub. I'd guess others too.

The message from "Dave Plowman (News)" contains these words:

Some have it stamped on the rim - cleverly placed so that by the time you might need to know it, it's rusted away.

Oh right!! Well it did the trick with kwik fit and it has passed two MOT's with the same shocks on since.

Dave

I didn't realise this as I am no mechanic and not that knowledgeable. But then neither were the Kwik Fit fitters then. But the shocks were fine and still are 2 years later and 2 MOT's later.

Dave

Leaking WD40 is a bit different.

Its not price KF trade on , its drive in drive out land, just about drive through car maintenace, no booking , no buses , no bg showroom, they think its cheap.

Midlife car, past 3 years, so main dealers will give you the `piss off sonny` treatment , but probably younger than makes it attractive to us DIY mob, needs to go somewhere. Tyres, exhausts, shocks, brakes, alternators, batterys all typical midlife crisis failures.Its not crippling ,their car makes `a funny noise` and they go somewhere that you can drive , in drive out.

As the tab ends up as every unit labour inclusive, so you pay for pads labour included, but need discs, you probably will, pay labour in unit price for discs plus pads, and those flexis look perished sir....

It adds up.

Adam

: Not to mention the new pads and discs routine with perfectly servicable : discs and pads that were less than a day old.

My mother was told she needed new shock absorbers when she went in to get a tyre. She was on her way home from a service at the main dealers ... who had fitted new shock absorbers ...

Ian

Having heard this story many times, I've looked for the can of WD40 when I've visited, but never seen one.

Other places offer the same service.

Eh? Dealers make their main profits out of paid for servicing and repairs. Can't see why they'd want to turn away any work.

All I can be sure of is my personal experiences having used several branches of KwikFit quite a few times over the years - but only for tyre/wheel type things, exhausts - although not recently as I've gone SS - and tracking.

Most recently with the old SD1 which was losing air on two wheels. Had them check for punctures, none found, so they removed tyres and cleaned up the rims. No charge.

Not a complete cure, but helped slightly. So bought some secondhand wheels off Ebay with the intention of having a set re-furbished. Got them to swop those two tyres onto the best of the 'new' wheels and balance them. A fiver.

Also had the tracking done after fitting a new rack - so not a 30 second job. Standard charge of IIRC 20 quid. They got it nearly right, but the wheel wasn't quite 'square' in a straight line, so they did it again for no charge - this time fine. They had plenty of opportunity when doing this to pull any of their leaking shocks etc tricks...

Oh - and some time ago I took the last 'main' car into them when the pad warning came on - couldn't be bothered to DIY or book it in to the dealer. They said it needed new discs too. Didn't believe them and decided to DIY. The discs were below the minimum thickness...

I realise with such a large organisation some will have problems. But the vast majority of posts here give the impression it's the norm. I'm simply saying in my *personal* experience it's not. And wonder how many of the posts we get are actually personal experiences.

Thing is, every time I use my dealer they *are* either lax or plain dishonest. So I'm not either lucky or the type not to notice/complain.

Perhaps the main dealer didn't do the work they charged her for? Who knows?

: > My mother was told she needed new shock absorbers when she went in to : > get a tyre. She was on her way home from a service at the main dealers : > ... who had fitted new shock absorbers ...

: Perhaps the main dealer didn't do the work they charged her for? Who knows?

Nope. We checked.

Ian

hAD SAME PROBLEM WHEN ON HOLIDAY IN NORWICH, NORFOLK,UK had my car checked at KWIK-FIT, they said that id needed new shocks and that the front drivers side brake calliper was us and not working, but when i got home to the carravan i jacked up the car and the brake was working fine . the shockes had been done for the MOT 2monthes before for the mot, and i know they had been done as i fitted them myself......