The epitome of uselessness

                                   All done and dusted just need wiring now and what a perfect day for it RAINS AGAIN!!!

  The epitome of uselessness

This is the term I use when describing Mechanics on the Gold coast of course you get that anywhere and not all of them are like it but there are no shortage of em on the Gold coast, I have always done the work on all my cars but some jobs are just an absolute nightmare requiring specialized tools etc so in cases like that I would much rather hand it over to the so called "experts" to repair, on the rare occasions I have given the vehicle to a mechanic listed below is what the outcome has been, set out below is not necessarily in order of events.

Had the ute booked into a shop that specializes in cylinder head repairs that was fine I asked the bloke to install new radius rod bushes while the vehicle was up on the hoist (a five second job) to save me grovelin around in the dirt I supplied the new bushes the outcome was he didn't replace em!! when i asked why not his reply was "we removed the old ones and they looked ok so we put them back in again" I was speechless but he charged $110 all the same for his outstanding efforts.

I knew the radius rod bushes were rooted that's why i wanted em replaced, I confronted "the hack" later on down the track when i put the ute in for a wheel alignment only to have confirmed AGAIN that the above components were shot "the hack" tried every excuse in the book to get out of it and in the end offered to replace them as he couldn't argue the point, he had his little apprentice there for moral support and it was quite comical watchin him try and put words into the apprentices mouth and coach him as in what to say to strengthen his case and he was to thick to understand what his boss was tryin achieve.

This is another thing that gets under my skin before i continue and that is the fact they employ these little pimples to carry out this work then they whack ya a FULL mechanics fee for doin it!!

Anyway the outcome is I am sick of chasin the peanut so I got Shaz to do it that way I know the job is done properly, I cracked the nuts she undid them and installed the 2 bushes, replaced the nuts and i tensioned them so what does that tell ya? Shaz has far more superior mechanical skills then today's apprentices? dunno but I trust her work far more then the next few cases im about to write up.

I won't name and shame this mob as he did after all say he would fix it i just got sick of waitin, problem as in the problem that should never of been a problem if they had done what i had asked in the first place!!

Booked ute in to have the heavy duty springs put in that was fine when the APPRENTICE mechanic had finished the job he took it for the obligatory test drive to make sure it was safe, when he drove out the shop off the ramps i could hear a grating sound i wasn't to concerned as i was gunna mention it when he returned, upon returnin i mentioned the gratin sound and the shop owner said it is probably the hand brake draggin i have heard this before and agreed he was probably right with the ridiculous set up with the hand brake in this model (get it together Holden) 

Anyway the bloke only charged 40 bux to do the job as a package deal as i brought the springs from him for a good price and i thought that was good (even though the apprentices done the job) so off we went on our merry way, Shaz was concerned about the noise and i assured her it is nothin to worry about as it will re- marry back in again and the noise will stop, a week later Shaz returned home from up the road and was complaining the brakes were spongy and didn't feel right i didn't think to much of it until the next day when I drove the car up on the ramps to replace the rear struts and noticed brake fluid everywhere?

Cut a long story short the APPRENTICE had bent the brake line outta the way to either remove the spring or put the new one in and the brake line was rubbin on the half shaft or CV as some people call it and had rubbed through the line causein it to leak, i took the car back and done the lolly and the owner agreed to replace the line straight away, once again i wont name the mob as they righted the wrong and hes a nice bloke, i am also aware as with apprentices ya gotta start somewhere and that is fair enough it is not really them i blame it is the owner as it should be him that checks the work carried out before the vehicle leaves the shop.

Booked ute in to have new rear tyres fitted pretty straight forward procedure right? WRONG not in this case after havin the tyres fitted I was commin back from work early morn about 3am and noticed the steerin was very loose and didn't feel right i thought it was just my imagination bein really tired anyway after awhile i pulled up to investigate just to be on the safe side.

I pulled right over as far as i could get off the road on the M1 and it didn't take long to find the problem the wheel nuts were either missin or had snapped completely off!! I then had to ring a mate to bring me out some nuts where upon jackin the car up and replacin the lost nuts i limped back home with the drivers side wheel only hangin on by 2 wheel studs!!

Early that mornin i returned to the shop and done the lolly as that mistake could of potentially cost me my life, the owner said he would replace the rear rims/ studs/ nuts free of charge (that was good of him) anyway that was all completed and of course i never went back there again.

Six years down the track it's back to haunt me again when i replaced the old scabby rusted factory pursuit rims with late model Holden statesman caprice factory alloys a few months ago which are thicker in the center then the steel rims and low and behold the studs are to short!! once again i would name this dipstick but the reason i am not is he sold the business to another bloke and he is tradin under the same name.

This is one of the rear rims with the nuts as tight as they will go the front ones are no worries, so the motto of the story is "never trust anyone with ya nuts"

Back around 15 yrs or so ago I was packin all my gear up to move down south for awhile it was a rush trip and it was imperative I get down there in a hurry anyway that is not important, because i was runnin around organizing a heap of things and only a matter of days to do it in I called LUBE MOBILE "they fixed my car" or so the annoyin Ad goes, another word that comes to mind what they done to my car and starts with F and it ain't fixed (i like the Ads below better, they were convenient to use so i seen them as the easiest to come and replace the rear brake shoes in my ute as it sat in the driveway a really simple task once again i could of done myself, this was the first and last time i have used them.

Job was completed fairly quick and i offered the bloke a cuppa and was quite impressed at how fast he got the job done later that evenin i set off for Victoria, at around 6am i think it was i noticed the steerin felt strange as i was commin into Grafton as i had slowed down but thought it was just the trailer full of gear i was towin but decided to pull up and take a look and found it to be a "case 3"  (above) another bozo who uses a rattle gun to do up wheel nuts and assumes the torque is correct and leaves it at that instead of checkin em properly with a wheel brace, it's common practice right? basics?

Anyway I was absolutely livid and could of easily self combusted as the passenger side rear wheel was hangin off and one stud with all the thread stripped off it with the nut still attached was all that was holdin that wheel on the drivers side had 2 badly damaged studs holdin it on I could sort of live with that if it were not the fact that the motion had flogged out the centers of the rims and the rims i had on it were immaculate unmarked ORIGINAL dragways shown in the pic below rare as hens teeth to get hold of in that condition.

 I rang LUBE MOBILE and informed them of what happened (after i was put on hold for 15 minutes) they said they would replace the studs and nuts which i thought was a start but what about the rims? anyway cut a long story short once again after contactin em a further 10 million times im still waitin 15 years later and still to this day i have the receipt of the work carried out and what it cost ME to repair.