1KUIK7

I have a very clean 07 Z51 Corvette and it was making some noise in the front suspension.I have a chevy Dealer not to far from my house so I took it to them to check it out.After a day and they had to keep it over night. The next morning they told me I needed a front spring and bushings now these thing's are composit and very expensive!! They told me it would cost 1200.00 on top of the 600.00 I already paid.needless to say I said I don't think so.I called Mike at TPS and asked him if he had one and he said he had a used one and could do the job for 500.00. When I got there they went right to work and come to find out it was not the spring or the bushings just a simple adjusting bolt needed to be replaced, they had one and put it on for a 100.00 bucks!!! Mike saved me a Ton of money and time. Thank's to Mike and his Crew the Dealer didn't Rip me off!!! Thanks Guy's!!!!

Audacious Nick

Another reason it is so nice to know how to work on cars.

glenB

At $500 you were still getting ripped off. You can buy the springs in the for sale section for $200 and it only takes about 2 hours to swap one out .....

Now, what would you have done if TPS didn't have an adjusting bolt, bought their spring?

What would you have said if you found out after the fact that you can buy aftermarket adjusting bolts?

And for the dealer, GM doesn't supply the adjusting bolt separately, you have to buy it as part of the spring, so what would you have them do?

So while you got lucky, look at the bigger picture .....

Gearhead Jim

And if my aunt had *****, she'd be my uncle.

Some people would say that getting his car back on the road immediately; instead of negotiating the purchase of a used spring, waiting for shipment, hoping it wasn't damaged, then perhaps paying the shop more for installation because they didn't make any parts profit; is a reasonable deal.

Having an honest shop tell him that he doesn't need the part they would like to sell, and supplying/installing a hard-to-get bolt for $100 total; priceless.

Mach2

Maybe being honest with the customer, making the decision to remove the bolt from their new spring, fix the customers car and not screw the OP with overpriced parts. Then the dealer parts person order a bolt from GM, set the spring aside until the bolt comes in, install the bolt into the spring and put the spring back in inventory. Of course that would be the right thing to do and take a little thought, so we know that aint' gonna happen. It would make darn sure that customer told all his friends about the positive experience he had with the local Chevy dealer, and not the negative and wrong experience he had.

The last two posts I've read have had condescending replies by you against the OP's. You've not had an experience with a business go sidways on you??

cclive

Funny, as I was reading the paragraph, my first thought was "I'll bet he didn't need the spring"....

1KUIK7

The only big picture I see here is TPS was honest and helped me out and the Dealer wanted to rip me off!!! As for negative replies there is no room for them here or in our shared intrest.

1KUIK7

Having an honest shop tell him that he doesn't need the part they would like to sell, and supplying/installing a hard-to-get bolt for $100 total; priceless.
***************


I SO AGREE!!!

PatriotZ

WTF?.....The OP is just trying to give KUDO'S to a honest shop....what pray tell is wrong with that Mr. Glenn?

1KUIK7

Vette5.5

I don't think you got ripped off, if you saved money. Some of these noisey parts aren't all that easy to find. I had a noisey sway bar end link, that I couldn't find when jacking up the car. Tire shop found it though, and said jacking up the car side was my problem, as nut was rusted in place. Gave the guy a nice tip, and ordered some new ones from Summit Racing. I certainly didn't feel ripped off, rather happy it got fixed.

jft69z

OP, glad you got your car fixed, sounds like it worked out great!

JW Motorsports

Can't beat those savings

glenB

GM doesn't sell the bolts seperately, that's the problem. If it's not in the supply chain and has no part number how are you going to order it?

I'm not being condescending, people need to look at both sides before ranting about something. If there is no part number for the adjusting bolt what would you like the dealer to order?

And I have been on both sides. Recently I purchased a $110 school book based on the information listed in the curriculum only to find out that the book wasn't needed. Once the book was opened it was non returnable. And yes, I did say something to the instructor and suggested in the future that the link for the book be removed to prevent this from happening in the future. And no, I'm not a young kid just starting, just an old dude with time and desire.

glenB

Some of y'all need to step back and look at the bigger picture. I didn't say he wasn't fortunate that they had the bolt and installed it for $100, that's reasonable, but, look at the other end of the spectrum, $500 for a used spring installed in my opinion, while better than the dealer price, is still high.

Big Dan 427

Yet we (or most of us) go out to dinner and will drop $200 for a meal we could have made at home for lets say $75-100 including the wine! I'm guessing know one meant harm with their comments but we all over pay sometimes! The OP is happy he saved some serious dough and offered a nice public compliment To TPS, that's how I see it! It also offers a lesson to us all, get a second opinion unless it's a clear cut issue! Thanks for posting...BD

glenB

Yes, I said they did him right with the bolt, what part did everybody miss?

The bolt is not hard to get in the aftermarket, many vender's here sell them. It is hard to get the bolt from GM since they don't list them and they only come with the spring.

I can guess that the conversation between the three went something like this

tech: the pad on the adjusting bolt is bad, the bolt only comes with a new spring. The new spring is $1200

service adviser: ok

service adviser to customer: the spring is bad and it's $1200

Comprehension; priceless

jimmie jam

Fight nice boys......it's only a thread. OP got lucky and that's a good thing.

su8pack1

VET4LES