I have been changing the looks of my car and recently wanted to get the brake calipers powder coated a different color. I asked for recommendations on a local Facebook group when the owner of a nearby shop responded. After looking at his company web-site, I asked the cost and the how long it would take. The owner was very responsive so I decided to utilize his service, I dropped my car off on March 30th and was told it would take about a week.

A week passed and I never heard from the shop, so I contacted them and was referred to the office manager who indicated that due to COV19, the powder coating supplies was delayed but it should only ne a couple of days. A couple of days went by and I reached out to the owner who did not respond, I called and left a message no response. I continued to reach out to the owner who referred me to their shop email. I sent an email asking for the status? The next day I received a response that my car would be ready on Tuesday, well Tuesday came and no one called. I called on Wednesday and was told it would be ready on Thursday, Thursday no call, I called on Friday and no answer, so I got worried and went to the shop to find my car under neathe another car with no motor or transmission. As you can imagine, I was furious, the owner never came to talk to me even thou he was in the shop, the shop manager came out and told me that the powder coating had gotten inside the caliper and that they were retreading it and it should be ready soon. I told him I would wait for it, after an hour of waiting the shop manager came out and said that one of the bolts needed to be replaced and that they had to order the part. I asked when would the car be ready, he stated no later the tomorrow. So I left and patiently waited until the next day, I did not receive any notification so I text the owner and shop manager and neither responded, I continued to call and finally was told that they found a spot on the front caliper and had to resend the caliper back to the powder coating place and that they would contact me shortly. Today is 04/30/2020, and I once again contacted the shop to no avail. They have had my car for a month and the car is not ready.

Am I overreacting thinking something is not right? First, they blame COV-19, then a retreated, then broke bolt and now a spot.

Any suggestions on how to get my car back? Or should I allow more time?

Thanks in advance

 

Seems a little suspicious to me, specially with their reluctance to maintain communication with you.

 

I agree, just not sure what to do, I am close to hiring a rollback and sending over there to pickup. I mean a month to complete what was supposed to be a week and yet they are blaming COV-19.

 

i dont have an answer but I would be losing my mind.....and yes, get it out of there....

 

I’d get your car out of there fast! Not the same but I took my calipers off, sent them out via UPS to have them powder coated, had them back via UPS in a week and back on the road, car was off the road for a week, if I used a local shop it wouldn’t have been more than 2 day, something stinks.

 

I would give them a firm deadline - a couple of days max. If not ready, pull the car out of their shop and go elsewhere. No excuse of not keeping you informed of the progress (or lack thereof) and for the constant bunch of excuses.

 

After you get your car back...all it's parts installed....you should light him up on FB. Don't be arrogant *** on there...but firm, irritated, angry professional. Contact the BBB too.

I would've wanted to see this "bolt" that needed to be replaced. I'm no mechanic. Zero experience there...but I removed all four of my calipers last Fall doing my own brakes with ZERO chance of busting a caliper bolt. And that was my first time ever doing something like that.


I'm sorry you're having to deal with that nonsense there. I'm irritated for you brother. Keep us updated.

 

Unfortunately you brought your car to the shop of horrors. I would have gotten my car back the moment I could not reach them or they refused to call me back.

 

I‘ve worked on a lot of cars. I’ve taken brake calipers off hundreds of times.

Never. Not once. Did I ever have to take the engine and transmission out to do that!

They broke something unrelated to the job. And they are trying to hide it.

Unless I’ve misunderstood and the car it was parked under was the one that was stripped? Either way, this shop is doing something shady and should not be trusted.

 

Thanks guys - I appreciate all the voices at this point (51 yrs old) this was my first car ever that I was able to customize and now this has happened. Will keep this thread alive as I am calling them this morning, with hopes to get a response. 1 month and 1 day for powder coating brake calipers.

 

You can paint your own calipers in the comfort of your garage, G2 makes a great kit with hundreds of colors to choose from

 

Appreciate the suggestion but I am not mechanically inclined to do such work with such baring on the brakes.

 

When I got car back would have it checked out by another shop. would want to make sure everything was right. Bad brakes can be NO fun.

 

I think I'd contact the police. Ask if they have any jurisdiction in the situation. At the least, could one of their officers go w/ you and the roll back? Today is the day to get your car back.

 

Tough decision, sounds like some parts are still out for work so taking the car could be an issue. I guess I would speak with the owner one more time give him a deadline to finish it up. If he fails to do do so get the car out of there. Then you are going to have to deal with paying them for this mess and finding a shop to do the job right. I would suggest you contact your local Corvette Club for a recommendation on a shop to do the work.

 

Update at 9:10 this morning - "Got caliper back at the end of the day yesterday. Working on assembling everything as we speak. I will let you know as soon as we are done with it."

OMG - I have heard this many six times in a month - but all mechanically incline people - How long should ONE caliper take to be installed (possibly rebuilt again) due to new powder coating?

Please for the love of your car, DO NOT CUT CORNERS when getting your car repaired, fixed or upgraded - This nightmare continues

 

I am not even that mechanically inclined (compared to others) and I pulled an entire set of calipers and painted (not powder coat) all four in two days at home. The calipers are held in by two bolts - that is it. The hardest part is capping off the brake lines.

Before driving your car PLEASE check the level of brake fluid and the operation of the brakes. With the parking brake still on I would pump the brakes and makes sure they are firm. Removing the calipers will allow air into the system so the brakes should be flushed once refitted onto the car.

Sounds like they are farming out the service to another company and not doing the work in house - thus they have little to no control over the process.

 

Thanks - I thought about that as well with 650HP and not being able to stop. The did sub out the powder coating but to quote a week and now a month.

thanks for your advice.

 

Update - Never received a call yesterday so I called at 5:00 and asked the status and was told they had to call in a Corvette brake specialist to bleed the brake system because of the ABS and that the car is not ready but should be ready by Monday at lunch???? Keep in mind they never called or informed me of an update. The nightmare continues.

 

Angry for you brother.

Where are you located anyway?