Stead Motors of Walnut Creek 925-937-1655 1301 Parkside Dr, Walnut Creek.
A-German Auto Wrecking 408-993-9711 301 San Jose Ave (Almaden Expy), San Jose CA.
AM Import Motors 510-601-4119 4000 Telegraph Ave (40th St, MacArthur BART), Oakland CA. Mercedes independent shop. Bob Carter, svc advisor.
All Mercedes 510-763-8602 1225 7th St (Union-Adeline, acc W-Oak BART), Oakland CA 94607. info@allmercedes.com.
American Auto Dismantler 510-265-1320 3744 Depot Rd, Hayward CA. Has several Mercedes.
Autobahn 415-776-6110 545 Eddy St (@Larkin) 2nd Fl, San Francisco CA 94109. Mercedes/BMW/Porsche "tuner shop".
Autopro 5200 Telegraph Ave (@Claremont), Oakland CA. Mercedes service.
******** Winchester Boulevard right off of Hwy 85, San Jose CA. Mercedes SL dealer.
Baum Tools Unlimited 415-566-9229 Mercedes-specific tools.
European Specialty Auto Dismantler 800-286-1355 1731 Smith Ave (Phelan-Tully, 7th-10th St), San Jose. Mercedes et al parts.
Germany's Best Inc. 510-658-8948 5291 College Ave, Oakland (Rock Ridge) CA 94618. aka Juergens. Porsche/Mercedes/BMW. Labor:54/hr, book-or-less hrs.
J&B Motors 415-861-2081 316 6th St, SF CA.. Specializes in BMW, Mercedes, Volvo.
MB Garage 650-349-2744 2165 Palm Ave (E 21st Ave), San Mateo CA. Indep Mercedes shop.
Mercedes Depot 510-436-7888 2904 Glascock St, Oakland CA. Mercedes repair or salvage??.
Mercedes Recycling & Repair 831-786-0536 255-C Salinas Rd, Watsonville CA 95076. Rebuilt engines, transmissions,
Mercedes Recycling & Repair 831-786-0536 255-C Salinas Rd, Watsonville CA 95076. Rebuilt engines and transmissions,various used parts. admin@mercedesrecycling.com.
Metric Motors 415-626-6234 1480 Howard (10th-11th), SF CA. Indep Mercedes shop.
Mr. Stitch Upholstery Svc 650-572-8818 77 East 21st Ave, San Mateo CA. Convertible tops, upholstery, interiors.
Nick's Auto Haus 415-441-3342 O'Farrell (@Polk), SF CA. Indep Mercedes shop.
Novak Automotive Repairs (Gino) 415-826-2917 901 Tennessee St (@20th, nr bridge, nr 3rd), SF CA 94107. Majid "Gino" Barance (owner). Mercedes, other. Met Gino & son 14-Feb-01.
Pete's Inc 415-441-5896 1645 Pacific Ave (Van Ness-Polk), SF CA 94109. Independent Mercedes repair shop.
Sal's ******** 415-334-6221 2942 San Jose Ave, SF CA. Independent Mercedes repair specialist.
Silver Star Recycling 800-783-4911 11315 Dismantle Ct, Rancho Cordova (nr Sacto) CA. Used Mercedes/Porsche parts. sales@silverstarrecycling.com.
Sun Valley Mercedes Dismantlers/Hydraulics 818-768-0704 11203 Tuxford St, Sun Valley CA. Dismantlers sells salvage parts. Hydraulics rebuilds transmissions. SVMBZ@aol.com.

what specifics do you want to know about the list? I'm in san francisco and I have had experience with a few of them.

Is the list still valid?
Do they still exist?
Would you go there?

Are any of these bad shops?

I just pasted this list to a document, I'll sift through it and chime in later.

i know of two that are very good !

M-1 Mercedes only in Fremont/Newark area
and
Bellas Autosport in mtn view.

That's quite a list of different places, many of which I am familiar with,
like Mr. Stitch Upholstery who I've used and highly recommend for interior work, even if not a Mercedes specific firm it belongs there as a resource because he does excellent work and has lots of experience working on Mercedes interiors.

The MB Garage lost the owner, Larry Thomas in May 2006. Unfortunately the new management has set pricing that is the same as a dealer in many instances as well as laid off two employees. It saddens me to see the change from what it was (a inexpensive, efficient place) .

I pass by Nick's ******** in SF occasionally and he's always busy with lots of what appears older MB's also especially since the dealership just around the corner refuses to work on them

All Mercedes in Oakland has changed hands (again). I used to go there for parts but they stopped recycling wrecked cars after the environmental laws killed that business in metro areas. They used to have lots of older parts, well inventoried and clean and a fine service dept. too. I understand the original owner, a German mechanic, is back (well maybe he never left, he worked for the owner who was shipping most of the stuff to China) so its should be an even better place now. It was my favorite place but a bit out of the way for me.

Silver Star in Sacramento is a junk yard and buys wrecked MB's but not in the Bay Area per-se making it too far for a short drive. I have a little warning about their practice of charging a $50 fee to pull a part. That's what they wanted to yank a 240D air/oil separator. A new one is around that price so you can figure where I got mine! I see them on eBay a lot and recommend anyone buying anything from them to go there and see what they are selling before buying it ie. no eBay!

SunValley is a wrecking yard in So. Calif. and I have driven down there to get a differential on one occasion and something else on another and I feel its worth the drive. They don't allow people into the yard to pick parts and that is a plus in my book. One ShopForum member bad mouthed them for that but it's their policy, hey they aren't a Pick-U-Part place! Fair prices and always provide a guarantee which can be rare in the used parts business.

Also, I highly suggest adding A&F Import Parts in Oakland for their excellent knowledge of and good inventory on MB parts tel 510-658-8175.

DDH

__________________
'95 E320 Wagon my favorite road car. '99 E300D wolf in sheeps body, '87 300D Sportline suspension, '79 300TD w/ 617.952 engine at 367,750 and counting!

I've recommended another shop in San Francisco: Octane, Mercedes Benz Specialist, located at 330 10th Street, just a block down from Costco. Randy Kuwatani owns the shop, a long time shop foreman at several of the local MBZ Dealerships. His number is 415.863.5555.

Randy is a true gentleman, knowledgeable, honest and exacting. Several of my E500E friends are now satisfied customers of his.

I've also mentioned Octane to my 4Matic buddies and elsewhere on this Board.

For full disclosure purposes, I am the Secretary to Octane, and also a satisfied customer.

Regards,
Bob

__________________
'94 E500 Anthracite
'92 300E 4Matic (donated to charity)
'90 300TE 4Matic

Not on your list, but...

Auto Europa on Cleveland in Albany/Berkeley.
510/528-3196 -Steven Lukacsy

Steven is Great, had worked on our 72 280SE 4.5 for over twenty years prior to us owning it. We had the heads done elsewhere stupidly, and when it didn't come out right, we found one of Steven's old invoices precariously placed in the car and called him up. Once we told him the color of the car (light blue) he instantly replied with the PO's name and told us we weren't allowed to have anyone else touch it in a humorous manner. He did an extensive inspection and replaced some electrical connectors, did the FI trigger points, and re-set the timing and idle back to where it should be, and the car runs better than my new F-250....

Needless to say, our previous shop did a shotty job, and even told us our wiring harness was trash. Thankfully Steven didn't have any hard feelings about us getting the heads done elsewhere, and did a great job for a reasonable price for us, which is important on a college student budget.

He'll even meet you at the train station if you need him to!

__________________
Brad

Current Headaches:
'72 280SE 4.5 - 120k (Rebuilt Motor, now just a weekend driver)
'06 F-250 Crew Cab 4x4 (102k in 2.25yrs)
'06 F-150 SuperCrew Lariat 4x4 (My wife's S-Class)
'85 GMC Suburban 2500 (Lifted, Built 350) The new camping rig.

Former MB Headaches:
'66 250SE 4-spd Black w/vinyl top
'67 250SE Auto British Racing Green
'71 220D Family project car, now in lucky hands of my sister and brother-in-law. Finally someone's DD again!

I find the people at A-German difficult to deal with. Prices are exhorbitent and they won't let you wander the yard. European Specialty is much better. The shorter fellow does better with prices than the taller fellow. Kinda scary walking among stacked MBs

The German fellow at All Mercedes knew his stuff. The Asians that took over were only as good as their parts books and didn't deal in esoteric models (W189, etc.). It'll be good news if the German fellow is back at the helm.

I think Mercedes Recycling in Watsonville is gone. Great bunch of guys though.

If Silver Star is like the other Rancho Cordova recyclers save yourself the trouble and buy what you need at from the dealer. You won't spend less buying used at Rancho Cordova.

Sixto

Agree on Silver Star Recycling (silverstarrecycling) ! this is enough to convince one on that:
http://toolhaus.org/cgi-bin/negs?User=%09silverstarrecycling&Dirn=Received+by

__________________
'95 E320 Wagon my favorite road car. '99 E300D wolf in sheeps body, '87 300D Sportline suspension, '79 300TD w/ 617.952 engine at 367,750 and counting!

Avoid M1 Mercedes only they are very expensive. They charged me $22 for a distribution rotor which sells for $5. Their labor charges are very high too. They claimed to have also soldered the wiring connector to the EHA connected to the fuel distributor. Not sure whether they did it or just charged me for it. After that my idle speed has been erratic and is rarely around 750. Car is also running rich. Too scared to go back as they may charge me big bucks for fixing that.
Another shop to avoid is D & G Automotive in Union City. They are even worse. They wanted $259 for a ignition coil(1984 190E) and 125 labor to detect no start problem and $135 labor to put in the ignition coil and Electronic Ignition control module. I got the coil for $69 from www.***************. Week later the car stopped again. The owner of D&G Automotive Dennis said that Raul had worked on my car. Towed it home and checked it myself with multimeter and found that tech did not tighten the - terminal on the ignition coil. It worked loose within a week. Tightened it and car runs fine now.
Here is the Bay Area I am still looking for a honest mechanic. Until that time I am going to work on my car myself.

Dear Forum Friends,

I've mentioned this before, but the last story prompts me to recommend again my favorite shop in the Bay Area: Octane, located in San Francisco, near the Costco, on 10th St. at Folsom.

Randy Kuwatani runs the operation. Randy has many years experience at the dealers, and recently opened his own shop with highly skilled mechanics. He is honest, reliable and a true gentleman. I bring both of my cars to him. His number is 415.863.5555.

For disclosure purposes, I am the secretary to Octane, Inc.

Regards,
Bob

__________________
'94 E500 Anthracite
'92 300E 4Matic (donated to charity)
'90 300TE 4Matic

I would avoid the MB dealership in SF, had a HUGE problem with botched repairs, multiple trips back there, misdiagnosis, ultimately a chargeback but due to all that trouble PLUS I wasa met with derision in the service Dept., driving a 5 year old Benz that cost $84k when new, it was awful. Made me wish I bought a new Honda or 2 instead. UGH. (Clay Street facility)
no opinion on the Folsom St place. Only went there for parts

Petes a mixed bag, nothing bad happened to me, they are OK, but prices Pacific Heights, HIGH, you will really feel it, very nice clean operation, Coes the big rebuilds, Pagoda roofs etc, will drop you off at work too, but one customer told me they dropped tools on his car and denied it, he had to go to small claims court.

Only used Sal's Autohouse once, they were fine, reasonable considering the high bay area prices, but in a difficult area to get to especially on public transit, no fancy lounge with coffee, nowhere really to wait, nothing to see or do nearby (San Jose Ave.) but they have a pretty good reputation.

__________________
1991 560 SEC AMG, 199k <---- 300 hp 10:1 ECE euro HV ...

1995 E 420, 170k "The Red Plum" (sold)

2015 BMW 535i xdrive awd Stage 1 DINAN, 6k, <----364 hp

1967 Mercury Cougar, 49k

2013 Jaguar XF, 20k <----340 hp Supercharged, All Wheel Drive (sold)

The real horror story though was at Nick's ********.

Nothing against them but here's what happened.

My wife (at the time) followed me down to the shop in the bad bad tenderloin neighborhood, and that is where the trouble began.

As I recall they were on O Farrell Street, which runs, a one way street, with absolutely no, I repeat NO parking, anywhere on the street, inbound to SF downtown, from 6AM -9 am, they can and will ticket and tow.

Problem is though, Nick is the only one with the keys to open up the shop,
and he lives in San Mateo, a good 45 minutes away on the Peninsula, and NEVER opens the shop for business before 9:00am, not ever, and who can predict the traffic into downtown any given day - it could be great or awful!

So my wife is behind me in her car and it is almost 8:45 am and we are both circling around the block over and over again because no one is there and we can't park and wait cause we will get tickete3d or towed, finally he arrives just before 9:00am so we pull up behind him as he pulls up to the door in his W116 sedan, opens the door, he drives instead and a 3 wheeled Meter maid scooter pulls up and presents BOTH me and my wife EACH with our own summons for STOPPING in a no stopping zone, they have a new handheld laser device that can zap you from a block away, and that is what she di, got both of us at once, so we are out over $100 and she has us dead to rights and we haven't even got in, and my wife is pissed because for all this she missed being at work in Sunnyvale 50 miles away that morning.

It gets worse! The driveway from the street to Nick's shop on the 2nd floor is very steep and skinny and the shop is jammed and it is VERY hard to drive or maneuver a lowered 560SEC around so I pick up the car after the suspension spheres are repaired and when I get to work, the whole rear side on the left has been scraped up and yellow paint all over everything, I had to go back, and make them pay for this, more trouble getting estimates at body shops

Now you run A MERCEDES BENZ repair shop I wouldn't make the customer go through all that, in the GHETTO, just to get aq car fixed. Seems he's just made it too hard for a harried busy customer to get his car fixed. Bad location, bad everthing. But repairs just fine!!

I still shudder at the memories. Just can't recommend them, sorry!

__________________
1991 560 SEC AMG, 199k <---- 300 hp 10:1 ECE euro HV ...

1995 E 420, 170k "The Red Plum" (sold)

2015 BMW 535i xdrive awd Stage 1 DINAN, 6k, <----364 hp

1967 Mercury Cougar, 49k

2013 Jaguar XF, 20k <----340 hp Supercharged, All Wheel Drive (sold)

check and click the Silver Star Recycling in Rancho Cordova, out past Sacramento, near 50. Is it worth a special trip out there, they charge you $50 to take off a part? Now:

Good lord 36 neutral or negative feedback on ebay in addition to all the other problems? Houston, we have a problem!! "Nuf said. TIA for the ACHTUNG!

__________________
1991 560 SEC AMG, 199k <---- 300 hp 10:1 ECE euro HV ...

1995 E 420, 170k "The Red Plum" (sold)

2015 BMW 535i xdrive awd Stage 1 DINAN, 6k, <----364 hp

1967 Mercury Cougar, 49k

2013 Jaguar XF, 20k <----340 hp Supercharged, All Wheel Drive (sold)