Quote:
Originally Posted by Skippy
I'm used to thinking of it as a "regular" tire machine, with the other one being the "old" kind.
Is there still a shop in the U.S. that uses a bubble balancer? I saw one in a museum once.
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Wheel Clamp=
Center Pull=
Bubble Balancer, able to be boughten by anyone at their local harbor freight
DIY when you can, to become more familiar with the workings of a vehicle. I DIY oil changes, but I dont save anything. I spend $18 in oil and filter, plus my time, plus grease and cleanup... It likly costs me more then to have a shop do it, but I use mobile 1 and go 5k miles...
If you didnt authorize a "castle kit" by signing an estimate with an itemized price on it, they had no ground to stand on. Yes, the sales rep buying pizza and soda goes a long way. I went to an A&W with my girlfriend (at the time) I ordered a burger, fries, and drink, she ordered a hotdog, fries and a drink... There was nobody else in the store, hadnt been for mabey half an hour. She asked if we would like to swap fries for onion rings/cheese curds, and drinks for a milkshake... Not what I was expecting, but i was thinking since it was slow they were going to expire some and wanted to get rid of it... My bad, ended up just a sneeky up sale, bill was $20 for 2ppl at a fast food joint. We ate, left, didnt ever come back. That stupid up-sale tactic worked then, but now their doors are closed! If someone asks would you like the floor vacuumed, or the headlights buffed, or whatever, ask if it's free or at what cost.
Our Napa man buys a few flats of doughnuts every once in a while. Our Carquest man puts on a free dinner with a sales pitch and tool show every few months. Where do you think we order parts from in 90% of all orders? It's not the store that takes 2 hours to deliver a lugnut who has mouth breathing phone jockeys running the commercial account lines...
Today, standard as standard gets. k1500 pickup in for 4 tires, and an alignment. Checked the front end, needed an inner and a pitman. Total bill (parts and labor) around $900, calling for 4 hours of work. The man said go for it, I'll wait here. The pitman was seized onto the steering box, even after cutting it... The steering box needed to be removed from the frame to remove the stuck pitman... 5 hours into it, I had to expain the hold up. I said we're still not done with it, have been having trouble. He said "I'm glad I didnt decide to try and do it, I'll go to dinner and I'll be back in a few hours"
Made life much easier not having the customer breathing down my neck for the service. Yes, grease from fingertip to bicep that required alot of scrubbing... But, I got it done, and aligned it. He asked for the breakdown of the bill, saw that it was for 4 hours of labor and asked what it actualy took... It was 7 hours, 4 of them with 2 guys working on it. "Guess I got a deal on labor then" And happily paid his $900 bill.
I want more customers like that.
Could I have just set the tow and it would have driven ok? Yes, but he wasnt in a rush, and doing rush jobs means cutting corners like accepting camber or caster that's at the far end of spec if the vehicle will drive straight.
Hatterasguy, your Silverado needs cam kits if the springs are sagging a bit. They're about $30 a side for parts, and about the same to put them (1/2 hour labor extra ontop of the alignment)
~Nate