I am a DIY / frontyard/garage mechanic.

my Backyard is not suitable work place for cars lol

Good point - I am actually a by the side of the house mechanic...

Iam a Shade tree mechanic, but last Fall all the leaves fell off the tree. :eek:

I noticed that the tree is leafing out again, so I better hang out my Shingle again. :D


97 SL320, I figured you worked for a Dealer, a Independent MB shop or own a shop by your posts.


Charlie

Charlie, thanks for noticing my past posts.

Five years ago a senior engineering manager noticed my posts on another board and that landed me an engineering job at a factory pretty much on my reputation alone.

Also for the record, I was not making any derogatory statements against any at home mechanics, I was just establishing my background.

So, for the short story ( Edit maybe not so short ) , at 10 I was digging lawn mowers out of the junk, fixing them to sell at the flea market. At 12 I bought a car ( 1966 Olds Jet star ) and proceeded to learn about hydraulics, pneumatics, electrical systems and all things mechanical. This is where I learned how to set points, remove cylinder heads, lap valves , change transmissions, brakes and such. All of this was done unassisted by anyone as my Dads limits were typical around the house "guy stuff" and changing a tire.

Fast forward a few years and I ran my own shop for about 10 years. Not liking the physical toll , irate irrational customers ( I did have a good group of engineers from the local nuke research lab so it was not all bad. ) and the real possibility that the auto makers were no longer going to make repair information available, it was time to move on.

My next stop was a tech at a electronics factory. This ran 8 years until they closed my division and soon after the entire plant.

I took a run at managing / engineering at a equipment manufacturing shop knowing from the beginning that it was a 20 year old start up and likely unsavable. ( It was, and closed about a year after I left. )

And that leads me to my current job officially titled as Manufacturing Engineer although it encompasses anything from diagnosing / repairing anything mechanical, electrical, electronic to designing in-house machines to some product design.

Cars were convent multi system machines, if I different type of machine was accessible I'd have gravitated towards them. My path also bears out the value of reading, ( pre Internet mind you ) as virtually no one taught me how to do things. Reading fills in lots of gaps. I also look at things from an engineer perspective, if you know how the world works you can figure everything else out.

Phew that's a relief - this wouldn't be the place to do that!

Just passed inspection. And the place I take it to is typically pretty thorough...not the perfunctory inspections you get at some places. The mechanic acknowledged that the pads are not making the contact that they should....but wasn't concerned enough to fail me.

Then I took it to my regular indie to take a quick look....he basically said the same thing.

I'm basically handing these guys a blank check to do a brake job....but neither one seems overly concerned.

80 grit paper does not have NEAR the polishing power of 3000psi of braking force...

I hope both techs looked at the same brake in the picture. ( and didn't pull the opposite side wheel as is typical during an inspection then call both good ). Only 25% of the pad on that rotor is making proper contact.
The rust on the rotor is very deep and pitted , not surface rust that is typical from a car sitting a few months.

Neither of these techs are doing you any favors, that amount of rust is unacceptable. Are you on other car lists? How about posting pics there and posting the results back?

Yes, they looked at that exact rotor plus the one on the other side. I must admit I was surprised....and both are excellent mechanics.

No, I'm not on any other lists.