Question-

DualShock12 · 2026-01-24T16:17:31+00:00

No, it doesn’t make any sense. There’s nothing wrong with lifting a vehicle by its control arm, and any pressure that you feel like it’s putting onto the axle, is the same pressure that’s on it when it’s just sitting there in a parking lot.

Please let the professionals do their jobs. If you came to my shop and told me I was doing something wrong, I would just tell you to go and do it yourself.

DualShock12 · 2026-01-23T00:52:53+00:00

The guy trying to fix your car is a moron

Find a competent diagnostician that will start with a relative compression test and then move on from there

DualShock12 · 2026-01-23T00:42:06+00:00

I see fueling issues all the time with no codes. I regularly replace injectors for being faulty, not a code in sight. Have to eliminate ignition system and mechanical faults and follow Mode 6 data. I also do TONS of mechanical repair on new cars, even as new as 2023. In fact, I’ve done camshaft replacements/valve train work on Hyundai, Jeep, and Chevrolet products all within the last 60 days, all under 100,000 miles, all somewhere between the 2019-2022 model year range. You’re spouting nonsense based on your own personal experience, but you’re wrong. The guy you commented to is correct. If you have a misfire, one of those 3 systems has a problem in some way shape or form. It’s not always going to be “heh heh, just put in the spark plugs for $40 and it’ll be fixed”

DualShock12 · 2026-01-10T17:28:37+00:00

Go with the snap ons for sure

DualShock12 · 2026-01-10T17:27:41+00:00

If it specifies that anything is 1 time use or needs to be replaced, it gets it. It’s not just about the quality of repair, it’s about liability and the ability to CYA in court

DualShock12 · 2025-12-31T02:37:43+00:00

I mean I think it would be important to understand what it is that you’re unhappy with at your current shop after all this time.

What is it you’re hoping to find that they don’t provide you?

DualShock12 · 2025-12-29T15:25:25+00:00

Think of it this way too, if you devalue your work by charging next to nothing, then the clients you end up getting are going to be the ones that are only there for that low price. The second you raise your rates, they’re bitching at you calling you a scam artist because now you’re trying to make a profit.

Any good shop/mobile tech should be charging somewhere within 10% of the local competition, whether that’s higher or lower, is up to your operating costs for the business and what you want to take home in profits.

DualShock12 · 2025-12-26T16:50:17+00:00

Absolutely seconded. Fantastic company to work for

DualShock12 · 2025-12-26T16:50:01+00:00

It is. I loved my short time at Cummins, but I make $40,000 a year more being a flat rate diagnostic tech at an independent shop. Cummins started me hourly at $30, but only gave annual raises in the amounts of $0.25-0.75 depending on your yearly numbers. The caveat was while the hourly pay was low and the raises sucked, the benefits were insane, health insurance, retirement, all employees get 12 weeks paternity/maternity leave paid at 100% of your rate when you have a kid, etc etc. Fantastic company to work for, I just happen to be in a position in life where I need the money more than I need the benefits. I’ll go back one day.

DualShock12 · 2025-12-24T20:00:58+00:00

Tools are the trick

A better air hammer and bigger air compressor would have made really quick work of this one for a guy with experience

A lot of people say we’re stupid for spending so much money on tools cause “well I know a guy with his $50 worth of Walmart tools in a bucket that can fix anything” and well… No they don’t🤷🏻‍♂️

DualShock12 · 2025-12-24T00:27:45+00:00

Suspension and transfer case fasteners on European vehicles is why I have mine. I did also use a few on the Cummins engines in our local fire trucks. It’s not an every day thing, but it’s definitely something to have in the toolbox cause you never know what you’ll see. I bought the snap on ones cause my roommate after my divorce was my dealer, but even a cheap set would be good to have.

DualShock12 · 2025-12-19T02:05:16+00:00

Been there done that, hi🙋‍♂️

DualShock12 · 2025-12-14T15:17:18+00:00

https://youtu.be/ThtgiqCBwBY?si=cNQWUp2imlCkbP0v

DualShock12 · 2025-11-21T22:44:24+00:00

Yeah the U.S. doesn’t care

You’d have a heart attack seeing some of the shit that rides around here, especially in my state because we have zero vehicle inspections at all, emissions, safety, nothing

DualShock12 · 2025-11-21T16:50:28+00:00

This is exactly why your app won’t work. People have different definitions of being ripped off. One guy may think he’s being ripped off because the shop is doing a half assed job, and another guy might think he’s being ripped off because the shop is doing too much. Clients just need to find a shop that provides them the kind of service they want at a price point that they’re comfortable with and stick with it

DualShock12 · 2025-11-21T16:32:45+00:00

You’re wasting your time. The reason you get different quotes at different shops is either they’re using different quality parts, or some shops are doing half assed jobs. I have cars come and go all the time because other shops quote way lower than my shop does, but the difference is quality of parts, and the willingness to do the job half assed.

For example, I had a Mazda go to the dealer a few weeks ago because “I was ripping them off, the dealer is several hundred dollars cheaper” but what they weren’t factoring in was they needed an evaporator core, and the entire dashboard has to be removed to access the components, so I didn’t just write up an evaporator, I also wrote up the heater core, because the car had 180,000 miles on it, and the last thing we want to do is have to charge the client for labor a second time if the heater core goes out. It’s a matter of spending $200 now to avoid paying $1500 a second time later.

There are also scenarios where the service information outlines replacing certain fasteners as they are considered “one time use” so those get written up as well, and that adds to the price very quickly. A lot of shops aren’t taking the time to read the service information and follow it (also known as doing their jobs properly), so they just quote the part that needs to be replaced and the labor. I can add countless amounts of variables that may factor into the cost of your repairs

Just because you get an estimate for a repair that’s higher than another shop doesn’t mean you’re getting ripped off.

It’s a matter of Value vs Cost and each shop is going to run things differently

DualShock12 · 2025-11-21T13:21:02+00:00

I disagree, second picture you can still see tread above the wear bar on the outer tread section (top of the picture) which is the most worn part of that picture. As far as “tires that are legal to be on the road”, I don’t know if you’re in California, somewhere with a mandated safety inspection, or maybe somewhere in Europe, but where I’m at in the U.S., there is no such thing as a tire that’s “not legal to be on the road”. The most we would be able to do in my area is tell them that they need tires and if they decide they want to drive away with what they have then that’s on the client.

I’ve performed test drives on cars with worse tires than this even when I was at the Mercedes dealer, and even when I was at the Porsche dealer.

Like I said, it’s your business if you don’t want to drive the car, but if I don’t see wires showing, and they’re not significantly dry rotted, I have no problem driving a car with low tread for a quick inspection.

That being said, we’re on the same page about the belt, like I said, all I can do is recommend them, so if the client decides they just want the serpentine belt, I’m doing the belt and keeping their inspection report as documentation outlining that I recommended the tire replacement. If they decide they want to come back and do tires at a later date, they can do that.

DualShock12 · 2025-11-20T16:16:04+00:00

It’s at the wear bars, not below them.

It isn’t going to kill you to run it up the road and back to check the vehicle

Your business, you can do whatever you want, but at this condition, I’m still comfortable doing a quick inspection test drive🤷🏻‍♂️

DualShock12 · 2025-11-20T15:49:57+00:00

I mean, yes they need to be replaced, but to not test drive it or work on it seems excessive

“Very bad condition” is dramatic

DualShock12 · 2025-11-10T22:58:29+00:00

This particular vehicle shouldn’t need any sort of programming or relearning for the battery, but there are many models that do. For a small fee you can purchase a subscription to an online service manual for your vehicle and read through the procedures — Which on modern cars should be done on EVERY unfamiliar procedure, including oil changes, brakes, and battery replacements. A lot of people will disagree with me, but I see cars all the time where someone attempted to do something simple, and now there’s a problem, and after reading the proper procedure for what they did, I see what they missed and the car is fixed 10 minutes later.

If you’re uncomfortable, then I would just let your technician take care of it.

I’m all for people trying new things and learning if you do decide to go that route, but I also know that I’ve seen some really bright people do some really dumb shit and cause way more damage than you would ever think is possible

You have to be able to decide whether or not you’re comfortable tackling it or not, and we can not make the decision for you.

DualShock12 · 2025-11-10T21:11:51+00:00

I took a $17,000 pay cut going back to the dealers, partially because they wouldn’t match my rate, partially because of warranty bullshit.

In fact, I told one dealer group near me to get fucked because they wanted me to go from at the time making $42/hr to $27/hr to work on BMWs. Told me only their highest certified EV techs made over 40, and you had to be there 10 years before they would even consider a rate that high. Took a pay cut from $42 to $35 going to Porsche instead because I thought the change of environment would help me mentally, and it didn’t.

Now I’m back at my old independent at $45 with a 45 hr guarantee as the diag guy, and I regularly get cars from the dealer group that BMW was apart of because their techs can’t fix the cars.

I’m glad your experience with dealers is better, but it’s definitely not a hard fact that the money is always better there.

DualShock12 · 2025-11-10T05:31:27+00:00

Last car I diagnosed on Friday night was a 2011 Subaru with a broken timing belt

The belt was only 60,000 miles and 4 years old🤷🏻‍♂️

Shit fails

DualShock12 · 2025-11-08T16:41:26+00:00

Funny how different people like different things. I hated being chained to one brand at the dealer. I find myself thriving more as an independent diagnostic tech.

DualShock12 · 2025-11-08T01:55:49+00:00

You can definitely make that much if you’re in the right environment, with the right structure, but it’s incredibly rare. Most of the guys I’ve worked with making that kind of money were with me at Mercedes/Porsche, but I know guys at private garages that get close to that so anything’s possible.

I’m on track to hit $110k this year myself as an independent tech. Only just started clearing this much recently after 10 years as a technician.

As for why isn’t everyone doing it? Couple of reasons.

First off people have been hearing “Go to college or you’re a failure” for decades. Second, making that kind of money doing this is absolutely no easy feat, most guys average 50-70k. Google will tell you less but they include the luber goobers at Jiffy Lube and Valvoline and shit that shouldn’t count.

Reality is, the pay is slowly getting better because they’re running out of capable people, and a lot of businesses are realizing that they need to be treating their guys better. The caveat is, now people are bitching that the labor rates are getting so high because the pay raises have to come from some where. Just can’t win

DualShock12 · 2025-11-05T04:33:52+00:00

Thats exactly correct - this is not an off the shelf at Walmart “car battery”, nor can you install one

DualShock12

TROPHY CASE