friend trying to rip me off .......

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dustoff440

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Guys need a little help...
I thought this guy was my friend he is trying to say that he spent 56 hours to do my front kelsey hayes 4 piston disc brakes. The job was supposed to be completely replace everything, rotors, seals, bearings, calipers, hoses etc. He did not rebuild or redo anything I brought him new rotors and remaned calipers and all the other stuff was new.. He is supposed to be a top shelf mechanic. I will buy 16 hours (2 days), but not 7 days or 56 hrs. This was not a rusty/crusty job either there is not butchering or alterations it is completely stock, it was a straightforward job. Am I overreacting or is he trying to gouge me.......I tried to find old shop manuals that would give the amount of time to to do the job but no luck....I'm guessing that a competent mechanic could easily do the work in a day
 
WOW.... Seems like a lot of hours. I cant see it taking over a day, 2 max and im pretty anal. Id think twice before having him do work for me again, unless your pockets have no bottoms.
 
Ask him itemize exactly what he did with associated time for each task. Maybe he will realize the ridiculousness of it when it is broken down. Kind of embarrassing for a top tech to say changing pads took 8 hours etc...!
 
Ask him itemize exactly what he did with associated time for each task. Maybe he will realize the ridiculousness of it when it is broken down. Kind of embarrassing for a top tech to say changing pads took 8 hours etc...!

It was a complete redo with all new stuff but still.....I did ask for a breakdown by hour and that was 3 days ago..still nothing
 
The two things that are time consuming are rebuilding the calipers if he did that, and pressing the studs out of the rotor hub so they could be pressed into the new rotor. Keep in mind they are held together by the studs, and the rotors do not come with a new hub. That's an awful lot of time....56 hrs....
 
The two things that are time consuming are rebuilding the calipers if he did that, and pressing the studs out of the rotor hub so they could be pressed into the new rotor. Keep in mind they are held together by the studs, and the rotors do not come with a new hub. That's an awful lot of time....56 hrs....

He rebuilt absolutely nothing...yes he did press the studs, but I can't see where that took huge time......
 
Um, no.

I could get an entire front end rebuilt in a day. 2 working days if we're calling actual time for paint to dry, etc.

In 56 working hours, I'd include the K frame, rear suspension and rear axle restored, too. And I mean media blasted, tanked, cleaned, gear lash set, new seals, bearings, rear brakes and drums done. That's more than an entire work week.

Tell him that he needs to check his figures against typical flag time of a front brake job.

New parts replaced, including the time it takes me and a friend bleeding the system with a new master cylinder, I'd have maybe a work day in replacing parts and getting everything set up. Maybe. If I was under the clock hand and used a power bleeder, you're looking at a job done before lunch, to replace front calipers and rotors with a bleed.

If your friend was struggling with it, that's his problem. That's why mechanics are paid flag time and not paid hourly. I am paid hourly, because restorations are somewhat unpredictable, but I came from shops that paid flag hours and I'm at a point now, where I can actually give people hour figures on restorations, because I've logged prior resto jobs and I can figure it in.

If he's as good as you say or he claims, he should know flag time inside and out on something as common and routine as a front brake job on a disc setup. That is one of the easiest jobs that a mechanic can take on.
 
He rebuilt absolutely nothing...yes he did press the studs, but I can't see where that took huge time......

pay him 1/2 the time walk away and learned a valveable lesson iam going though a ordeal with my dads 63 sport fury body shop saids they got 276 hours in 7 weeks but half the time they was working on other cars or not there another lesson i learned friends will take advantage of you
 
Over 11 hours a day for 5 days?............not to do what you listed. He sounds like he is gouging you, a lot. I am old, slow and picky and that might take me two days.
 
I think he would fall under the "acquaintance" category and not "friend". JMO.
 
Go there, drop your pants, and tell him that for that price, he's stroking you and you want a happy ending since you are paying for it....


He's ripping you off. If he won't come down on the price tell him to put the old parts back on and you'll get SOMEONE REASONABLE to do it..
 
Makes me like the deal me and my buddy got. I do mechanical work for him in exchange for body work. Im a mechanic and he works in a body shop. Makes sense to me and we keep our $ in our pockets that way.
 
pay him 1/2 the time walk away and learned a valveable lesson iam going though a ordeal with my dads 63 sport fury body shop saids they got 276 hours in 7 weeks but half the time they was working on other cars or not there another lesson i learned friends will take advantage of you

You just won another trophy Mike........ you hit the nail on the head!!!! That's the main number one reason we DON"T work on FAMILY and FRIENDS VEHICLE"S!!!!!!!!!! We will see you at Carlisle Mke.
 
Well...you know...a beer in one hand, and a wrench in the other can add up to a lot of time.
 
You just won another trophy Mike........ you hit the nail on the head!!!! That's the main number one reason we DON"T work on FAMILY and FRIENDS VEHICLE"S!!!!!!!!!! We will see you at Carlisle Mke.


Yes, there's a reason that they say not to do business with family and "friends"..... :razz:
 
Over 11 hours a day for 5 days?............not to do what you listed. He sounds like he is gouging you, a lot. I am old, slow and picky and that might take me two days.

I am also picky and slow and thought that if I had done it it would be about two days for me.....I should have done it myself, but it's like the last major mechanical item on the Dart and I thought I would get someone to do it for me so I could get the damn thing on the road...
 
I just called him and told him that I was coming out with AAA to pick up the car......the price dropped to $350 instead of $600. I'm going to pay him $300 and take the car back to my house. I'm figuring 20 bucks an hour at 15 hours for the brake job, does that sound reasonable? Remember, this is not a SHOP but the guys garage at home.
 
There is no way in hell it would take anyone that has ever done a brake job that long. 1 work day, anything over that is bullshit.
 
I just called him and told him that I was coming out with AAA to pick up the car......the price dropped to $350 instead of $600. I'm going to pay him $300 and take the car back to my house. I'm figuring 20 bucks an hour at 15 hours for the brake job, does that sound reasonable? Remember, this is not a SHOP but the guys garage at home.


Sounds like dealership rates, $45/hr.
 
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