THSCC Forums

A friend of a coworker is looking for shop to replace a rear wheel bearing on his daughter's car. He asked if I would recommend (or not recommend) Al's Garage or Chapel Hill Tire, both of which are on the west side of Chapel Hill near the daughter's apt.

Good or bad experiences? Or a recommendation for another shop on that side of Chapel Hill?

_________________
Art McDonald
Premier Amateur #518
2008 Dishman Cup
Pivot Cone Snob

Rodney is a waxer (but in a good way)

What kind of car is it? Autologic in carrboro is supposed to be good. I had them do pads on the miata when my work schedule didn't allow me to get it done before an event. Everything with the service was fine except that they rotated my tires front to back without telling me and I unexpectedly got sideways on the way home (it was also cold and wet). I have had a bunch of tires mounted at chapel hill tire. Having significant service done at a place that mostly sells tires and does inspections makes me uncomfortable.

I don't know what kind of car.

Actually, the original statement was "the hub bearing needs to be replaced on one of the rear wheels".

_________________
Art McDonald
Premier Amateur #518
2008 Dishman Cup
Pivot Cone Snob

Rodney is a waxer (but in a good way)

Art,
Susanne had her truck worked on at Al's for a number of years .He does good work and his prices seem "fair" ,but then again ,those are "Chapel Hill" prices. We would recommend him.

I've used Al's, Autologic, Chapel Hill Tire, and Automotive Solutions in Chapel Hill.

Al is a great guy, and has competent, well trained employees that have been there forever. The downside is he doesn't handle all cars, or all procedures. If its outside of his expertise he'll send you somewhere else. He mostly handles routine maintenance.

Autologic is in the same vein, locally owned, good mechanics, excellent work, but they are competent in the normal stuff that breaks on a car, and I wouldn't trust them with a car that's been customized.

Stay away from Chapel Hill Tire... my experience with them is its a tire shop that also does repairs, and the mechanics come and go frequently, and not particularly interested in doing a good job.

If you have a german car Tioga's one-man shop "Automotive Solutions" is absolutely top notch. I take my M3 mostly to Janko, but last year it broke down and needed a tow, and Tioga is just down the street, while Janko was going to be a $150 tow. Tioga fixed the problem in a couple of hours and had me back on the road the same day! While the car was on the lift he found the source of an oil leak I'd been trying to fix for six months, and I haven't had a problem since. He claims to have been working on performance german cars for 30 years, and when I described the work the previous owner of my car had done at BimmerWorld, he told me the new engine mounts wouldn't last on my car. Sure enough, when we put the car on the lift the engine mounts were almost shot.


Hope this helps...

_________________
"Build a man a fire and he'll stay warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he'll stay warm the rest of his life."
'93 Subaru Legacy DIRTBOMB
'98 BMW M3
2013 Rallyx Co-VP

Never needed him, but have heard great things about Tioga for years.

Funny thing is he lives about a mile from me and we both have a kid in the same class at school this year.


--Donnie

_________________
My Blog

Stay away from Chapel Hill Tire, as far as I can tell, all of their locations. I could write a book on our issues with them, but suffice it to say their business practices are damn near fraudulent.

_________________
Apparently, I'm the resident VW apologist.