I take back all the good stuff I've said about Les Schwabs!

[Grit_dog]

Sooo, in my 8 years up here in the PNW, generally had pretty good luck with Schwabs. Lots of fleet vehicles, so plenty of truck tires, brakes, patch a loader tire at 1am stuff.

Last night I drop off my company pickup AFTER calling earlier in the day to confirm they could do what I needed. Shocks, brake pads (maybe rotors but likely not), oil change, balance and rotate tires (Schwab Toyos).
Guy calls me this morning to go thru the work needed. Shocks/struts, 1 blown 1 leaking, check. Brakes, pads low on both axles, check.
Rotate and balance, check. We don't do oil changes! WTF? Guy yesterday said no problem....ok whatever.
How much? Shocks/struts, $900 something, ok good. Brakes? $2100!
Again WTF? Sir we only replace ALL components. Pads, caliper and we will see if it needs rotors...
Huh? It's a 3 year old truck, no need for calipers. Sorry that's our policy.....

Gd@mmit. Now I gotta make like 3 separate service appointments. 1 for the shocks 1 for the brakes and probably 1 for the oil change separate.
And to boot, drove my personal truck to work and clipped a limb that was sagging and cut off protruding into the shoulder, smashed my passenger side mirror at 6am in the fog.....

Les Schwabs can kiss my @ss.
Anyone know who else sipes tires in the Seattle area? That's the only need I'd have to go back there. Since they now won't mount non Schwab tires either.

[Super_Dave]

Cummins12V98 wrote:


Anyone with a 2nd gen RAM upsize wheels to 17"

I've always hated the abundance of wheel well clearance with the 16's on my dually. I've wanted to upsize but am afraid what it will do to torque.

[Cummins12V98]

Sister in law, sold her a new battery. Next morning NO start.

Aunt and Uncle had LS completely go thru bearings/seals/brakes on RV before heading South for the winter. Pulled into a rest stop, HMMMMM where is my tire, wheel, brake drum and bearings???

I could write novel about LS, truly pathetic.

[Cummins12V98]

Ny Niece at least 25 years ago went to LS to get a tire fixed. They told her she needed ALL new brakes. YEP pads calipers and rotors.

She called her Grandpa, He tore them a new one!!! He had just done the pads earlier that Summer.

Taking advantage of a young lady, NICE!!!

[Cummins12V98]

pauldub wrote:
They will take off your perfectly good OEM calipers and install cheapo remans. What a deal.

YEP, the guy I bought my 01 RAM Sport from had LS do the brakes and yes they replaced the rotors and calipers. With around 25k on the brakes I heard scraping!!! I had looked recently and the pads were around 1/2 worn. STUCK piston, GRRRRRRRR. They junked perfectly good calipers to make a buck! OE's had around 110k on them.

Anyone with a 2nd gen RAM upsize wheels to 17" and change out cradles, calipers, rotors and pads to 3rd gen 03-09.

Replaced all on the rear with stock application.

EBC "OrangeStuff" pads and rotors with PowerStop calipers and cradles. Braking is INSANE!!!

[Cummins12V98]

"Been paying around $1200 for a set of tires for my truck over the years for some reason... Nothing special, just some AT tires... I asked about the Toyo's and I guess they are moving away from that and they quoted me around $1400 for a set of whatever they replaced them with. This is only for an F150, so not even LT tires.. They are XL rated ones.."

I see this all the time. pizz poor tires at ridicules prices.

Discount Tire 6 michelins out the door $1,278.

I have been VERY impressed with Discount, they beat Costco.

[Super_Dave]

We switched to discount tire for the truck and wife's car. I've always taken my trailers to Les Schwab because they have a giant parking lot and easy to get in and out of. The boat needs tires and wheel bearings repacked this Spring so I'll see what my local store has changed.

[Cummins12V98]

westernrvparkowner wrote:
You can thank the proliferation of lawyers and lawsuits for things like you encountered. A business taking on vehicle repairs and not replacing all the components in a system would likely be exposing themselves to an increased risk of being sued should that system fail. I don't think it is a Les Schwab problem, but rather an industry problem. Good Luck

NOT true with them!!! They have been screwing people for years. PIZZ poor quality parts and PIZZ poor labor. The people that took over from Les are simply riding on his coat tails.

If you like someone up your AZZ before getting out of your rig then they are up yer alley!

See anything wrong here ???

[colliehauler]

2100 for brakes is ridiculous. I always use a independent shop for the last 30 years that has reasonable prices and extremely knowledgeable people. The trouble with a very good mechanic is getting a appointment, usually booked a couple of weeks in advance. Not a issue with me because of multiple trucks. What's even better is a can trust his judgment not to try to up sale me on unnecessary repairs.

[noteven]

It seems a lot of replacement parts even from oem’sz don’t have the quality of factory original parts.

[JRscooby]

My brother's shop it is the insurance company that wants everything replaced when working on brakes. This is a real issue when dealing with antiques.
And just as bad, IMHO, is the guys that want to replace the tires on mid '60s firetrucks. Enough horror stories, no shop will touch.

[rhagfo]

Wow, I would understand a shop replacing calipers, I NEVER have replaced a caliper! I have rebuilt them myself it is Real Hard!! :B Pop out the pistons with compressed air, clean, inspect, fix issues, and reassemble.

I remember the first time I did it, 79 F250 dual piston calipers, parts guy told me won't work right after. Well put 70,000 miles on those pads and calipers!

Grit Dog understand that in your case company truck, so service shop.

[Grit_dog]

Yeah, I never really do oil changes there, since apparently they don't do them, however I asked the day before and pretty sure I had a couple trucks done in Yakima at Schwabs last year. Took 2 job trucks to town for tires and service. Maybe the boys took them somewhere else?
Now I know they don't do oil, other brands of tires, don't sell good tires (whatever their house brand is now...), apparently don't want to do brake jobs very bad and don't touch tires that you didn't buy there or balance trailer tires.

Maybe next they won't come out and patch a tire on a backhoe.

Or maybe they just sell enough calipers they don't need to do any of that other stuff anymore!

[Grit_dog]

westernrvparkowner wrote:
You can thank the proliferation of lawyers and lawsuits for things like you encountered. A business taking on vehicle repairs and not replacing all the components in a system would likely be exposing themselves to an increased risk of being sued should that system fail. I don't think it is a Les Schwab problem, but rather an industry problem. Good Luck

I get it. We're all in risky businesses right? I could be responsible for killing someone every day of the week If something goes wrong, but really?
I mean shouldn't they replace all the wheel lugs too if they take the wheels off? Golly, if a couple break who's to say they aren't responsible? Lol.
And new tire sensors for sure, God forbid I don't know what psi my tires are at from the drivers seat....
I'm sure what you're saying is exactly the case and like my industry, every incident results in 3 new HSE policies, but this one is ridiculous.

[MitchF150]

Yeah, I went away from LS for the first time in over 25 years of going to them for a new set of tires on my F150..

Been paying around $1200 for a set of tires for my truck over the years for some reason... Nothing special, just some AT tires... I asked about the Toyo's and I guess they are moving away from that and they quoted me around $1400 for a set of whatever they replaced them with. This is only for an F150, so not even LT tires.. They are XL rated ones..

Wife goes in to get her LS tires rotated.. They rotate them and then give her a quote for new shocks and struts for her 2003 Rav4... We had those done by LS about 4-5 years ago... They are not even close to needing to be replaced.. Her car does maybe 5000 miles a year.. Plus, I think they have a "lifetime warranty" on the ones they already installed??

Anyway, went to Discount Tire and have a set of really nice Pathfinder AT tires with full warranty out the door for $875..

There are a lot more DT stores around than LS stores from what I've checked out.

I've never seen a LS that does oil changes, so not sure on that, but I have never had them do brakes for me.... That whole requiring to change to new Chinese caliper thing always rubbed me wrong... Ain't like they are using OEM stuff for that!!

Anyway, I think I'm done with LS.. They did fix my TT tire recently that had a nail in it for free, which they don't usually do anymore, unless they are a LS tire to begin with, but they did do that for me... I took it in expecting to pay for it and would have because they are the closest tire store to my house.

Good luck!

Mitch

[Grit_dog]

wnjj wrote:
Discount Tire sipes down here. You could check with them there.

I'm calling them. Kid's car needs to go under the knife before winter.
The hi po tires on it will be like riding a greased cookie sheet if 3 snowflakes hit the road!