A job not well done...

[BlkGS]

Curious on thoughts on this situation.

Took my vehicle to Firestone for some service over the weekend. The steel brake line between the master cylinder and abs pump developed a pinhole leak. Really a pain, but it is what it is.

Firestone said "yeah, no problem we can fix that". The vehicle is a n 09, so no surprise the oem line is long discontinued. They were going to have to make a new one. Shouldn't be a problem for a professional garage, right?

$400 later, I get my car back. Pedal is still soft, they clearly didn't bleed the brakes. They didn't charge me for it, so I guess that's fine. This evening I was checking under the hood and saw the job they did. It looks TERRIBLE. Instead of removing the factory line and replicating it, they took some pipe, curved it by hand (there's not a small radiu bend on this thing anywhere), didn't include the armor where the factory line is armored (not even the cheaper spring armor), just bare metal), and didn't follow the factory path or other line. It looks haphazard and like it was someone's first try doing car work, I could have done a massively better job in my garage with the truck on jackstands.

Granted, it's a Firestone, not a specialty shop, but am I out of line expecting them to have at least copied the hose they were replacing, and had the tools to do it right? I'm pretty pissed that while my car is drive able, the job isn't done right AT All.

I haven't reached out to the shop yet, and do plan to tomorrow, but what do you guys think, am I out of line expecting them to have made a line that at least resembles the factory one for 400 bucks?

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

Interesting I went to Firestone in the early 70's in Pinellas Park fl to have some minor work done on my G T O I drove away and crossed the Howard Franklin bridge headed to Tampa when they were finished . In the middle of the bridge my front spindles seized up and the bearings were ruined, turns out with no permission from me they had taken my front end apart and inspected the bearings and brakes and overtightened the wheel bearings when they put it back together. They later told me it was a free inspection service. I had a wrecker bring the car back to them for them to repair the damage and have never gone there again nor will I , I was upset that they took my car apart without ever asking me or informing me so when I drove off I had no idea that they had done this until the wheels seized up. But that was 50 years ago. I forgot all about it but this reminded me of that bad day on the bridge waiting for a wrecker in all that traffic.

 

[TimW451]

1) I wouldn’t consider a Firestone store professional mechanics. I’d only buy tires there. (While living in PA I’d go there for state inspections, but I’d never let them do any necessary repairs they identified.)

2) I’m sorry to hear that line failed and you drove into the wall of your garage. I’m available as a witness for the legal proceedings, I was walking out front of your house when it happened.

edit: and to clearly answer the question. I think it is reasonable for you to have expected the new line to be of similar quality, appearance, and performance as an OEM line would’ve been. It shouldn’t look like a middle schooler did it, and how safe is what they did? How long until it fails and you actually have an accident? Unless their management is as dumb as the tech they should be fixing it and/or giving you all you money back. If you don’t like how the local shop responds, take a picture and tweet it @Firestone and FDOT.

 

[AZMark]

Custom doing little brake lines like that are a pain in the ass.
I probably wouldn’t have gone to Firestone for that unless I knew someone there was good.
For that price I would expect it to look and work like it did from the factory.

 

[Babin Farms]

I would not be too happy but remember one thing, the person behind the desk is just that, a desk person so no need to get upset with them. Explain the situation to them and ask to talk to the tech that did the work and have the service manager there while you ask the tech what their reasoning was for doing a crap job. Explain that the pedal is still spongy and that you would like to have the issue fixed due to it being a major safety concern for you and your family. Chances are the manager will take care of the issue at no additional cost and the tech will hopefully start taking mare pride in their work(if they keep their job). Like I said before, the desk person and the manager probably had no clue about an issue and more than likely was just informed from the tech that the job was done.

 

[BlkGS]

I would not be too happy but remember one thing, the person behind the desk is just that, a desk person so no need to get upset with them. Explain the situation to them and ask to talk to the tech that did the work and have the service manager there while you ask the tech what their reasoning was for doing a crap job. Explain that the pedal is still spongy and that you would like to have the issue fixed due to it being a major safety concern for you and your family. Chances are the manager will take care of the issue at no additional cost and the tech will hopefully start taking mare pride in their work(if they keep their job). Like I said before, the desk person and the manager probably had no clue about an issue and more than likely was just informed from the tech that the job was done.

Very true. I previously had the same store replace a different brake line before and it came out great. Not totally factory, but it was routed right and looked good. I suspect they had a different technician do it this time, and it's clearly not to the same quality.

I was more of wondering if people thought I would be out of line expecting the line to be close to factory, vs just functional. Seems like people overall think it should have been at least close. I don't expect it to be like, identical with materials stuff, but I would expect it to at least be the same bends, and armored like the other line. Had they said "hey we can't do anything for armor or get the same bends in" I'd have said "OK" and done it on my own.

 

[Babin Farms]

There are times that it is nearly impossible to follow the OE route on brake/fuel lines so the path of what's easiest wins out. Some guys just can't bend line to save their lives and some make it look like artwork. I've seen plenty of lines abandoned and new routes taken just due to added time/cost. It may take an hour or more to remove an old line and at $80+/hr I'd just have them leave the old lines. The more important thing is the fact that the pedal is spongy and the bleeding process didn't work properly.

 

[BlkGS]

There are times that it is nearly impossible to follow the OE route on brake/fuel lines so the path of what's easiest wins out. Some guys just can't bend line to save their lives and some make it look like artwork. I've seen plenty of lines abandoned and new routes taken just due to added time/cost. It may take an hour or more to remove an old line and at $80+/hr I'd just have them leave the old lines. The more important thing is the fact that the pedal is spongy and the bleeding process didn't work properly.

That's the wild part to me. They took off the old line (which means I can't replicate it off the car now), and just didn't bend it at all with tools. They did big swooping radius turns by hand.

That's the part that gives me hope, maybe they just had a new guy who didn't have the right tools to do it work on it.

 

[Dixemon]

I agree with Babin. I will say that those chain employees are a revolving door of experience. Most good techs end up being hired by dealerships or reputable shops that have a better wage. Work like you are describing is an indicator of the lack of specific knowledge and diversity that plagues chain shops. Anytime they have to deviate from an OEM direct part replacment it exposes there lack of depth. I would certainly press the issue as to not being repaired to manufacturer standards.

 

[BlkGS]

Yeah, I need to call them and see when the manager will be in and try to get it in front of him and see what he says.

I don't mind the spongey pedal really, I didn't pay for a brake bleed, and I need to replace a rear hose anyways. I'm planning to do that over the weekend real quick. I'm mainly concerned about the haphazard running of the pipe, the poor fitment, and the lack of armor.

 

[Dixemon]

Line replacment comes with a professional brake bleed job. There again returning it to manufacturer standards. Dont except less. Just sucks to be in this position fighting for your hard earned money. Screw them, they'll take your money and piss down the side of your leg, right? They deserve to be held accountable.

 

[AZMark]

Why are you going through so many semi permanent brake parts? Florida?

I have a 55 year old car using the original hard lines still.

 

[Seno]

It's very frustrating having shit work done by "chain shops" with kids who just don't care and who are learning on your vehicle. I do everything I am capable of doing myself, otherwise I use a boat or Cummins mechanic I trust. I don't mind paying for a job done properly, but when I pay good money and get a shit job that I have to fix makes me angry.

 

[zipper]

Why are you going through so many semi permanent brake parts? Florida?

I have a 55 year old car using the original hard lines still.

A lot of salt believe it or not. If you drive near the coast or on the beaches you will see it's damage.