93_Z28_6spd

Well my clutch was getting bad, but it had never slipped while normal driving, hell not even while on it hard, but I glazed the hell out of it in a burnout contest. Anyways I got my new one which is good. but the story is It was driveable, as long as you didnt let off hard when first engaging it form a stoplight in first gear.. Like from stop to start moving, or it would grind.. Guessing springs , TO bearing.. who knows for sure.

But while driving you could hammer it and it would hold..

I take it to the paint shop to get my spoiler done and bumper re painted. I gave it to them in driving condition, then when I leave the shop and you can barely IDLE the car, without it slipping. I got very upset and idled it back into the shop and said " boy oh boy This car was not like this when I dropped it off a week ago " and they just looked at me and said nothing.

So basically someone went out and hotrodded the hell of my car, tried to do a burnout and toasted the clutch to nothing or something ( I have wide nitto drag radials on the rear so it would not be too easy to do a burnout without water on the street )

So I had to get my buddy with his trailor and take it to his shop where I am now in like 10 hours going to be working on the clutch.

So what would YOU do if this was your situation and your car. What can I do ? I am very upset, and hope they didnt fu(k up my tranny as well. I think just the clutch is toast, but we'll see, I will take pictures tomorrow and post them.

Paul

'94 Bad A Z28

Go threaten to take them to court... have an atturney call them, that should take care of it.

stk350

Man, I don't know what to say. But I think I remember when you glazed the clutch, at SLP right?

MustangEater82

yeah I remmeber that at slp if you are who i think you are...

Anyways, what shop? So I know not to ever go there, don't want anyone hotrodding my 3.4L

SFB767

I feel bad for you, 4 yrs. ago a shop stole something off my old car and I raised hell until I got it back from them.

Call up your local chapter of the Better Business Bureau and tell them what happened, if the BBB can't take it any further, at least they'll have your complaint on file about the shop that messed up your car.

Call up your news station, they have "whistle blower" stories that expose bad business and give them bad publicity for cheating consumers.

If the manager/owner of the business isn't willing to listen to you about your theory that someone hot-rodded your car, that probably means he had something to do with it or he's trying to cover his ***.

If the first two don't work for you, go and tell a lawyer what happened and see if you have a case. The only bad thing about that is the lawyer might not take your case because the damages being sought won't surpass his legal fees and court fees.

I would still fight this thing regardless, I hate when shops mess with people's cars.

MislMan

I hate to say it but I'd say you are screwed. You should go talk to the manager in private, explain your concerns and ask if he plans to do anything to help the situation. If you didn't write down the mileage when you dropped it off, and didn't actually see them driving the car, then you have no proof of what you claim. I know this doesn't help, especially when we are mostly a trusting group and don't expect people to do such things but it does happen.

My guess is they just blow it off since it is your word against theirs (even if the manager doesn't know his guys may have driven the crap out of the car).

For all of us out there .... next time you drop off your car work any kind of work, make a point of writing down the mileage and also make sure they know you wrote it down and will check it when you pick up the car. I keep saying I'm going to do this but since I seldom let anyone touch my car to work on it it hasn't been an issue.

Sorry for your loss but unless the shop admits it and offers to help I think you'll have to bite the bullet and move on. If you truly truly believe they caused the damage to your car make sure you advise the BBB and tell your friends about them. However, make sure you do not make false accusations. Maybe they don't drive a clutch well (young and inexperienced) and slipped the clutch very badly when moving the car around for painting. If it was already hurt then some **** poor learner could have finished off the clutch you said was already on the way out.

Later ... Larry S.

'94 Bad A Z28

stk350, MustangEater82, yes this is Beavis, I mean Paul , from SLP day.

VSGLS1

Beavis was going to have to do the clutch anyways...Now he is doing it right now. Oh well, can't do much about it except not go back there or send any business their way.

93_Z28_6spd

The clutch was glazed to hell at the SLP day show, BUT I drove it very easy for a few hundred miles and it almost was back to normal. It would be fine while moving, no problems, hell it even felt more direct, and better while driving. You just could not give it much gas and let off the clutch when at a stop light. Or it would grind. But it was fully driveable, just as long as you didnt launch the hell out of it from a stop. That is all.

Basically I know I'm screwed on the deal, It's hard to prove something liek that, but it was not in that condition when I dropped it off. They were supposed to have the car for 3 days, and 3 days turned into 7 days. So maybe something DID happen and they were trying to buy more time to fix the problem , but they did not? Who knows. I just want honesty.

The clutch HAD to be done anyways, BUT I would have rather drove it to my buddys shop, then rather having to tow it , and have it pulled onto a trailor w/ an electric wench. Which sucked, had to worry about the front skirt getting scraped going up the ramps... Anyways I'll let you guys know what happens, it has to go back for final cleaning up and buffing a few things out, and i'm staying there the entire time they do it. If the car gets started other then moving in and out of the booth I will be there to see it this time, Not going to let them tear up a 540.00 clutch.

BlackRocketZ

Are you still crying about this? Anyway, what do you expect from a body shop in our area. They all suck.
The last one I went to, the repairs didnt last 6 months on my Suburban. I know rust is hard to fix, but 6 months. When I told them to do everything needed to make it last. Money no object. Just fix it right.
I think they spray too many cars without a mask on. The paint fumes have fried their brains.
My Monte SS was painted by a shop in 92 and still looks good.
My wifes SS was painted by the same shop 5 years later and it had to go back 5 times until we just gave up. Same type of car, same color, same body shop.
There are just no craftsmen in that type of business anymore. Period. All they care about is getting done with your car and on to the next sucker.
This is a subject I can rant on about, so I let it be. I do hope some "body men" respond and tell me how great they are and how experienced and professional they are. Ha.

MustangEater82

hehe oddly enough I had my old 85 Camaro painted by Macco(i had a deal, $900 job only cost $500) they fixed rust on the roof, a ding, did a beautiful job painting the car, and when I saw it at a car show a few months ago, all was good. Thats about 5-years of a crappy Macco job that everyone talks about. but of course I was talking o one of the guys when gettign an estimate on a scratch on my car there and he was talking about how they accidently wrote a paint code down wrong and painted a guy's entire car the wrong color, but the guy actually liked that color better and went with it.

VSGLS1

I told you who to get your car done by Paul, maybe next time you will take me up on that offer. I rather take it to a friend who is damn good and help out doing it all while learning a ton. BTW, we should be working on my front piece this evening. I should have it on by weeks end.

93_Z28_6spd

Well Finally got the tranny out today, the clutch disk was TOAST there was no material at all on the disk, all of the material was shredded.. I will post a link to pics.

Yeah keith I know who does greeaaaat work, but I can't afford to spend 1000.00 for just ground effects and bumper and spoiler. This was the first time this happened, and I have known the guy who did it for like 2 years now, I never thought it would ever happen. Well I'm over it, who cares, I don't anymore. I just want to get the car taken care of. Just was unlucky that by the time I got the tranny out, the machine shops were closed for the day now i have to wait until Monday to get it resurfaced ( it needs it pretty badly) Then maybe monday night it will be finished.

VSGLS1

He will charge you half that if there is a next time.

93_Z28_6spd

Well next time car gets touched the entire car gets painted, not just parts.
Anyways for those who are interested in seeing the mess, go right ahead and check it out.

http://www.93z286spd.cz28.com/photo3.html

Paul