Hi,

Have you guys ever taking your car to franchised garage like canadian tire, speedy, active green + ross, midas...etc

People probably will have a lot negative thoughts on canadian tire.
What about the others? I am considering taking my car to speedy or midas for maintenance.

Would you guys take your ride to those garage too?
If not, why not?

 

I let Canadian tire handle my seasonal tire changes, my last oil change, and replacing my front rotors/brake pads.

What I find is that earlier in the day they have their older more experienced tech people in. Later in the evenings are the kids holding down a job.

I spoke with one of the techs last time and he seemed to know a lot. Every Canadian tire will be different though.

If I had some more major work to do, I'd take it to a trusted local mechanic.

 

I have never had a good experience at a chain garage. I would take it to the stealership before I went to a Canadian Tire or the others you listed.

 

Welcome,
What'ev you got?
I've let CT do little stuff on my other cars, change winters, wiper blades and have had Mr. Lube do Synth. oil changes, Tranny and rad flushes. Usually I bring my own fluids and make sure they do it the way I've researched DIY's on here. For anything else, a trusted mechanic or if warranty, stealership. In our area (KW) Guelph infinity seems to give good service. I've also had work done in a pinch at a Nissan dealership (more of them and closer to me) as their techs are good and work on Zs. They also have some good deals on Oil change packages.

 

i remember couple of people had s***** experience at Canadian Tire. I drive almost 100kms to New market to Simones even for oil change. I just cant trust these franchises, they are not used to seeing g35s a lot. But if you know a knowledgealbe mechanic in one of those franchises, i would only take it when my guy is working there. or else neverr!!!

 

I never go to these places for service especially Canadian Tire.
Years ago I had an older car a 4 door 1964 Valiant. It was a one owner car with extremely low mileage and sat in a garage for years. This was a car for my wife to drive around with our 3 children. Well the brakes were partially ceased from sitting, so to be safe for Karen and the kids I took it to Crappy Tire. WRONG!!!!, Those a$$holes could have killed my wife and kids!!!. I told them to go over the brakes totally, check the brakes, cylinders, brake lines, and give it a good flush.
Well the next day Karen was with the kids and she came up to a stop sign on a downhill, she applied the brakes and NOTHING she went right through the stop sign, across the street and was rolling down the hill towards Lake Huron. Luckily, as she was heading for the lake and turned so she would run into the big fence around the tennis court there she applied the parking brake just prior to hitting the fence.
A brake line blew on the car, when I checked it, it was very obvious it should have been replaced.
When I went to the Crappy Tire shop, they actually had to stop me from attacking the mechanic. That mechanic eventually lost his license. I threatened to sue them so they paid for the tow and the repairs at the Chrysler Dealers.
Never, ever, will I let any of my vehicles enter a CTC bay.

 

Sam, Sam, that is not how you spell Infiniti

 

+1 Wayne
Had a bad experience with brakes at CDN tire too.

 

Seasonal tire changes on my Integra---YES--Now that we owner a G...Hell would have to freeze over...( looked close for awhile this year )...I use 2 shops in town that i trust..(ITNKICN is having his work done there..I sure hope he still likes me )....Its hard to find a fair and trusted shop to get work done....I trust those people that ive know for many years and have a friend in the auto painting business that i trust with his suggestions.

 

JKSJKS

btw welcome to the board, try also updating your location in your avatar so we know where do you live, if you live in GTA , there are still better options then franchises, (i know if you search gta mechanics in the board, lot of other members have someone they go i.e mississauga,markham, scarborough)

since for those changes the price is pretty much same range. at least they are dependable.

 

I believe the only place that you will see kids working there is Canadian Tire, I'll stay away from there as well.

I used to go to speedstar, but it hard to book a appointment on the same day (You know when you want something done, you want it right away). I talked to the mechanic from Midas, and he seems to know their stuff. I didn't hear much negative experience one the other chain garage other than CanadianTire.

 

OMG, what a newbie error. I must have been ahlf asleep.

 

same day appointments Vic (simone ) is the best, never made me wait at all, as long as it is nothing complicated (even a complete brake job , i had to wait 1-2 hrs, including the tour he takes the car to make sure brakes are working well) but i usually book the 8-9am appointments, or call the day before, towards the end of the day)

 

 

Oh I got my winter tires mounted last year at canadian tire because I needed them on before the snow came the next evening. All winter I drove this car that at higher speeds, ie 90kmh+, created vibrations that you could strongly feel through the steering wheel. I thought, oh these winter tires boy they drive funny, wrong, got them mounted at my favorite tire shop this year properly and they drive perfectly.