Locate an Auto Repair Shop in Lebanon, Georgia

Lebanon, GA Car Consumer Discussions

xwesx..

by iluvmysephia1 on Tue Nov 24 17:44:43 PST 2009

yep, you got it, it was the very rudimentary shifting that I actually came to love in our '01 Kia Sportage 4X4. 5-speeds and 1st gear was geared low so you weren't in it very long at tall. But as gravelly as the small truck was to shift it was very reliable. The only time I was stranded was out in the middle of nowhere in Missouri while I was doing RT clinicals in college, fall of 2004. Ended up being an alternator going out. I remember that occasion quite well because I actually accepted a ride from a teacher in an old beat up station wagon. I was in a lab coat and my blue school scrubs, the guy must've felt like this guy won't hurt me, he's in a medical uniform! ;) I ended up taking his ride, then enlisting the help of a mechanic in the nearest little town to fix my Sportage 4X4. Couldn't get the part that day (the alternator was $300, too!) so I rented a white 2004 Mitsubishi Lancer sedan from Enterprise in Lebanon, MO. Automatic tranny, I took enough of a hankering to this white '04 Lancer sedan that it stayed pleasantly in my memory banks for a future reference I didn't know would become a future reference at the time. I ended up learning from that experience that I liked the Mitsubishi Lancer. And now I have my own Lancer, a GTS model, circa 2008. The whole thing was sorta like turnin' oranges in to orange juice then. :)

Re: Tuning for a living? [benztuner]

by teyfuss on Thu Aug 20 19:48:11 PDT 2009

Hey Joshua! Ur reply was of great help... It seems u have lots of knowledge on how to go about starting up a tuning shop. I want to open a tuning garage in Beirut, Lebanon. It'll be the 1st of its kind and I'm quite optimistic about it. :-) I'm afraid I won't be able to find the required qualified team. Are there any other issues I should look into? Thank you for your time.

Fix-it-yourself auto horror stories on the rise

by lemko on Wed Jul 08 07:43:15 PDT 2009

Thought this might be an interesting story as we were earlier talking about HID headlamps. The first part of the article mentions a fiasco with a taillamp bulb: By CHIP CUTTER Associated Press NEW YORK - When the taillight of Laura Musall's five-year-old Nissan Altima burned out, she hoped to avoid the repair shop by letting her husband replace it at home. It seemed simple enough: Buy a bulb, pop off the cover and make the switch. But her husband struggled to remove the plastic casing, and when he used a screwdriver to pry it off, it shattered. What came next was even worse. Her Nissan dealer wanted $250 to order a new one. Musall, a real estate agent from Fishers, Ind., figured "10 bucks, we'd be done." "But apparently," she said, "it's not a do-it-yourself thing if you don't know what you're doing." Car owners looking to trim expenses are sidestepping the mechanic and plunging into their own repairs. Or trying to, anyway. Their efforts can backfire, costing more in the end and creating do-it-yourself horror stories. Mechanics say they've seen it all in recent months, including incorrectly applied brake pads and antifreeze poured into engines. "A lot of people, they're in dire straits," said Pam Oakes, owner of Pam's Motor City Automotive in Fort Myers, Fla. "They try to do this stuff at home in their driveway." The results can be frustrating, and sometimes outright dangerous. Beth Riggs, who lives near Lebanon, Ohio, took her Chevy Trailblazer SUV to a car-savvy neighbor nearby who charged $500 to replace her front and back brakes, far less than the going rates at nearby repair shops. Later, on a highway ramp, her car suddenly froze up and pulled to the side of the road. The problem? Riggs says her neighbor neglected to put a certain part on a bolt of the wheels, setting off a chain reaction that caused the tires to lock up. The car had to be towed, and Riggs ended up paying an additional $400 to have it fixed at a suburban Cincinnati auto shop. While well-intentioned, many people forget that today's cars are vastly more complicated than models made just years ago. Most are so computer-controlled that owners can't spot problems without access to specific tools and data programs, said Dave Striegel, owner of Elizabeth AutoCare in Elizabeth, Pa. Even jobs that were once simple, such as changing the oil, can take hours to complete now. "They're not able to do nearly the work that they used to do - it's even going beyond the heads of a lot of technicians who aren't keeping up-to-date," Striegel said. The urge to cut out the middleman extends to even the wealthy, said Stephen Viscusi, a New York-based author and career consultant. "We feel the need to be frugal and save money." However, people who try the at-home tinkering are usually out of work or low on cash, said Evan Brodof of Evan's Auto Repair in suburban Cincinnati. Many work as contractors or handymen in another trade and think they can apply those skills to car repair, said Craig Douglas, owner of ASG Automotive in Indianapolis. "It's those people who have that mindset, 'Hey I can fix this, I can fix that,' " Douglas said. "Bob the Builder-type people." Auto shops say there's an easy way to save money: Just be upfront about the repairs you've tried at home. Most do-it-yourselfers, perhaps out of sheer embarrassment, play coy when mechanics start asking questions about what went wrong with the car, said Paul Lambdin, owner of Cary Car Care in Cary, N.C. "Rather than saving themselves time and money by telling us the whole story, they'll just say, 'This doesn't seem to be working.'" Musall, with the broken taillight, says she's learned her lesson. Her husband won't be working on the car. "It's all fixed," she said, "and he's not going to do any more car repairs." *

Re: Gotta vent here.... [imidazol97]

by graphicguy on Thu Apr 30 08:23:14 PDT 2009

Richard....that '66 Grand Prix was a neat car. Guy said it was garaged for it's entire life. Also was honest enough to tell me it was a "driver", not a trailer queen. Looked to be a pretty loaded example (for the time). It had pwer windows, brakes, steering. And, it had factory air. The radio was am/fm with the "wonderbar" option (electronic motor pushed the tuning dial up and down the frequencies until it found a signal). 389 engine with a 4bbl. 3-speed auto on the floor. Not sure of the HP or torque. Bucket seats (if you want to call them that. Chrome everywhere, inside and out. "Slit" tail lights (gotta see them to understand what they looked like). Not sure if it was a real wood dash, but it looked/felt like it. It had a couple of sizable "dings" on either side But, not something that couldn't be fixed relatively easy. It was a cream color exterior. Paint looked original (and in surprisingly good shape). Some wear on trim pieces, but carpet looked good. For a 40+ year old car, it looked great. No bondo that I could ascertain. Panels were all straight. Obviously, tires, belts, battery, exhaust, radiator, etc had been replaced....carb and trans had been rebuilt at one point. But, the owner said everything else was original. Again, don't know enough about these cars to know if he was being totally honest or not. But, it sure looked like he was telling the truth. I have absolutely no idea what it's worth. It sounded like a good deal, but who knows? Not me, that's for certain. Clearly, it intrigued me because it could be had for what I thought was relatively "cheap" based on prices I've seen on old cars in good shape. To drive it, you definitely have to "rethink" how you negotiate turns, give yourself plenty of time to bring it to a stop, and keep it pointed straight. imid....If for nothing else, you could have dropped in to just while away an hour or two to enjoy the gorgeous weather. I lucked out on parking. A guy was pulling out about a 1/4 mile from where the main show was, and I snuck in to park for free (plenty of places that were charging for parking). A friend of mine who works for the Ford plant about a mile or two away said I could have parked their. They had a little shuttle set up that the UAW had sponsored (seems as if the UAW is being "kinder and gentler" these days). The show in Lebanon is even bigger. If you go, you can't miss it. The town itself isn't that big and takes up the whole main drag. I think it's in July, maybe August.

Re: Gotta vent here.... [graphicguy]

by imidazol97 on Wed Apr 29 09:54:59 PDT 2009

>kyfdx...Sharonville.....that'd be the one. ... I go every year (along with the one in Lebanon When is the one in Lebanon? I almost stopped at Sharonville Sunday on way back from visiting a badly ill friend. Sun shining, but I was pretty much drained. Now I wish I'd stopped to see the cars. How was parking?

Re: Gotta vent here.... [kyfdx]

by graphicguy on Wed Apr 29 09:35:10 PDT 2009

kyfdx...Sharonville.....that'd be the one. DId you go? I go every year (along with the one in Lebanon, which combines blues, bbq, and cars...all of my favorites). Sunday was the biggest show I've seen in Sharonville. Lots of good 'ole muscle and some nice customs, too. Plenty of 'vettes and Mustangs. The guy who had the '66 Grand Prix almost hooked me. I got caught up in the moment. After the show, he let me drive it for a little bit...not far...just enough to get a feel for it. Reminds me of how far automobile engineering has come. His was a pristine example in seemingly original condition (but, extremely well maintained). Power steering was a "one finger" affair....not even a hint of road feel. Power breaks were the same....you gave them a press, and you knew something was going on to slow the car, but never sure what that "something" was. Big gobs of torque. He was "asking" $15K for it. But, said he'd take $12K. I know just enough about old iron to make a terrible mistake. So, after returning to the car 3 times, common sense took over and I politely declined. Still have his phone number, though.