MeOmYo said:Yeah, don't go to the dealer and find someone else.
Mike Staley
BARtuning.com
6615 Dixie Drive
Houston, TX 77087
(713) 645-4404
mike@bartuning.com
http://www.bartuning.com/directions.htm
TechnicalDieselInnovations
Steve Glover (mtbr297 on TDI club)
mtbr244@hotmail.com
(817) 244-7747 cell (817) 915-4063
Fort Worth, TX
Have vagcom, timing belts, service and other mods
Tim's German Auto
2632 White Settlement
Fort Worth, TX 76107
Phone: (817) 731-9494
Toll Free: (800) 257-8527
info@timsgermanauto.com
http://www.timsgermanauto.com/
VW certified mechanics
MAP
alphaseinor (a.k.a Brian)
Dallas, TX
(214) 257-8221
Timing Belts, Tools, Maintenance, Intake cleanings, troubleshooting, Have Vag-Com will travel.
NorthernMage said:Tell them you can get all the parts for less than $300.00 including the new water pump all bolts and rollers and that labour should be around 4 hours - what is their hourly rate.... taking that price he is charging $225.00 an hour, a bit steep.....
I second MeOmYo, contact one of the others listed and get a quote. What Year/Model are we talking about?
__. You probably know, but you can install the '03 "Deluxe Kit" and your belt system will be rated for 100K miles from that point.09tdi said:02 Golf GLS TDI
Hard to understand on this forum why this "trusted TDI mechanic" isn't getting flamed, but just for your knowledge I had my 03 done by Metal Man (a sponsor) for half of that, with the 100,000 interval parts. I hope someone in control of this site can remove the crook that quoted you $1200.09tdi said:It is Mike in BARtuning who is asking for $1200. Any mechanic near houston can do the TB change?
rickwol said:Hard to understand on this forum why this "trusted TDI mechanic" isn't getting flamed, but just for your knowledge I had my 03 done by Metal Man (a sponsor) for half of that, with the 100,000 interval parts. I hope someone in control of this site can remove the crook that quoted you $1200.
jasonTDI said:you have no idea what you are talking about.....
If he's buying the parts from the dealer they are over $600. He isn't someone working out of their garage with no insurance either. He has overhead. I have overhead too with a shop, albeit it's just me and I'm not the cheapest either.
FWIW people have had a REAL hard time in NY finding a mechanic they can trust and does it cheaply. Seen tons of posts about it for years.
I couldn't agree with you more Tornado. Both Steve and Brian have excellent reputations with TDI Club members in the area. They are experienced, they do excellent professional work and they are reasonable. They both have received lots of personal recommendations from members in the area. mtbr297 currently has my Jetta in for work.TornadoRed said:I think it would be worth making a day-trip up to Dallas-Fort Worth. I know it's a couple hundred miles, but you would only have to make that trip every 100k miles, if the job is done right. And those guys in DFW (Alphaseinor and mbtr297) both have excellent reputations (I don't know about Tim's German Auto.)
It's a nice drive up I-45 from Houston to either of these two fine fellows. Both have done work for me and will continue to do the same in the future.wczorn said:I couldn't agree with you more Tornado. Both Steve and Brian have excellent reputations with TDI Club members in the area. They are experienced, they do excellent professional work and they are reasonable. They both have received lots of personal recommendations from members in the area. mtbr297 currently has my Jetta in for work.![]()
TornadoRed said:I know it's a couple hundred miles, but you would only have to make that trip every 100k miles, if the job is done right.
Wild Rose Motors is less than 25 miles from Huntington Beach, and charges around $300-400 less for work that is as good or better.Dodoma said:The Mckenna VW in Huntington Beach, CA charges about $1,100 to $1,200.
Runonbeer quit working on TDIs about a year ago. His cohort, aNut, recently moved from Austin to Denver. There is a place in San Antonio which both Robbie and Anuthee recommended:d2305 said:Is runonbeer still in Austin? I would hate to get in the Dallas traffic.
I don't agree. If someone is charging $1200 and someone else within driving distance is charging $900 and they both do good quality work, then $1200 is a bad deal. Sure you have a lot of overhead but you cannot expect to recoop a large percentage of it in one job.Dodoma said:The Mckenna VW in Huntington Beach, CA charges about $1,100 to $1,200. This cost also includes new water pump and rollers. If you were to do yourself, it should cost you atleast $350 for the kit and another $300 for the tools. The engine lifting took costs about $50 (you may jack the engine up if you do not want to use the lifting tool). You may need to spend another $70 for a USB cable to download Ross Tech software to set "precise" timing. If you do not have a computer, that should cost you $500-$700. You need to include coolent (unless you wishes to use the old one), rags, gloves, hand soap, sodas, etc, costing about $40. Your time at a minimum wage of $6.25 for 6 hours translates to $37.50. You can lower your cost by renting the tools. So you can see that $1,200 is not a bad deal. If you buy the tools, you may reuse those later on or sell after doing the job in which case you may lower the cost by $150 to $200. I am not counting the time or cost if you mess up stripping the threads or break bolts. Given this information, you should be able to decide whether it is worth doing yourself. One veteran member Bleachbora used to do a favor at reduced labor of $300 if you buy your own parts. That deal was great. May be he should offer some of those again.
This is true. I think it is harder to find a trusted mechanic here than it is to find one that does it cheap. A buddy of mine from Rochester drove to Canandaigua to have someone do his timing belt on a '00 Golf. The guy quoted him $175 + parts at cost. I immedietly told him that the mechanic has no F ing idea what he is doing but my buddy was only looking at price.jasonTDI said:FWIW people have had a REAL hard time in NY finding a mechanic they can trust and does it cheaply. Seen tons of posts about it for years.
I think you nailed it Krout along with Jason and Brian. The only additions I would add are the time considerations in doing the work (i.e. the customers schedule and their attitude about the world revolving around their schedule and the shop's workload at the time of the request for service). I also think the other lad calling someone a "crook" and asking that the shop being removed from the trusted mechanic list for quoting a price of $1200 is over the line. Your on the list for your quality work not your price.KROUT said:You guys have to understand that some shops have higher overhead than others. I am too cheap and need to raise my rates.
I charge 350 labor plus the parts for most t-belts either pd or alh. That works out to around 700-750 with parts. My new rate will be 400 for the labor. Roughly works out to 70-80 per hour.
My building alone cost me $2000 a month before I pay for the phone, insurance, advertising,trash etc...........
I have people all the time say well so and so will do it cheaper. I say well take it to them. This is mostly my tinting work. You have to ask your self is cheaper better. In this case it may be as the mechanics sugested all have good knowledge and reputations.
Your hair is too short thoughjasonTDI said:Attitude is everything.....I've priced some stuff off the planet for some people in quotes because they p***ed me off. Don't come to me with the "I'm going to make you my bit**" attitude. It isn't tollerated. FWIW I got a new shirt for the shop. It says "If you're going to ride my a** so hard, at least pull my hair".