My mother's 03' Tahoe with 93k had a cat fail and she took it to the dealership for an estimate; they wanted $800 to replace both cats. She then went to Midas for an estimate and they wanted $1,100 for the same thing then told her "well we will beat the dealerships price then". Just to replace 1 cat was $550. The last place she went was Cherokee Muffler in Canton (the best around IMO) and they fixed it for $156! I'm telling you people get ripped everyday that can't do shit themselves or don't know any better and these places take advantage of the "I don't care just fix it mentality" that these people with $$ have. What is happening though is they will charge these high as hell prices to people that can't really afford it. It's just not right.
She did not get ripped off then. When she took the car to Midas and they quoted her the $1100, if she would have let them do the work, then after, when she came to pick up the car, they said, "We also noticed a problem with _____, so replaced that for you as well. Your total comes to $2000 for the cat and the _____ repair. Would you like to pay cash, Check or Credit Card? then she got ripped off. There was an article in the paper just recently that Midas is one of the worse places to get any kind of service done, because they will sit there and pull wires apart and tell you they need to be repaired, or just plain make stuff up. Something like 8 out of 10 tested Midas Stores throughout the country were caught by undercover reporters doing this. THAT IS GETTING RIPPED OFF.
$156 is waaaaaaayy cheap for cats. Midas, Jiffy Lube, Just Brakes, etc... all complete ripoffs. Stores ran and owned by crooks.
the point wasn't really that my mother got ripped off, its basically how these shops are charging so much to unsuspecting people and getting away with it a lot of times. By the way, anyone on this side of town that needs muffler/cat/pipe work Cherokee Muffler in Canton is worth the drive. They can bend the pipe while you wait and have great prices. They mainly deal with a lot of trucks/jeeps/mustangs and that sort of thing but they can do anything you want them to.
Yeah, they did my 82 cj7 from the header back in no time at all. the guy just eyeballs it then bends the pipe to fit.
I wish they had a website, but I'll probably end up giving them a call before too long. If they're so drastically cheap compared to other places and also do custom work, this may be just the place I've been looking for. Thanks!
Never been to midas or jiffylube, I went in to just brakes for their all four deal but just needed it for the front two(brakes and redo rotors) and by the time they were finished I needed brandnew rotors brakes pads and lines I galdly told them just do the front and give me my truck back. and the kept pleading to do more cause saftey issue. Well when me and my shadetree had to redo what they did cause they caused me to need new lines went back to fuss but they were out of business at that location:fawk:
Take note all of you kids that are wanting to pay 1100+ for a turboback with a fancy name. If my car didnt come with an exhaust I probably would have just gotten a muffler shop to make a turboback and use some beefy Flowmaster truck muffler so it would be bassy.
Well I paid just over $1100 for my TBE new..But I did talk to a guy in FL at a muffler shop who said he could fabricate something for me for half that. Ill take Invidia's quality over some crush bent aluminum any day..Somethings are just worth paying for. But thats just my opinion and we all know about those.
make sure u dont get crush bent... u could end up losing a lot of power due to kinks in the piping i'll pay money for an exhaust from a good brand... im sure there is some level of engineering involved for flow/sound... i'd trust some engineering over no engineering... plus i think a good custom exhaust would probably be pretty pricey
That is why I asked about a mandrel bender. Most muffler shops will not invest in such a machine for daily use. A custom exhaust can be a great thing, but only if done correctly.
I've always gone to Mainstream/Turbodave for my custom piping needs. They dont have a mandrel bender but they have pre bent mandrel piping that they just cut and weld. I got a cat and midpipe made for $75 (i provided the cat) and they even helped me install my headers and axle back. The welding was superior and everything fit great.
FYI: At Cherokee Muffler its a nice smooth mandrel bent pipe that they work with. They have been in business forever....bunch of good-ole-boys. Its pretty cool to watch them do it because they are so fast at it. Keep in mind I'm not sure if they will do anything with our cars because of the cats...if I'm not mistaken its illegal for a shop to purposely remove cats from a vehicle.
Correct, it is against Federal law to remove or alter a working cat. However, I am sure the shop can find something wrong with the stock cat.
I would say yes, but I don't think there is any "converter" police running around. I would have to say fine before arrest, but I have not read the law.
not arrest but there is a fine.... and the fine is worse for the shop that took off the cat... now since all the performance shops supply the parts and give receipts, im not sure how we all can get away with it