krolls

but every time I try to ask him what was wrong I get something along the lines of "Its all ****ed up- shot to ****"

A6turbo530

if he wants to give you factual reasons why something you want to do is not a good idea, thats one thing. but for a mechanic to simple blurt out "oh your from the internet arent you?" and imply that you have no idea what your talking about, thats just being pig-headed and arrogant and i refuse to hand someone money who's going to belittle every comment i make. period.

DxC

to competence.

also, people rarely bother me. he is a character for sure, but he knows how to wrench

sbh tuned

I tried Brians once in 2000. Similar story to others on the forum. I don't need that BS. If its a legitimate gripe or suggestion, then I appreciate the comments. Otherwise, I don't need it.

A6turbo530

that wrenches well and treats you like **** as a costumer? good for you. sounds like a real quality shop.

i can only speak for my self but you arent getting a dime of my money if you just bark arrogant comments at me.

any garage can "take this out, put this in"... why arent you looking for a place that wrenches well and has intelligent/meaningful things to say about your car and what you want done to it?

like there arent any shops that do good work and have good service... yeah. ok. have fun with "Brian"

DxC

and also because his shop is less than 5 minutes away.

i mostly do my own wrenching, until i run into something i cant handle ... in this case it's the pinch bolt.

i drove to londonderry once and gloucester once, and they are good shops too, but geographic location plays a big role.

brian has been working with vw/audis for 20 years!

SuperAvant

I dont understand his reasoning as Im sure his motorsport oriented vehicles arent all to factory spec - otherwise he would be losing a lot of races!

Mirror|rorriM

But there are plenty of other shops to go to who are at least as competent and don't spout off idiotic rants at customers.

I'd also question his ability to wrench and make decisions based on his blind allegiance to "factory spec." That same factory spec called for a timing belt interval of 90k on the 1.8T. Does Brian The Brainiac want to pay for replacing the head on my engine because he blindly followed the "Factory Spec?" A more free-thinking mechanic would recognize the problem with the factory spec and then advise the customer as to his suggested alternative interval.

Mirror|rorriM

Bear Stearns had been selling mortgages for 85 years. How well did that work out? Just goes to show that experience <> competence :-)

Zwoobah

he missed a badly bent left tierod and steering knuckle on my old GTI, after charging me for 1/2hr labor to "inspect" the car's suspension (and spending 1/2hr telling me about my crappy aftermarket coilovers). apparently he never even looked under the car. it aligned OK but did strange things when the suspension was compressed in right-hand turns on the track - the caster was going way out of spec. the damage was from an accident before i owned the car.

Shine caught it immediately when i went for a 2nd opinion, after having the same symptoms with proper springs and shocks. I always liked Brian and Stu, but they lost my business permanently. If you're going to be cocky, you'd better be right.