[gamiller]

what's up with this phenomenon? one shop cracked my side skirt putting my car on a lift. today, i was refused service by every dealer in my county because they are afraid of damaging my skirts when putting my car on a lift. I even tried SVT dealers. Ford Customer Assistance Center was no help. Next I'm calling a Roush dealer in the next county.

 

[Guest]

my dealership doesnt have a problem :shrug: try another one?

most of the shops here and around Atlanta have special lifts for lowered cars with kits.

 

[RhythmsDJs]

My dealer has no problem with mine...roush springs, roush skirts and underbody neons. They are awesome, careful, and never had a problem. My old dealer on the other hand, well, let's just say they had to overnight some exhaust pipes and repaint some ground effects.

 

[ND4SPD]

i was told by one dealership that i had to have at least a 3/4inch clearance on the front.

another garage said that it didn't REALLY matter... just give them a call 24 hours before showing up so they can 'prepare' and - don't be sitting ON the ground when you pull in :tongue:

 

[CATerina]

Most shops wont do it cuz itsa not worth the money to risk your car. Basically they are saving you the hasstle since they think there employees arent trained to work on them. Like at my shop if Im not there, there is only one other guy that can work on "custom" cars.

 

[Sled]

I have two large bulges in my rear floor and a signifigant hole torn through the sheetmetal on one of them thanks to a shop who thought those little RUBBER plugs under the car would make a fine jack point. This was before the kit was on...I havent had the guts to take a car to a shop since the kit went on. It was up on the lift at Racer-X's garage last weekend and...go figure, no damage!!! From now on if I can at all help it I am doing all work myself...even if it means going to mechanic school!!!

PS- can I count the wet rear carpet when it rains as a "mod" ???

 

[Keliente]

If you want to push the issue, then look at the type of lifts that they have. Your car will either go on a drive up alignment rack with hydraulic jacks underneath, or the spider lift kinds where the posts are located on either side of the car. I don't know if you are familiar with how to use lifts - but if you are, then just simply watch the techincians as they do it. Tell them that the arms of the lift must extend under the car to the pinch weld and that it cannot be jacked up by the sideskirts. Watch the lift as it goes up to make sure nothing else catches. If you are careful and SHOW the techs how to do it, they should'nt have a problem with taking your car in again. I know I am always in the shop watching them use the lifts, I don't care if they like being watched or not, I didn't spend x amount of dollars on flushed & molded sideskirts to have them ruined by an uneducated tech.

 

[CATerina]

Ya if people watch me I just take longer to piss them off. LOL Or I shut the door

 

[RichieRich1023]

Alotta shops down here will give me grief for fear of messing something up but usually if i talk to em and tell em how to get it on the lift right and walk em through it i dont have any problems.

 

[Keliente]

Originally posted by: CATerina
Ya if people watch me I just take longer to piss them off. LOL Or I shut the door

I know, I work at a shop too, lol. But still, I make every effort to make sure the car goes up on the lift safely.

 

[gamiller]

Originally posted by: CATerina
Most shops wont do it cuz itsa not worth the money to risk your car. Basically they are saving you the hasstle since they think there employees arent trained to work on them. Like at my shop if Im not there, there is only one other guy that can work on "custom" cars.

makes sense. i just got back from picking up my car. apparently, they informed me that they could not put the car on their lift after THEY FREEEKING RIPPED OFF MY FRONT BUMPER! they told me it was like that when it arrived at their shop.
:bs:

the service dude says they didn't do it because his mechanic told him about it. well i got to wonder, is the mechanic trying to save his ass?!?

 

[Y2Kat]

How do they explain the bumper??? Are they trying to claim that you drove your car in with the front bumper tore off???
Did you deposit the bumper in the service managers ass?

 

[Magoo]

the J-team wouldn't take my car for an oil change because they didn't want to risk the front bumper being torn off so i just never go back...my local mechanic however has no problems with my car... so it all depends on I guess if you have taken your car there before and if you know the owner or I have no clue...just all depends I guess.

 

[Aries]

My car is 3/4 of the way down on GC's, and I took the car to get aligned at Sears.. I told them I had a 99 cougar and I'd like to get it aligned.. and I guess they never have heard of a modified cougar, so they said sure.. they get it in the shop and the mechanic who was working on my car was PISSED! The service guy told me they never do any service on lowered cars, but the papers were all signed so they had to, even if they didn't want to...

OMG did I wanna punch the mechanic in the face when he tried to get it up the alignment rack!! the front bumper was a hlaf a centimeter from scraping against the ramp rack... and the car didn't wanna go up the ramp.. it would bottom out somewhere (I couldn't really tell).. he'd try and take it up at different speeds and it wouldn't go up.. it was like he was crashing into an invisible wall.. (I was ready to hold Sears liable for all damages this guy caused)

Then he gets a couple of the other mechanics to try and lift the rear up by the wheel wells to help clear the ramp... still didn't work.. so one of the mechanics takes a jack.. jacks the rear off the ground, while the other mechanic drove up the ramp.. I was scared.. but they made it onto the alignment rack... FINALLY...

So now this mechanic in his mid 50's is working on my car, cussing and kicking the wall.. I really didn't want him working on my car, and I asked the service reps what was up.. they told me that he doesn't like working on modified cars, and he'll ***** and complain, but he'll get the job done. They said he was just a grumpy old man..

so I asked if there were any places where a lowered car can get an alignment and other work done... they said none in the area...

At the end, my car was okay.. I searched for any visible damage, and couldn't find any, and it seems to drive better than before the alignment.. so I assume nothing bad happened.. hopfully..

 

[Mtang4life]

I can understand that it is a pain to work on lowered cars and all, but I would say 2/3 of the cars I work on a daily basis are lowered, and maybe half of those with body kits. We have no problem getting the cars onto the drive on lift. All that it takes are a lot of boards to make a longer ramp for the car to go up, as well as at least one person watching that nothing will scrape. Sure it definatly takes longer to get the car on the lift, but its not THAT hard and we have put some VERY low cars up there without damage. It sounds like a lot of shops just dont want to take the extra time, and liability working with modded cars.