Brakemaster, located in North Las Vegas, on Craig Road has always been my GO-TO, reliable mechanic location ever since they found (and replaced) the damaged Schrader Valves on my A/C... that Centennial Toyota could not find on my new, but used Toyota Certified Tacoma that I had just purchased from them. Suddenly my A/C was awesome.
This post is late due to Yelp informing me April 1st 2020 that I had posted this to the wrong business... oops.
This last visit, to have my brakes checked (my brakes last forever, last visit for brakes was 2013!) and to have a Firestone Rear Air Bag set installed because I had discovered that my arthritic hands could not make the bends needed to finish up the installation of the bags. So, why not trust my Go-To Guys?!
I had it set up with the Manager, Mike, to come in Tuesday morning, first thing. Since I had already gone through the main part of the install, only to have to remove the kit since my hands would not work, I knew that I could save the mechanic a lot of time since 1) I had already assembled the two air bag assemblies, and 2) I had studied many YouTube installation videos by professional installers. Mike, the manager, said, sure, that would be A-Okay. Someone should have told the mechanic... he did not get up on the wrong side of bed, he woke up on the wrong side of Nevada. He would not talk to me, he would not talk/respond to the day manager when he, the day manager, tried to intervene (oh yea, this was Mikes day OFF).
Frustratingly, I found myself watching this mechanic reading the directions and then making multiple errors on the install that he, then, had to undo and fix. We won't speak of the interminable amount of time he spent on this installation. I could feel his frustration and he continued to call this an unsafe modification, struggling with the install. Repeatedly he told me that it was unsafe and that I should not be doing the install... in other words... "I don't want to do this, won't you change your mind?"
But, when I was told it was finished, he had failed to complete the mounting/installation of the air bags; parts were left off. Now, I will be the first to state that this kit was exactingly made and the fitment was tight, but, IMHO as a backyard mechanic, very doable in the 2 hours that Firestone (and others) said would be the most time you'd need to spend on this. When the mechanic indicated that he was finished with the air bags, I had the day manager come over and when air was put into the system.... leaks all over the place; it had not been tested.
I arrived at 7:30am, I left to go home at 12:30pm (without my truck), and then had my truck complete with new rear brakes at about 3:30pm. When I called at 3pm (I had not received a call to come pick it up), the mechanic was working on another vehicle and had not, yet, test driven the truck... unbelievable.
The day manager did all that he could to help me and in light of all that went on I was charged for only two hours of labor on the Air Bag Install but I have to tell you that my faith in Brake Masters has been shaken. I have gone completely over all of the installation work and I still do not know if I have any confidence in the finished work.
I will be calling to speak with the usual manager, Mike, on Friday to discuss this. I hate the thought of having to come up with another trustworthy mechanical provider... you know?
It's now October, I just found Yelp's Admin message that I needed to post this to the correct spot. I never did manage to reach Mike.... and the system has a small, irritating leak somewhere that slowly leaks air out. I should be able to set the system at, say, 20#s pressure and not have to maintain it but once a month or so. But, now, we are in this massive Covid Lockdown (thanks Gov. Sisolak, you idiot) and this may never be taken care of. read more