Bills Auto Repair in Hiawatha Kansas 66434/Follow up Review/Hub Bearing/Milton

I wanted to follow up with an article I wrote earlier this year on, “Bill’s Auto Repair” located in Hiawatha Kansas 66434. The article was titled, “A Small Adjustment For The Customer.” I couldn’t understand why Milton the mechanic would not recheck his work on the front hub bearing I brought in. Milton said he would have to charge me another $100 or so in labor to replace the bearing since he did not buy it. I called this a small adjustment since I know what is involved replacing this bearing which he refused to do. With his power tools he could of performed this small adjustment for me under 15 minutes if he really wanted me as a happy customer. He did not know that I have over 25+ years experience working in the private sector as a ASE Certified Auto Repair Technician. I wanted to see how this shop handles its customers.

After refusing to pay Bills Auto Repair in Hiawatha Kansas another $100 to replace a bearing again, I replaced it just to see how bad this bearing was installed by Milton the auto mechanic. I found the 36 mm axle nut was loose which could cause premature wear on this bearing. The next thing I discovered was the O-Ring was crushed, torn, and installed incorrectly by Milton. This could also cause a good bearing to go bad real fast. The spot where this O-Ring was suppose to go was not cleaned and was covered with rust and dirt. One of the three bearing hold down bolts was loose which could cause improper alignment of the new bearing. With all of these mistakes made by Milton the auto mechanic at Bills Auto Repair located in Hiawatha Kansas 66434 I don’t see how I was going to pay him another $100 to screw up another new bearing. The inside of my New tire was wore out which now needs to be replaced. All I wanted was him to recheck his work and warranty his labor.

After finding all of these installation problems and Bills Auto Repair not wanting to honor their ‘Labor Warranty‘, my final review is to stay away from these guys as far as possible. Just because you try to save money by bringing in your own parts for them to install do not believe them when they say the part was installed correctly and you have to pay again to have it fixed. My advice would be to have a reputable auto repair facility document the installation problems and try to get your money back from Bills Auto Repair located in Hiawatha Kansas. Rather than relying on Bill’s to admit they installed your part incorrectly.


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Same Car, New Features? BMW Rolls Out Upgrades

So you’ve been saving up money for a few months to get yourself an iPhone, an Android, or whatever your choice may be. You finally get it in your hands, and BAM, they unexpectedly release a newer, better version just weeks later. What the heck! Although this has become a common (and annoying) theme in technology today, you have to admit it’s becoming increasingly easy to update your old products to get new features. This week, this is exactly what BMW drivers were able to do with their In Dash Navigation and Center Console Display Unit.

On Tuesday, BMW owners with 2009 and later models turned on their cars to a new, updated BMW Online system. Some of the new features they can now enjoy include viewing recent news, weather, local fuel prices, Google search access, and a better overall display. Seems like a pretty cool deal to me, although I’m not sure how safe Google-ing is from behind the wheel. This all happened automatically and even better, for free. Now that I think of it, I don’t even need to plug my phone in to update it, add music to it, or transfer my pictures to my laptop. At the rate technology is progressing, it’s encouraging to know that it’s not so hard to keep the products we buy up to date. I can hardly turn on my computer without having to update some piece of software.

It’s great that BMW has rolled out this new upgrade, and I hope other companies with the same capabilities follow suit. Oh, and I’m definitely not getting into any long lines on the next apple release date. They released the software upgrade for free just a week after their latest iPhone was released, and who needs Siri anyways?

With all the New Sports Cars Coming for 2012 Which is Best?

Over the last few years the heard of new sports cars in the lower price range had become kind or thin. While the supercar world has exploded with lots of cars with a supercharger or turbochargers the rest of us had to make do with a 350z or nothing. In 2010 that all changed with the release for the Genesis Coupe from Hyundai of all companies. Now Toyota and Subaru have come together to give us the FT-86 which will be sold as the Scion FR-S and the Subaru BRZ. Mazda was also nice enough to bless us with the new Miata which is much better than it looks.

With all these new choices rejuvenating the sports car market and all in just about the same price tag which one is best? The way I am looking at this is only front engine rear wheel drive cars count. Not interested in the AWD Evo or STi since they are 4 door rally cars not sports cars. If the price range is mid 20K up to 32K the list is really limited to about 5 models. Yeah there are lots of used cars that can be purchased that fall to that price range after a few years but that also means the repair bills are still in line for a $60K car.

The 370Z tops the list in price sitting right at the $35K Mark and boasts the most impressive HP and maybe the highest trim level. The genesis falls into the range at the bottom price wise but it is a new comer and not many people trust that the quality is there in the long run. Honestly who can blame them since Hyundai has been making kinda low quality cars for years. The Miata is an amazing little car but it does carry quite the stereotype for the driver. Won’t mention what that stereotype for the sake of PC-ness, none the less it is a very capable little sports car. The problem is most of the major players have pulled out of the sports car race leaving the smaller companies to pick up the slack.

Toyota and Subaru combine forces to get the FT086 off the ground which seems to be all the rage but no one here is the states has really had any butt in seat time with it. Not only has no one logged seat time but no one knows the real price either.

This brings us back to the original question, which is…what is the one to buy? Well the Genesis is an amazing car but when someone asks what you drive…well it’s still a Hyundai. The 370Z is amazing but it is pricey and falls into almost the highest insurance class there, just below supercars. While the Miata is a bit small and completely impractical plus there is that other thing. The best way to look at this is, with the economy still in the toilet it may be a few years before the sports car rears its head again. So let us all just get Forza and enjoy some Xbox bliss…hell it’s safer anyway.