Lightning07
5th October 2010, 10:54 PM
Hi all,
Late last week I took my astra to K-mart auto center (Southland) for its 30k/12 month service. I went there instead of the Holden because I would be saving close to $100 (I rang up for a quote.) My parents have gone there in the past and said to me they do a great job. No worries. I handed over the keys in the morning and I had a few hours to kill so I went shopping. Haha. Anyways, after an hour and a half or so I get a call from one of the mechanics to tell me that a few extra things needed to be done. Great, I was thinking. I was already thinking the $375 was enough but then he told me, first, the wheels need to be rotated, front to rear, rear to front and balance. That would be another $60. That’s ok, needs to be done, better grip, economy and so forth, so I went with it. Secondly he said the injectors were quite clogged and needed to be taken out and cleaned and to have this done wouldn’t be cheap, around $150 or so. To be honest I was going to let this one slip and have it done the next time round, but the guy on the other end of the phone said sooner the better. Better fuel economy can be achieved depending on the severity or something he said. I thought for a second and since I hadn’t been getting that great economy (I blamed the traffic for it :) ), I said yes for that too. So after ending the call with the guy I thought whether it was really necessary or he just wanted some extra cash. Hell with it, its only money :P.
When I went to pick it up there was some extra time, I came early since I was bored of looking around southland. There was nearly half an hour or so left and so I spoke to the guy who rang me. He talked a little more about the injector clean but what really got me was he said that soon I will need to be replacing the brake pads and disc rotors. The rotors wear out quickly and form a concave shape and shouldn’t be machined down. I was quite puzzled at this since to my knowledge I thought they lasted a long time. The reasons for needing the swap were because they (astras) are fitted with soft compound rotors for extra stopping power. This is done because they’re European cars which drive on the autobahn and need the extra stopping power. To have this done would be close to $1000 and can only be fitted with genuine GM parts.
After that discussion I asked about what would be required if I was to fit some lowered springs. I said I would probably fit Eibach pro-kit, a 30mm drop. He said just an alignment and something. Was going to fit them myself, along with the help of a mate. He said though, in doing that you will have a different camber of the wheels and will affect tire wear. Also there were no camber kits available he said. I wasn’t sure about this and I hadn’t read anything here about it which made me wonder if he was just trying to persuade me out of it.
So if you’re still with me the questions I have for you are as follows:
· Is the camber changed with lowering the car and can it be fitted with a camber kit to bring it back?
· It true about the brake rotors needing replacing? If so would it be better and possibly cheaper to upgrade to some more after market type?
· Is it easy to clean to injectors yourself if I wanted to do it more often? Risky? Cost effective? I wasn’t sure is he said how often it needed to be done.
So what are your thoughts on this? What are my options here? Thank you very much all in advance.
(Well done too if you read all of it ;) )
Late last week I took my astra to K-mart auto center (Southland) for its 30k/12 month service. I went there instead of the Holden because I would be saving close to $100 (I rang up for a quote.) My parents have gone there in the past and said to me they do a great job. No worries. I handed over the keys in the morning and I had a few hours to kill so I went shopping. Haha. Anyways, after an hour and a half or so I get a call from one of the mechanics to tell me that a few extra things needed to be done. Great, I was thinking. I was already thinking the $375 was enough but then he told me, first, the wheels need to be rotated, front to rear, rear to front and balance. That would be another $60. That’s ok, needs to be done, better grip, economy and so forth, so I went with it. Secondly he said the injectors were quite clogged and needed to be taken out and cleaned and to have this done wouldn’t be cheap, around $150 or so. To be honest I was going to let this one slip and have it done the next time round, but the guy on the other end of the phone said sooner the better. Better fuel economy can be achieved depending on the severity or something he said. I thought for a second and since I hadn’t been getting that great economy (I blamed the traffic for it :) ), I said yes for that too. So after ending the call with the guy I thought whether it was really necessary or he just wanted some extra cash. Hell with it, its only money :P.
When I went to pick it up there was some extra time, I came early since I was bored of looking around southland. There was nearly half an hour or so left and so I spoke to the guy who rang me. He talked a little more about the injector clean but what really got me was he said that soon I will need to be replacing the brake pads and disc rotors. The rotors wear out quickly and form a concave shape and shouldn’t be machined down. I was quite puzzled at this since to my knowledge I thought they lasted a long time. The reasons for needing the swap were because they (astras) are fitted with soft compound rotors for extra stopping power. This is done because they’re European cars which drive on the autobahn and need the extra stopping power. To have this done would be close to $1000 and can only be fitted with genuine GM parts.
After that discussion I asked about what would be required if I was to fit some lowered springs. I said I would probably fit Eibach pro-kit, a 30mm drop. He said just an alignment and something. Was going to fit them myself, along with the help of a mate. He said though, in doing that you will have a different camber of the wheels and will affect tire wear. Also there were no camber kits available he said. I wasn’t sure about this and I hadn’t read anything here about it which made me wonder if he was just trying to persuade me out of it.
So if you’re still with me the questions I have for you are as follows:
· Is the camber changed with lowering the car and can it be fitted with a camber kit to bring it back?
· It true about the brake rotors needing replacing? If so would it be better and possibly cheaper to upgrade to some more after market type?
· Is it easy to clean to injectors yourself if I wanted to do it more often? Risky? Cost effective? I wasn’t sure is he said how often it needed to be done.
So what are your thoughts on this? What are my options here? Thank you very much all in advance.
(Well done too if you read all of it ;) )