Thunderbolt Auto Care

Thunderbolt Auto Care We're a family-owned automotive shop that can handle most of your needs. Our primary objective is for you to fully understand why a repair is needed.

We do our best to educate our clients in all options that they may have to make their vehicle safe.

Heya, hope everyone is doing well out there.  My name is Jose and I run and own Thunderbolt Auto Care.  I like to write ...
01/26/2025

Heya, hope everyone is doing well out there.

My name is Jose and I run and own Thunderbolt Auto Care. I like to write articles from time-to-time on interesting car care questions and repairs.

Hopping right in to talk about something extremely close to my heart and not mechanical in nature.

The last election and the current political climate. This is something that I will not do often, but given the current situation, I feel is right to do.

Much like way too many of my posts, this is going to be a little bit long. Sorry in advance. If you do not want to read a somewhat political post, I advise skipping this one.

~ The Subject ~

When I decided to start my own business 6 and 1/2 years ago I could in no way imagine that we would be where we are today.

The amount of support that we've received from both our friends in Garfield Heights when we started at The Boulevard Garage as well as Cleveland Heights when we took over for Hollis Automotive has been absolutely unreal.

It's not an exaggeration to say that it's nothing short of a miracle that we're still alive in this day and age. Owning a small business is tough on a good day, and there's been several times where we thought we may have to hang it up.

These days, things feel a lot more stable, and from a business perspective, I am optimistic about our future.

In short, I owe my success to the community and the amazing people that have had faith in us along the way.

That leads me to another point.

This industry has a bad but sometimes deserved reputation when it comes to women and the LGBTQ community. The reality is that this is a very tough industry for anyone outside of the most “macho” of men. Far too many assumptions about people and what they know based off of the way they look or act. It's unfortunate, but it's the reality that I live in and energetically reject. It's one of the few benefits of being an owner, I can set the tone of my shop and my interactions with my clients.

To be fair, I've noticed a trend over the last 15 years or so where shops are becoming more open-minded. But, unfortunately, the mindset is still there in far too many places.

*Deep breath*

As a general rule, and as a business owner, I normally would not engage in two subjects. Religion and politics. There's too much risk in irritating the ones that support us. And there's no major benefit honestly.

We are here to service vehicles in a timely manner and at an affordable price. And those who choose to spend money with us, hopefully do so knowing that you're supporting a local small business that is knowledgeable and cares. That should be our focus.

Here's the thing though. There are so many people that I care about that fall under the LGBTQ umbrella. Family, friends, romantic partners, and even myself.

I am a firm believer that those who can not speak should be able to depend on those who can. There are so many businesses that skew right these days and there are not nearly enough businesses that take a stance for the oppressed. And it feels like I'm honestly walking on eggshells here. I don't want to irritate my more conservative clients who have been good to us. But I can't look in the room without seeing more that we can do.

So I say with pride and resilience: Thunderbolt Auto Care will always support the LGBTQ community in whatever way we realistically can. Without shame, with grace, and enthusiastically so.

And in case I'm not entirely clear here, N***s are still evil last I checked and a huge F**k You to Elon.

For those who don't have a voice, keep your chin up. You've been through hell to get where you are, we're just not done yet, that's all. Keep stepping forward, don't let those guys win.

11/19/2023

Heya, hope everyone is doing well out there.

My name is Jose and I run and own Thunderbolt Auto Care. I like to write articles from time-to-time on interesting car care questions and repairs.

Rewinding for a second and hoping it's not too late for a Halloween post. Have I got a doozy of a scary story. And as these things go, something fun and something serious.

Hopping right in. Let's start with the scary, haha!

~ The Subject ~

So, I'm on my way back to work after walking Winnie (my adorable but dense rescue) and my van stalls on me.

Now, I'll give the crowd a bit of advice and my confession of the day. Never, ever, ever, ever buy a vehicle from a mechanic. We have a horrible habit of fixing everyone else's stuff but our own. It's pretty embarrassing sometimes.

I mean I'm better than most. But I'll ignore issues that I know I should address. In this case, my van had been running a little funny for a couple of days and I just hadn't had the chance to tackle it. I should know better. Ah well.

So, on my way back to work she protested loud enough to shut me down in the middle of Cedar Rd. Well, that's embarassing. Called roadside assistance and got her back to the shop.

~ The Diagnostic ~

Engine diagnostic can be seriously fun sometimes. You start with a theory and then start proving your theory. Sometimes you get it right the first time, sometimes not so much.

For those who are interested, there are three things that all engines need. The correct amount of air, the correct amount of fuel, and a good spark source that fires at the right time. Almost all engine issues can be tied to one of those three issues.

Of course, this doesn't include situations where you have major internal engine damage or failure, like timing chains and such. But the great majority of engine stall issues really can boil down to "It needs air / fuel / spark."

In my particular case I immediately suspected I might have a bad fuel pump. Started with gathering fuel pressure and went from there.

Fuel pump was pushing 50 PSI. Well, that's below what it should be but still not too bad. Let me check spark.
...spark is present. Okay, that's weird but not unheard of. Well, let me check airflow...
..airflow appears to be good. Checked fuel trims (this is the engine's way of saying how the air / fuel ratio is, kinda gives us a good idea how the engine is running), fuel trims are good.
..oh no....

~ The Fix ~

Now I had a decision to make. This is a conversion van, which means that some things have to come apart to get to the good stuff. I committed to figuring it out and decided I'd start with pulling one of the easier to see spark plugs.

The neat thing about plugs is if you know what you are looking for, they can be a great indicator of the health of the engine. The first plug I pulled was unusually wet and didn't smell like fuel. Super odd. Now I'm worried.

I decided to pull the engine oil dipstick out to see what the condition of the engine oil was. I just changed the oil. What I found is te oil looked very, very milky. The attched video is what happens when coolant and oil mix. In my case, a bad head gasket.

~ A couple of other relevant notes ~

A head gasket job on a van as old as mine would be a reason for most people to replace the darned thing. Head gaskets are expensive and on a van like mine even more so. It's a ton of work and when the engine is apart, the heads have to be sent out to be machined. For most clients, this would be a $3,000 - $4,500 job.

I now have a decision to make as to if I should fix it. I love this van, oof. Problem for another day though, I'm lucky that I have a second vehicle and I don't have to make that decision at the moment *sigh*

~ Final Thoughts ~

So, now that the scary is done, I wanted to talk about the fun. Attached you'll find a video of my Halloween costume.

For those who know me on a personal level, you'll know that I'm kinda big into video games. This year I wanted to give Mario Kart my best shot and well, you'll see :)

Please be aware that I encourage questions and comments but may not be able to easily respond. If you do have a follow-up question to the post, give me time to answer as I'll be at work and cannot be at my desk at all times, unfortunately.

If you have a question regarding your own vehicle, reach out at the e-mail below. My partner will gladly answer your question way faster than I will. E-mail is the easiest way to reach out to us.

Be safe and enjoy your week 🙂

Warm Regards:

Jose'
Thunderbolt Auto Care
2857 Noble Rd
Cleveland Heights, OH 44121

[email protected]

9 - 6 Monday through Friday

(Due to the way Facebook does business accounts, the other video will be in the comments, sorry!)

Heya, hope everyone is doing well out there.  So, a fair word of warning for those who get annoyed at my long posts.  Yo...
09/12/2023

Heya, hope everyone is doing well out there.

So, a fair word of warning for those who get annoyed at my long posts. You might want to skip this one, as it's a doozy, haha.

Two things worth mentioning today, a message of sadness and a message of joy. I normally wouldn't combine something like this but both messages are a bit time contingent.

First, it's with a heavy heart that I mention the passing of my friend, Rick Hollis.

I'm not one to reminisce too often but I'll say that I'm extremely fortunate for the relationship we've developed with each other over the past several years. This industry feels incredibly small sometimes and losing someone that is part of it's history is always a little bit painful. It's very few people that can understand what it's like to do what I do and Rick was one of the few. I'm honored to call him both a peer and a friend. My life is better due to his presence and I'm both grateful for the time and happy he's finally at peace. Attached to this post will be two pictures the family sent of him that I absolutely love. Included below is a message from the family:

---------------------------------------------------------------------

RICHARD AVERY HOLLIS

Richard Avery Hollis (Rick) was born on October 17th, 1940 in Cleveland, Ohio to Howard Hollis and Helen (Rice) Hollis.

Rick graduated in 1961 from Northwood School in Lake Placid, New York, after which, he followed his love of cars to a long career as an auto mechanic. He eventually founded Hollis Automotive, where he worked for 45 years before selling the business and retiring in December, 2021. A self-acknowledged, “curmudgeon”, Rick had a quick wit and dry sense of humor that was well known in Cleveland Heights, where he resided for most of his adult life.

Rick loved being out on the lake, and never missed an opportunity to help out a neighbor. His love of cars was only exceeded by his love for his four daughters, and his many dogs and cats. Richard died of natural causes on September 2nd, 2023. Richard was preceded in death by his sister, Anne Reese. His surviving family includes his four daughters: Mary Avery Wright (nee Hollis) of Avon Lake, OH, Elizabeth Howard Hollis of Brooklyn, OH, Helen Elizabeth Hollis of Austin, TX, and Alexandria Kelley Hollis of Cleveland Heights, OH, and Mary’s spouse, Christopher Michael Wright, of Avon Lake, OH.

Richard is also survived by his three beloved grandchildren: Avery Logan Wright, Jackson Avery Buford, and Wyatt Michael Buford, and his two nieces, Andrea Coonley Reese, and Devin Andrews Reese.

A celebration of Richard’s life will be held at the home of Christopher and Mary Wright on Saturday, September 23rd from 1:00pm – 4:00pm; 370 Avon Point Ave., Avon Lake, OH 44012. Brief remarks from select family members will begin at approx. 2:00pm. Please feel free to dress casually for the open house.

In lieu of flowers, please donate to your favorite animal rescue foundation.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

I took the liberty to look up a donation link for the APL. The organization does a tremendous amount of good. Please donate as a gift, I'll be donating myself today in his honor.

"Donation, Planned Giving, or Estate Plan inquiries can be specifically addressed by our Development Office at 216-344-1353 or by e-mail at [email protected]. Identify your inquiry in the subject line with “Donation” to help us prioritize your mail."

And it feels inappropriate but necessary to combine these messages. I apologize for the odd transition.

Still, we just passed a huge milestone!

Five years ago, on September 10th, our little business opened up for the first time! Many small businesses do not survive the five year mark, this is kinda huge. It's tough out here and in the past five years, we've had a pandemic, a fire, relocation, and numerous other challenges...

We are so grateful to all of you! To everyone who gave us the chance when we were a new business (Garfield Heights, we see you!), to everyone who gave us the chance when we were the new kids on the block (former Hollis Customers, thanks so much!). Thank you, thank you, thank you all! From trusting us for your pre-purchase inspections to subframes, safety concerns, weird noises, animal nests, countless brakes, little quirks, and everything in between. We appreciate you and you mean more than you know. We seriously have the best clients ever. Patient, friendly, understanding, grateful, and loyal are just some of the words we use to describe you. We are immensely proud to serve the community the way we do.

You keep our lights on and our fridge full. Thank you so so much for your faith in us. It's something I'm proud of as well as humbled by.

Thank you for your support and keeping our doors open for the first five years and Cheers to Many More!

Warm Regards:

Jose'

Thunderbolt Auto Care
2857 Noble Rd
Cleveland Heights, OH 44121

[email protected]
9 - 6 Monday through Friday

08/21/2023

"We are like dwarves sitting on the shoulders of giants. We see more, and things that are more distant, than they did, not because our sight is superior or because we are taller than they, but because they raise us up, and by their great stature add to ours." - Bernard de Chartres

For those who aren't familiar with my story, I used to run The Boulevard Garage in Garfield Heights. We had a fire several years back and had to look for a new home. Not too long after, I purchased my current location from the prior owner, Rick Hollis, who was here for many, many years. It has been a wonderful and humbling experience and for those of you that have supported our transition, I'm eternally grateful.

Rick has become a friend to me.

I want to keep this short as this isn't about me and it feels inappropriate to talk about how I feel about all this so I'm going to dive right in.

For those who know my predecessor, Rick Hollis, I wanted to pass along the following information.

A couple of weeks ago Rick took a spill.

Unfortunately, due to this accident, he's been in the hospital. His health is deteriorating and he's currently in comfort care. He's just been moved here:

David Simpson House
300 E 185th St, Room 139
Cleveland, OH 44119

With the family's blessing, I encourage those who may want to see him to stop in and do so. I'm sure he would love to see you all.

Warm Wishes:

Jose' Quiles
Thunderbolt Auto Care
2857 Noble Rd,
Cleveland Heights, OH 44121

216-441-5333
[email protected]

06/05/2023

Heya, hope everyone is doing well out there.

My name is Jose and I run and own Thunderbolt Auto Care. I like to write articles from time-to-time on interesting car care questions and repairs.

Hopping right in.

(please note that the video doesn't really have any major movement for the first 15 seconds. I was compressing the shocks in the background and recording this at the same time)

~ The Subject ~

I wanted to talk a little about shocks and struts. I find that there's a ton of confusion with shocks and struts when it comes to when to do them / why to do them / can I keep driving like this / what's the drawback.

~ The Symptom ~

It's helpful to talk about the difference between shocks and struts before we head into some of the explinations. A shock absorber is a gas or liquid filled cylinder that will help your vehicle adjust to major differences in the roadway. It's purpose is to "soften" the ride as you hit those wonderful Cleveland potholes. By doing so, it actually helps protect the different componets that make up your suspension like your ball joints, tie rods, control arms, tires, and even themselves. A strut is a shock absorber. The difference is the strut has a support spring wrapped around it whereas a shock absorber usually has the support spring remotely mounted. They ultimately are the same device with just the spring being the difference. This spring is usually mounted where the manufacturer wants it to be due to design requirements. A strut takes up a lot less space but is also significantly more expensive. Just depends.

The weird thing about bad shocks and struts is that I find people just kind of get used to them, haha. It's kinda like a minor tooth ache. Eventually you just tune out the difference because it becomes background noise.

~ The Diagnostic ~

Sometimes it's obvious. These guys do leak oil eventually. But sometimes it's just age-related recommendations. Monroe (a manufacturer of struts and shocks) recommends replacing them every 7 years or 75,000 miles, whichever comes first. Truth is, very few people want to drop $1,500 into a maintenace recommendation every 7 years.

A lot of it has to do with picking up on premature wear conditions. Your tires are designed to hug the road and it turns out that when you have bad shocks and struts, they don't. So, we get a condition called Cupping where the tires aren't wearing evenly due to the premature bouncing of the tires on the road. Your tires are designed to hug the road at all times, and shocks and struts let you do that. When they are bad, they don't react fast enough to do their job the right way. You'll see what I mean in the video.

Please note that bad shocks and struts are not the only reason cupping will happen. In my opinion, it's the most common though.

~ Final Thoughts ~

Here's the weird thing. I've seen clients drive 200,000 miles on bad shocks. Sometimes people just can't afford them, and that's understandable.

For those clients, they will find the vehicle to just wear down much faster. They'll replace tires and ball joints and other components much more frequently than if the shocks were new.

The reason I mention that is that bad shocks and struts are rarely a safety concern. If the strut spring is broken or if the shocks are physically rusting out, it can become one. It's ultimately up to the client to decide when to do this, a good shop's job is to give you as much information as they can so you can make an informed decision.

The other thing is that you don't have to do shocks and struts at the same time. I always recommend my client's budget for it during the next maintenance service. It's much easier to get things done if you know you have a big bill coming in 6 months versus tomorrow. Just bare in mind that if you do the shocks and come back later to do the struts, it's highly encouraged to get the alignment done with both. Meaning in some cases, you're paying for an alignment twice. Just depends.

Hope this helps.

Please be aware that I encourage questions and comments but may not be able to easily respond. If you do have a follow-up question to the post, give me time to answer as I'll be at work and cannot be at my desk at all times, unfortunately.

If you have a question regarding your own vehicle, reach out at the e-mail below. My partner will gladly answer your question way faster than I will. E-mail is the easiest way to reach out to us.

Be safe and enjoy your week 🙂

Warm Regards:

Jose'
Thunderbolt Auto Care
2857 Noble Rd
Cleveland Heights, OH 44121

[email protected]

9 - 6 Monday through Friday

05/02/2023

Happy Tuesday, hope everyone is doing well out there.

My name is Jose and I run and own Thunderbolt Auto Care. I like to write articles from time-to-time on interesting car care questions and repairs.

Today I wanted to talk about something simple, but important. Tires.

Hopping right in.

~ The Symptom ~

Client came in for a courtesy check. Vehicle has a series of issues, some of them related to the way the vehicle is handling. During the test drive, I noticed the vehicle pulled to one side and seemed to hop all over the place over bumps.

~ The Diagnostic ~

I was able to get the vehicle up and check the suspension. While I was at it, I always check tire pressure.

Left Front - 63 PSI / Right Front - 16 PSI
Left Rear - 38 PSI / Right Rear - 62 PSI

(hint, these are wrong, haha!)

~ The Fix ~

Adjusted the tire pressure and the vehicle handles worlds better than it did before.

~ Final Thoughts ~

So, here's where I'm going to focus most of this post.

Everyone knows tires are important, I probably don't have to talk about that part. What I do want to talk about is where you find the information on how to adjust your tires. I've talked to clients that use the side of the tire before, this is super common. Thing is, it's not accurate.

For most vehicles, there is a little white card on the driver's door that has that information.

What I've found is that most small cars are right around 32 - 33 PSI. Some foreign or oddball cars (BMW / VW / Etc.) will absolutely deviate from this. Midsize cars can get up to 35 PSI if it's a little heavy. For basic trucks, you're probably around 35 PSI. If you're vehicle has LT (Light Truck) in the number, you're probably 50 PSI in the front and up to 80 PSI in the rear.

Every vehicle is different though. And I always say to use manufacturer recommendations.

The other thing is there are outliers to this. What I mean is that if you do a lot of highway driving, you may want to bump your tires up just a hair. More tire pressure means less tread touching the ground. This also means you're going to get better gas mileage. Be aware that I'm talking 2 - 3 PSI, not a ton more than manufacturer recommendations.

The inverse is actually true as well. If you do a lot of driving in the snow / wet weather, let a little bit of air out of the tires. You'll have more tread touching the ground and ultimately, you'll have better traction. The sacrifice here is that the more tread that touches the ground, the faster your tires are going to wear. Again, I wouldn't go any more than 5 PSI lower than the manufacturer recommendations.

In an extreme winter situation where you may be stuck, you can safely let about 10 PSI out of the tires and it'll help you get unstuck. I wouldn't recommend driving like this for long though, you can damage the tire sidewall and significantly shorten the life of the tire. But if you're stuck, you're probably looking for creative solutions anyways. Get unstuck and get to a gas station where you can readjust your tires. Or stop by a shop that can adjust them for you.

Please be aware that I encourage questions and comments but may not be able to easily respond. If you do have a follow-up question to the post, give me time to answer as I'll be at work and cannot be at my desk at all times, unfortunately.

If you have a question regarding your own vehicle, reach out at the e-mail below. My partner will gladly answer your question way faster than I will. E-mail is the easiest way to reach out to us.

Be safe and enjoy your week 🙂

Warm Regards:

Jose'
Thunderbolt Auto Care
2857 Noble Rd
Cleveland Heights, OH 44121

[email protected]

9 - 6 Monday through Friday

Happy Monday, hope everyone is doing well out there.  My name is Jose and I run and own Thunderbolt Auto Care.  I like t...
04/24/2023

Happy Monday, hope everyone is doing well out there.

My name is Jose and I run and own Thunderbolt Auto Care. I like to write articles from time-to-time on interesting car care questions and repairs.

This one may be a little tough to explain through text, but it's worth a shot. Plus, It's a pretty interesting failure.

Hopping right in.

~ The Symptom ~

The client came in for several reasons. I'm focusing on one of them.

When we received the vehicle, the engine was running extremely, extremely rough. The client authorized diagnostic time for us to troubleshoot the issue. Now, it's worth mentioning that this engine is a V8 engine. Meaning, it actually has two sides. What we would call bank one and bank two.

The issue that it was having was that bank two was running very poorly, which we call misfiring. All engines require three things: the proper amount of fuel, the proper amount of air, and the proper amount of spark. When everything is running as intended, we call that stoichiometric.

In simpler terms, the engine is always balancing those three things run at its peak optimization. When you get an engine that's running poorly, in almost every case, it's because one of these things is wrong. Too much fuel, too much air, not enough spark, etc.

The interesting thing about the client's problem is that one side of the engine, bank one, showed too much fuel. The engine, bank two, showed too much air. We call too much fuel a rich condition and too much air a lean condition.

~ The Diagnostic ~

I wanted to focus on why the engine was running poorly on the side of the engine that was misfiring. I got the clients permission and we started to pursue why the engine was running lean on bank 2.

My theory was that it was actually running rich for a very long time and the engine was dumping so much fuel that it clogged some things up. In particular, the upstream oxygen sensor.

Now here's the thing, oxygen sensors are used to tell the engine in many cases how it is doing. In other words, the engine doesn't just know it's running great. It's always making adjustments and the oxygen sensors are the primary driver on how the engine performs. If the oxygen sensor is showing too much fuel, the engine is going to throttle the fuel ratio back. And so on and so forth.

And once the oxygen sensor was clogged, it couldn't read. It wasn't giving the engine the right information about oxygen quality in the exhaust and the engine thinks the bank 2 side is not getting enough fuel so it floods the bank 2 side with EVEN MORE fuel.

~ The Fix ~

I started with removing the oxygen sensor. You'll see the sensor in the first picture. What you're seeing is exactly what I suspected. The engine is dumping so much fuel that the spark plugs are having major problems burning it all. You get a high amount of soot in the exhaust and it clogs everything up along the way. The second picture shows the spark plugs. I insisted the client replace all of the plugs on the bank 2 side because I strongly suspect the engine would still miss due to how bad everything is.

~ Final Thoughts ~

Information is important and the engine has to trust the information it's given. It's actually kind of silly how many sensors are on modern engines. If the information the engine is using to run well is skewed or incorrect, it can affect many things and potentially even damage components. For example, with the engine running this rich, the catalytic converters become super suspect down-the-line. One emergency at a time, of course. Still, the client may have many more expensive repairs on-deck before this issue is completely resolved, unfortunately.

The other thing is that we still have to figure out why the engine is running rich. The client has authorized additional diagnostic time for us to chase that issue. Hoping to figure that part out sometime this week.

Right now the engine is running well, although it's running very rich. No misfires and accelerates the way it should.

Please be aware that I encourage questions and comments but may not be able to easily respond. If you do have a follow-up question to the post, give me time to answer as I'll be at work and cannot be at my desk at all times, unfortunately.

If you have a question regarding your own vehicle, reach out at the e-mail below. My partner will gladly answer your question way faster than I will. E-mail is the easiest way to reach out to us.

Be safe and enjoy your week 🙂

Warm Regards:

Jose'
Thunderbolt Auto Care
2857 Noble Rd
Cleveland Heights, OH 44121

[email protected]

9 - 6 Monday through Friday

Happy Monday, hope everyone is doing well out there.  My name is Jose and I run and own Thunderbolt Auto Care.  I like t...
04/17/2023

Happy Monday, hope everyone is doing well out there.

My name is Jose and I run and own Thunderbolt Auto Care. I like to write articles from time-to-time on interesting car care questions and repairs. Recently had this one come into the shop and I thought it was super interesting (and kinda dangerous honestly).

Hopping right in.

~ The Symptom ~

The client actually brought his vehicle in for a separate suspension issue (if I remember right). Thing is, we always do a pretty good comprehensive inspection to the vehicles we work on when we bring them into the shop. Ultimately, we want to make sure our client's money is going to the best possible place. The inspections are important. We don't want to miss a potential safety issue while the vehicle is here.

So, if I remember right, the client needed some really big ball joint work. During the test drive, I noted that the vehicle had some weird brake noise.

~ The Diagnostic ~

Verified that the client's ball joints were a mess, of course. Still, attached you'll find what I discovered about the client's brakes.

What you're seeing is a picture of the two inside front brake pads. If you zoom in a little closer, you'll notice the right front brakes are installed correct but the left front brakes have become dislodged in the brake hardware.

Now, I've been doing this for over twenty years. I've definitely seen some things. This is a first.

As the client told me later, he had another shop install his brakes "some time ago." I got the vibe that it was more than six months. He hears some noise after the brakes were installed and even returned to the shop that did the initial work. They dismissed his concerns and told him it was a normal brake condition.

What makes this so unusual though is that the noise eventually settled down. In other words, he's been driving like this for over six months. And I can confirm myself that outside of a little bit of brake noise, his brakes actually feel....fine.

That's scary.

~ The Fix ~

At the end of the day, we can only advise our clients of the concerns to his vehicle. The client actually had to pick and choose his battles on this. In his case, the ball joint was about to break so we took care of that concern.

Unfortunately, he was not able to do the brakes at this time. I think he may be actually scheduled to get this taken care of either this week or next week.

I'm 90% sure the front brake pads are the wrong brake pads for this vehicle. Brake pads should NEVER become dislodged like this.

~ Final Thoughts ~

I have advised the client his vehicle isn't safe to drive. If he continues to drive this vehicle in it's current condition, eventually the brake pad is going to become dislodged from the brake caliper all-together, slip, and bind between the caliper and rotor. In other words, his left front wheel is going to lock up. Major safety concern.

The client didn't share what shop did the work and honestly, I never asked.

The reality is that we all make mistakes. This is a big one.

If you get work done on your vehicle and something doesn't feel right, don't ever hesitate to get a second opinion. In this case, the client trusted the shop he had work on his vehicle. I mean, they are the professional at the end of the day. The client didn't have anyone advocating for him.

Bare in mind that most shops will offer a free brake inspection, including us. If you feel that something isn't right, make the appointment, get it checked out.

Stuff can be replaced, including your car. Your safety, your family's safety, and the safety of your peers on the road is important.

Hope this helps.

Please be aware that I encourage questions and comments but may not be able to easily respond. If you do have a follow-up question to the post, give me time to answer as I'll be at work and cannot be at my desk at all times, unfortunately.

If you have a question regarding your own vehicle, reach out at the e-mail below. My partner will gladly answer your question way faster than I will. E-mail is the easiest way to reach out to us.

Be safe and enjoy your week 🙂

Warm Regards:

Jose'
Thunderbolt Auto Care
2857 Noble Rd
Cleveland Heights, OH 44121

[email protected]

9 - 6 Monday through Friday

P.S. - Including a picture of my favorite Assistant Mechanic, Winnie :)

Address

2857 Noble Road
Cleveland, OH

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 6pm
Tuesday 9am - 6pm
Wednesday 9am - 6pm
Thursday 9am - 6pm
Friday 9am - 6pm

Telephone

+12164415333

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