Another - Stay the Hell away from ARD
Another - Stay the Hell away from ARD Here is the rant….My brother took his car to ARD to get the transmission looked at because it wasn’t shifting right. (The transmission was built by ARD about a year and half ago. Grand total was $1800. And it was never right from the beginning. You would think a built tranny would last a lot longer.) So we were hoping that some of the mechanical things might still be under warranty……So we took it back again.
They had the car for a month before they even started to work on it. A month and a half later they finally have it ready. In the mean time we kept asking what the price was going to be, with no answer till last minute…..Which turned out to be way more than was expected ($700 – for Owen going thru the tranny, $250 for Jay to take it out of the car and $150 for adjusting the idle and pulling 4* of timing) Which turned out that the idle is exactly where it was before. Owen explain that it idled fine the night they did it and thinks is a vacuum leak now. WTF. I will double check to make sure timing was pulled before we go ahead and spray it….I expected a little more communication with what they were charging before they went ahead and did the work (approve the work before you do it). If I would of known that the transmission was out of warranty and they were going to charge that much – I would have taken it to a better shop…We were hoping that a built tranny would Last a lot Longer….Stay the Hell away from this shop if you expect good work…I will never take any of my vehicles there AGAIN. (I wonder how long this “rebuild” is going to last) ANY BETS?? Rant over….
They had the car for a month before they even started to work on it. A month and a half later they finally have it ready. In the mean time we kept asking what the price was going to be, with no answer till last minute…..Which turned out to be way more than was expected ($700 – for Owen going thru the tranny, $250 for Jay to take it out of the car and $150 for adjusting the idle and pulling 4* of timing) Which turned out that the idle is exactly where it was before. Owen explain that it idled fine the night they did it and thinks is a vacuum leak now. WTF. I will double check to make sure timing was pulled before we go ahead and spray it….I expected a little more communication with what they were charging before they went ahead and did the work (approve the work before you do it). If I would of known that the transmission was out of warranty and they were going to charge that much – I would have taken it to a better shop…We were hoping that a built tranny would Last a lot Longer….Stay the Hell away from this shop if you expect good work…I will never take any of my vehicles there AGAIN. (I wonder how long this “rebuild” is going to last) ANY BETS?? Rant over….
About a quarter or the time the last one did once yall start spraying...
What type of tranny was it I must have misses it...
That sucks that everyone lately has been having bad experiences with other individuals and shops when it comes to something we love...
What type of tranny was it I must have misses it...
That sucks that everyone lately has been having bad experiences with other individuals and shops when it comes to something we love...
That sucks bro, i tried telling you a LONG time ago to stay away. live and learn i guess.
houston is the mecca of the lsx world we have it all here. take it to good shop and have some peace of mind.
houston is the mecca of the lsx world we have it all here. take it to good shop and have some peace of mind.
if he never got the approval to do the work then you do not have to pay, you did not agree on the price or what was to be done there for he did it for free. standard practice for a good shop is to call their customers. hell some of the shops i worked at even called to inform the customer that warranty work would be taking place just in case they didn't want it to be done.
Hah, I probably saw him build that trans, I remember having to have my car towed back to ARD after the 4th alternator went out. He forgot to build a trans for some one and put one together in about ~30 minutes while I stood there.
I knew I was in for a rude surprise at that point, my car never ran right, then it toasted the trans. Turned out ARD used a 4L80E flex plate (they drilled the holes out so the bolts would fit), and crank spacer with a 4L60E and a 4L60E converter. It sheared off the pump splines, trashed the 'verter and cost me ~$1,000 to fix not counting the converter.
Then I take the motor apart, I paid ARD for a freshened LQ9, I got a LQ4 that had never been touched after leaving the factory, probably has about 70k on it, it was running 8.5:1 compression, and 30*+ of timing throughout on just about the entire timing table. Other than that, ARD was running a stock 5.7 tune, on a cammed 6.0...
But who cares right? ARD made $7,000 off me with about $1,500 of used parts. Heck, ARD was probably using spare parts from previous customers cars, or their previously stock personal vehicles. Betting the parts I "paid" for went into their shop cars LOL
I knew I was in for a rude surprise at that point, my car never ran right, then it toasted the trans. Turned out ARD used a 4L80E flex plate (they drilled the holes out so the bolts would fit), and crank spacer with a 4L60E and a 4L60E converter. It sheared off the pump splines, trashed the 'verter and cost me ~$1,000 to fix not counting the converter.
Then I take the motor apart, I paid ARD for a freshened LQ9, I got a LQ4 that had never been touched after leaving the factory, probably has about 70k on it, it was running 8.5:1 compression, and 30*+ of timing throughout on just about the entire timing table. Other than that, ARD was running a stock 5.7 tune, on a cammed 6.0...
But who cares right? ARD made $7,000 off me with about $1,500 of used parts. Heck, ARD was probably using spare parts from previous customers cars, or their previously stock personal vehicles. Betting the parts I "paid" for went into their shop cars LOL
Last edited by $750 L98; Oct 6, 2010 at 03:14 PM.
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^^^^dam.
i dont know what you did about it. but i would have definitely not let that go away without it being corrected. im not a nice guy when it comes to **** like that. happen to me once. with a trans. long time ago with similar practices rebuilder. he was no sot happy after tryin to pull a fast one on me.
see sn.
i dont know what you did about it. but i would have definitely not let that go away without it being corrected. im not a nice guy when it comes to **** like that. happen to me once. with a trans. long time ago with similar practices rebuilder. he was no sot happy after tryin to pull a fast one on me.
see sn.
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Verdad Gallardo Yeah I know. But for some reason we thought it was still under warranty. Stupid on our part. Will never take anything back to ARD even if I think is under warranty....
if he never got the approval to do the work then you do not have to pay, you did not agree on the price or what was to be done there for he did it for free. standard practice for a good shop is to call their customers. hell some of the shops i worked at even called to inform the customer that warranty work would be taking place just in case they didn't want it to be done.
hah, i probably saw him build that trans, i remember having to have my car towed back to ard after the 4th alternator went out. He forgot to build a trans for some one and put one together in about ~30 minutes while i stood there.
I knew i was in for a rude surprise at that point, my car never ran right, then it toasted the trans. Turned out ard used a 4l80e flex plate (they drilled the holes out so the bolts would fit), and crank spacer with a 4l60e and a 4l60e converter. It sheared off the pump splines, trashed the 'verter and cost me ~$1,000 to fix not counting the converter.
Then i take the motor apart, i paid ard for a freshened lq9, i got a lq4 that had never been touched after leaving the factory, probably has about 70k on it, it was running 8.5:1 compression, and 30*+ of timing throughout on just about the entire timing table. Other than that, ard was running a stock 5.7 tune, on a cammed 6.0...
But who cares right? Ard made $7,000 off me with about $1,500 of used parts. Heck, ard was probably using spare parts from previous customers cars, or their previously stock personal vehicles. Betting the parts i "paid" for went into their shop cars lol
I knew i was in for a rude surprise at that point, my car never ran right, then it toasted the trans. Turned out ard used a 4l80e flex plate (they drilled the holes out so the bolts would fit), and crank spacer with a 4l60e and a 4l60e converter. It sheared off the pump splines, trashed the 'verter and cost me ~$1,000 to fix not counting the converter.
Then i take the motor apart, i paid ard for a freshened lq9, i got a lq4 that had never been touched after leaving the factory, probably has about 70k on it, it was running 8.5:1 compression, and 30*+ of timing throughout on just about the entire timing table. Other than that, ard was running a stock 5.7 tune, on a cammed 6.0...
But who cares right? Ard made $7,000 off me with about $1,500 of used parts. Heck, ard was probably using spare parts from previous customers cars, or their previously stock personal vehicles. Betting the parts i "paid" for went into their shop cars lol
^^^^dam.
i dont know what you did about it. but i would have definitely not let that go away without it being corrected. im not a nice guy when it comes to **** like that. happen to me once. with a trans. long time ago with similar practices rebuilder. he was no sot happy after tryin to pull a fast one on me.
see sn.
i dont know what you did about it. but i would have definitely not let that go away without it being corrected. im not a nice guy when it comes to **** like that. happen to me once. with a trans. long time ago with similar practices rebuilder. he was no sot happy after tryin to pull a fast one on me.
see sn.
Made them come out to my house and fix it, and I just discovered the motor issue a few months ago when doing heads.
The time and money it would take to make them feel the pain and suffering I went through and get my fair compensation would be disproportionate. I'd spend gobs more trying to wage that war than I would just taking it as a lesson learned. A claim over performance work would automatically put me at a disadvantage anyway.
The thing was they kept us in the dark for a month. It wasn't till last minute that they drop the bomb with the price. But none of this work was previously approved because they never called to tell us what was wrong and how much the parts were going to cost and so on. They refused to let my brother drive it until he paid for it in full even after he said you (Jay) can come with me.
i don't know how bad you needed the car back but i would've told him put whatever there was back in it and i'll take the car, you have 1 week. after that get a lawyer and take the car back legally.
I was thinking about doing that. But my brother came back from helping out withe the oil spill in LA and needed his car back. A month and a half later he did.
I have some pictures of a car ARD built and the amount of tie wraps and rigging that was done it to is unbelievable. One thing to do 1/2 par work on your personal car but the crap I seen on this car is unacceptable!!!
IIRC, a few months ago a 2010 silver camaro they built burnt up at sealy, and 3 weeks ago, it blew the trans or driveshaft, again at sealy. ive been in the LS world for only a couple years, and I have never heard anything good about them.
Hah, I probably saw him build that trans, I remember having to have my car towed back to ARD after the 4th alternator went out. He forgot to build a trans for some one and put one together in about ~30 minutes while I stood there.
I knew I was in for a rude surprise at that point, my car never ran right, then it toasted the trans. Turned out ARD used a 4L80E flex plate (they drilled the holes out so the bolts would fit), and crank spacer with a 4L60E and a 4L60E converter. It sheared off the pump splines, trashed the 'verter and cost me ~$1,000 to fix not counting the converter.
Then I take the motor apart, I paid ARD for a freshened LQ9, I got a LQ4 that had never been touched after leaving the factory, probably has about 70k on it, it was running 8.5:1 compression, and 30*+ of timing throughout on just about the entire timing table. Other than that, ARD was running a stock 5.7 tune, on a cammed 6.0...
But who cares right? ARD made $7,000 off me with about $1,500 of used parts. Heck, ARD was probably using spare parts from previous customers cars, or their previously stock personal vehicles. Betting the parts I "paid" for went into their shop cars LOL
I knew I was in for a rude surprise at that point, my car never ran right, then it toasted the trans. Turned out ARD used a 4L80E flex plate (they drilled the holes out so the bolts would fit), and crank spacer with a 4L60E and a 4L60E converter. It sheared off the pump splines, trashed the 'verter and cost me ~$1,000 to fix not counting the converter.
Then I take the motor apart, I paid ARD for a freshened LQ9, I got a LQ4 that had never been touched after leaving the factory, probably has about 70k on it, it was running 8.5:1 compression, and 30*+ of timing throughout on just about the entire timing table. Other than that, ARD was running a stock 5.7 tune, on a cammed 6.0...
But who cares right? ARD made $7,000 off me with about $1,500 of used parts. Heck, ARD was probably using spare parts from previous customers cars, or their previously stock personal vehicles. Betting the parts I "paid" for went into their shop cars LOL
Not only did he "build" an engine for me, he also "tuned" the car. He somehow managed to blow the head gaskets on the dyno.
I moved to Austin after initially getting my car back, then it fried the fuel pump wire luckily as I pulled into a parking lot. Turned out he ran bare wire back to the tank over the trans, which obviously would cook through it.
Made them come out to my house and fix it, and I just discovered the motor issue a few months ago when doing heads.
The time and money it would take to make them feel the pain and suffering I went through and get my fair compensation would be disproportionate. I'd spend gobs more trying to wage that war than I would just taking it as a lesson learned. A claim over performance work would automatically put me at a disadvantage anyway.
Made them come out to my house and fix it, and I just discovered the motor issue a few months ago when doing heads.
The time and money it would take to make them feel the pain and suffering I went through and get my fair compensation would be disproportionate. I'd spend gobs more trying to wage that war than I would just taking it as a lesson learned. A claim over performance work would automatically put me at a disadvantage anyway.
I agree man, the time and money it would take to get your money back is way out of proportion. It'd be nice if there was something that could be done that wouldn't be like putting myself or yourself or anyone over the barrel again besides turning back the hands of time.
This stuff I brought up above is just the tip of the iceberg, the stuff that is easy to recall. I know there is so much more.
Last edited by jdoyle; Oct 6, 2010 at 06:50 PM.