Shop references

[Guest Simpson36]

I have my wife's '82 at 'the Vette Shop' in Tempe.

The shop was listed as a 'trusted shop' in Corvette Fever magazine, and the proprietor, Ken, seems to know a lot about the Corvette species.

Still, I prefer to get the opinion of people who have actually used a vendor. Has anyone had experience with this shop, good or bad, that they can share?

We would be most appreciative of any comments.

[ICULUKN]

I let ADS in chandler do ALL my work.

[BSeery]

I let ADS in chandler do ALL my work.

Problem is that ADS, Xtreme and a few others won't do squat for a Pre C4 Corvette.

I have not heard anything bad about the Vette shop.

What type of work are you getting done, what is the price and time estimates?

Maybe you can let us know how well they do.

[Guest waymirec]

Another good place for C3's is Bromley's Performance Corvette in Chandler. Doug (owner) is a really cool guy and you can usually catch him out at the Pavillions.

3738 W. Common wealth Ave. Chandler, AZ 85226

(480) 390-2652

[3,503 lbs of trouble]

I've never heard anything bad about the Vette Shoppe, then again, I've never really heard anyone say much of anything about the place. I never had any work done there. Once, right after I bought my Vette, I stopped by to check the place out. As I walked in, I was greeted by an employee, and in the office I could hear someone yelling at someone over the phone. After the yelling finally stopped, the person who had been yelling came out of the office. The employee introduced me to that person, who turned out to be Ken, the owner. Ken was suddenly nice and professional, but it was an awkward moment considering Ken probably didn't realize a potential customer had just walked in to hear his tantrum. Don't know what it was about. Don't know if that means Ken's a good guy or not. Still, it unfortunately left an impression. In all fairness, there's obviously no way the quality of his shop's work can be judged by that incident.

Another good place for C3's is Bromley's Performance Corvette in Chandler. Doug (owner) is a really cool guy and you can usually catch him out at the Pavillions.

3738 W. Common wealth Ave. Chandler, AZ 85226

(480) 390-2652

Doug was my '79 Vette's mechanic for two years. He still services my T-bird, even though I'm sure he'd much rather be working on a Vette, lol. You may want to give him a try.

[ICULUKN]

I let ADS in chandler do ALL my work.

Problem is that ADS, Xtreme and a few others won't do squat for a Pre C4 Corvette.

That is not true... there was 2 C3's there yesterday.

[ICULUKN]

I've never heard anything bad about the Vette Shoppe, then again, I've never really heard anyone say much of anything about the place. I never had any work done there. Once, right after I bought my Vette, I stopped by to check the place out. As I walked in, I was greeted by an employee, and in the office I could hear someone yelling at someone over the phone. After the yelling finally stopped, the person who had been yelling came out of the office. The employee introduced me to that person, who turned out to be Ken, the owner. Ken was suddenly nice and professional, but it was an awkward moment considering Ken probably didn't realize a potential customer had just walked in to hear his tantrum. Don't know what it was about. Don't know if that means Ken's a good guy or not. Still, it unfortunately left an impression. In all fairness, there's obviously no way the quality of his shop's work can be judged by that incident.

Another good place for C3's is Bromley's Performance Corvette in Chandler. Doug (owner) is a really cool guy and you can usually catch him out at the Pavillions.

3738 W. Common wealth Ave. Chandler, AZ 85226

(480) 390-2652

Doug was my '79 Vette's mechanic for two years. He still services my T-bird, even though I'm sure he'd much rather be working on a Vette, lol. You may want to give him a try.

I?m not sure if I would go to Bromleys. Does Bromleys employee ASC certified techs? I would think not as I was at ADS and Extreme on several occasions when he would call asking them for suggestions to complete a project. Calling the competition for suggestions on how to do work is not a sign of competency for me. I have not had ay work done there so my opinion may not count for much. Just an observation

[3,503 lbs of trouble]

I?m not sure if I would go to Bromleys. Does Bromleys employee ASC certified techs?

Doug employs himself. It's a one man operation.

I was at ADS and Extreme on several occasions when he would call asking them for suggestions to complete a project.

I know that he has some friendly connection to ADS, whether he knows a tech or knows the owner(s). He's mentioned using ADS in the past.

Calling the competition for suggestions on how to do work is not a sign of competency for me.

I can't defend this because I don't know the nature of the calls or the context, but Doug is only a phone call away, so if this was a concern all one has to do is ask him. Also, a very good customer of his is a member of this forum. Jay, or "Moshis" has had three Corvettes modified and serviced by Doug. Two '79s (including my former Vette) and an '04 Z06. If anyone wants a testimonial or to see Doug's work I'm sure Jay would be willing.

http://arizonavette.net/forums/index.php?showuser=171

Also, I'm not knocking ADS by any means because it honestly is a top notch shop, but all that overhead is probably going to come out of the customer's pocket. Just my guess.

[ICULUKN]

I?m not sure if I would go to Bromleys. Does Bromleys employee ASC certified techs?

Doug employs himself. It's a one man operation.

I was at ADS and Extreme on several occasions when he would call asking them for suggestions to complete a project.

I know that he has some friendly connection to ADS, whether he knows a tech or knows the owner(s). He's mentioned using ADS in the past.

Calling the competition for suggestions on how to do work is not a sign of competency for me.

I can't defend this because I don't know the nature of the calls or the context, but Doug is only a phone call away, so if this was a concern all one has to do is ask him. Also, a very good customer of his is a member of this forum. Jay, or "Moshis" has had three Corvettes modified and serviced by Doug. Two '79s (including my former Vette) and an '04 Z06. If anyone wants a testimonial or to see Doug's work I'm sure Jay would be willing.

http://arizonavette.net/forums/index.php?showuser=171

Also, I'm not knocking ADS by any means because it honestly is a top notch shop, but all that overhead is probably going to come out of the customer's pocket. Just my guess.

ADS charges 82.00 per hour. Which is 8 bucks less than Extreme. Not sure on Bromleys price. I have not had an experience with Bromleys but I can tell you that ADS is TOP Notch!.... You dont get to grow your business to what ADS has by being crappy.

Is Doug ASC certified? What about insurance? If Doug is calling ADS for advice why not go to the people who know is my point.

[3,503 lbs of trouble]

ADS charges 82.00 per hour. Which is 8 bucks less than Extreme. Not sure on Bromleys price.

Doug was $69.00 per hour last time I went there.

Is Doug ASC certified? What about insurance? If Doug is calling ADS for advice why not go to the people who know is my point.

I can't answer these questions because I've never asked him. If someone is a potential customer, and these are areas of concern, then all one has to do is ask him. Also, if Doug can do a job right for less, then why go elsewhere?

[NicD]

ASC certified doesn't mean everything although I would definately feel more comfortable with them. It's kind of like being MCSE certified, great on paper but a lot of them don't really KNOW and UNDERSTAND what they are doing. ADS's hourly rate may be lower, but how long does it take for them to make up for it? I won't even begin to expound on what happened to my buddy Bryce when he had his car at ADS since it's in the past.

[ICULUKN]

Nick,

I understand that Bryce go the short end of the stick on that one occassion, but who on this board can honestly say that themselves or someone they know has not gotten the shaft somewhere. Sad to say its almost par for the course in dealing with modified cars.

[Guest Simpson36]

Thanks for all the replies!

I breath a bit easier that there weren't any bad experiences posted. Usually bad news travels much faster than good news . . :-)

Can someone tell me what and where ADS is?

Our Vette came with a file of reciepts showing some work done by 'corvette city' in Denver. The invoice reccommended replacing the pinion seal.

On the drive back from Colorado, we noticed what we thought was a burning rubber smell from the right rear wheel and I thought it may have been a stuck brake, but the wheel was not hot at all. Once we got it back to AZ and I got a closer look under the car, I saw several years worth of built up oil deposits . . . basically the whole area around the diff . . including the tops of the mufflers . . was just black and in some places the crud was 1/8" thick.

I bought the pinion seal and planned to do the job myself . . eventually . . after I sorted out more pressing problems like the lack of cold start fast idle.

I found 'the Vette shop' accidentally on the web when surfing around for corvette stuff. I called and spoke to Ken about the Cross Fire injection and he seemed very knowledgeable and stated that he could run a computer scan in real time and deternime what each sensor was doing to help me track down some idle issues.

He charges $50 for this, which compares favorable with the $90 I pay to Wilhelm Automotive for similar service on my regular cars.

While I was talking to him, I mentioned the pinion seal and he quted me $80 per hour and between 1 to 1-1/2 hours to change the seal. He had no problem with me providing the seal which I had already bought. I asked him to put new bushings in the strut rods and also to check out the rest of the rear axle for us.

A nice service is that he agreed to take the car to his favorite alignment shop (about a mile from his shop) and pick it up again so that we would not have to deal with additional logistics.

His shop was pretty busy so we made an appointment a week out. You can drop the car the night before and they keep all cars locked indoors.

He phoned me the next morning and said that the pinion was leaking, but that the side seal was the main culprit and he quoted $350 to do the pinion and both side seals.

The alignment for 4 wheels is $120 (20 bucks more than Network alignment quoted). Ken says the shop he uses is expert at Vettes (I cannot recall who he said it was though)

I'd love to hear any additional comments on 'the Vette Shop' or other local shops. I'll post back my experience when I get the car (and final bill) back.

Thanks Guys!!

[ICULUKN]

ADS is on Chandler Blvd east of 1-10 and west of Kyrene on the south side of the road (around the train tracks).

I prefer Network Alignment in Gilbert (gilbert rd and guadalupe). They are tops in my book.

[BSeery]

ADS is on Chandler Blvd east of 1-10 and west of Kyrene on the south side of the road (around the train tracks).

I prefer Network Alignment in Gilbert (gilbert rd and guadalupe). They are tops in my book.

I have taken my C3 and a few other cars to Brakes Plus on Baseline and Country Club. The guy who does their alignments is a former C3 owner and the price is either $40 or $50 for a 4 wheel alignment. They do damn good work.

ADS contact info can be found by looking at our vendor page (http://arizonavette.net/links.htm)

[anmracing]

ADS is on Chandler Blvd east of 1-10 and west of Kyrene on the south side of the road (around the train tracks).

I prefer Network Alignment in Gilbert (gilbert rd and guadalupe). They are tops in my book.

Network is a good bunch of guys and I know they know their GMs. The only issue I've had with Network is when I take one of my 'oldies' there and they don't quite have the horse sense to troubleshoot an issue. That means I don't leave the shop until the work is done since I know the car's idiosyncracies.

But, there are far more people on this forum with newer cars that should be very satisfied with their work. I actually drive from No.Phx to either the Gilbert or Mesa stores for their work -

Melissa

[Togo]

i gotta put a Travis @ On The Road Again up in Miami

drove up this morning for my brake booster fix - took no time at all $150 for labor - i looked back to Joe Mach's (92ZR1Wannabe) OP about his booster and his labor cost was $120 - so i may have not got the "friend discount" but only $30 more - i'm satisfied!!!!!