Where to go for an honest clutch job - Page 2

zarbat007 · 05-25-2011, 05:08 PM

Is he going with Luk or Sachs clutch kit?

Luk generally costs more than Sachs kit, although both are decent brands.

540iM · 05-25-2011, 06:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zarbat007

Is he going with Luk or Sachs clutch kit?

Luk generally costs more than Sachs kit, although both are decent brands.

I found both brands for the same price on line. He's going with Sachs.

I'm also waiting for Ralph from CT to give me a quote.

zarbat007 · 05-25-2011, 07:36 PM

Strange, Luk is about $85 more than Sachs in autopartsway.ca...

http://www.autopartsway.ca/PartList..../pagenum1/tabS

Either way, can't go wrong with Sachs.

sb_600 · 05-26-2011, 09:05 AM

Glad to here 540iM

If you want to give me your name, I can try and put in a good word for you - I was there yesterday - they're doing an engine swap on a race prepped S2000 right now.

540iM · 05-26-2011, 10:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sb_600

Glad to here 540iM

If you want to give me your name, I can try and put in a good word for you - I was there yesterday - they're doing an engine swap on a race prepped S2000 right now.

Thanks Shawn!

My name is Mo. I talked to Ralph yesterday. Unfortunately, I am yet to hear back from him. He said that he'll e-mail me the quote. I'd appreciate your help!

Gota get this done soon.

540iM · 05-28-2011, 11:11 AM

Received a quote from Ralph for $1,010 + taxes. Given the proximity from my house, I'm going with CT. I'll drop the car off on Wednesday and get it back on Friday. Will let you guys know of my experience there.

Thanks for the help.

sb_600 · 05-31-2011, 09:28 AM

Glad to hear Mo!

I'm sure you won't be disapointed.

540iM · 06-03-2011, 07:19 PM

I got my car back... and I have a story to tell

I dropped the car on Wednesday and was told that the car will be ready Friday at 5:00 PM.

Ralph's service was great and so was the service at the front desk. He answered all my questions and invited me to a track day. We quickly established a great rapport. He kept me up to date as to where the stood with the car and asked me to call him directly for any future booking. He even took the time to look at my other 540i for something unrelated.

BUT...

...don't know what to make of the following.... Ralph called me before I had picked up the car and told me that the Sachs clutch they first received was not up to par and that Pete (the gentleman that worked on the car) refused to put it on the car due to its poor quality. As an alternative, the used a higher quality Sachs clutch that they later ordered and received at no extra cost to me. After picking up the car, I ran into Pete in the parking lot and asked him about the first clutch kit and why he thought it's of poor quality. Pete, had NO IDEA what I was talking about. He said that the one that initially came in was the one that he had installed.

Why would Peter deny this?
OR
Why would Ralph make something like this up?

I did tell Ralph that I will go back and tell all about the service I will receive from him...do you guys (the ones that know Ralph) that he made this up to elevate the perceived service quality?

Without the above story, the service was great, the car was done before anticipated, and Ralph seems to be a great person.

everlast · 06-03-2011, 08:03 PM

That is fracking weird.

bmwconnect · 06-03-2011, 08:08 PM

Classic lol

sb_600 · 06-03-2011, 08:09 PM

hmm... that doesn't seem like Ralph at all - I'll give him a shout and see if i can get more details for you

sb_600 · 06-03-2011, 08:19 PM

I just phoned Ralph - apparently Pete was already gone by the time you picked up the car, so you may have been talking to someone else... Either way, he said that he ordered a "white box" clutch (because you said you didn't care what quality), but the mechanic didn't want to put it in, so he ordered a better one at no extra cost.

Either way, you got a sweet clutch and it didn't cost you extra - i wouldn't complain

540iM · 06-03-2011, 09:30 PM

no no brother, I'm not complaining. Like I said, the service was great.

I'm 100% sure that I was speaking to Pete as his suit had his name on it. He is about 6.2ish, older man, glasses....and was identified by his friends.

I never said I didn't care about quality. For the guys that met me last summer, they know that I take care of my cars very well and I'm very anal about everything and anything that touches them.

In any case, I didn't want to bring this subject back to Ralph (as I didn`t know what to make of this). I wanted to maintain a good relationship with these guys...

sb_600 · 06-03-2011, 09:33 PM

no worries dude - guess it was just a misunderstanding

Ralph has always done great work for myself and all other MCOers, and I don't expect that he treats anyone else with service that is any different.

540iM · 06-03-2011, 09:37 PM

Sean, another thing I want to mention...Ralph called me as soon as the Clutch came in and told me that it was a Sachs clutch before it was installed. There was no story about a white box. He said that it was a lower quality sachs under a different name.

When I spoke to Peter he said there was never two clutches and the one he insatalled was a Sachs clutch.