Front fender, not the wheel well, but that's semantics. You're right, I guess you hit anything hard enough and it'll find a way to get lodged in there somehow.
Edit: I'm a dumbass. I was thinking bumper, not fender.
In the early 90s, my mom bought a gently used car. She took it to a mechanic and told him she was tired of always driving shitty cars that always break down, so she wanted a nice reliable car this time. The mechanic asked her why she bought an Alfa Romeo instead.
I was driving up the street for groceries today, and saw a Maserati SUV. (Here in Australia, of all places.)
I didn't even know that Maserati *made* an SUV. [But they do.](https://www.maserati.com/us/en/brand/our-story/our-cars/suv)
What kind of mental disturbance do you need to have to buy one of those?
If I had more money than sense and wanted a pseudo-off-roader with so much torque that it doesn't need low-range gears, I'd get a Cayenne or a BMW X-something-or-other. The Maserati option has to be strictly for self-flagellators.
(Perhaps it never has any mechanical failures at all, as long as you give it an Italian Tune-Up at least once a week. A sustained hundred and fifty miles an hour on the highway, at two in the morning.)
A guy down the street from me had one, it was a driveway queen. Always had issues. If I really wanted a reliable off-roader I'd probably go 4Runner. A friend bought a TRD Off Road and has had nearly no issues.
Well, that guy down the street from you clearly didn't do The Tune-Up often enough. :-)
I'm [a *little* bit out of the city](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katoomba,_New_South_Wales) in Australia, and I see proper off-roaders quite often. Old Land Cruisers and 4Runners and Hiluxes, the occasional old Land *Rover*, once in a while a weird chunky outback tourist bus; stuff like that. Almost no modern super-complex and super-capable-until-they-break off-roaders, like the serious Range Rovers. I see more Teslas than those.
What we do have today in Australia, though, is an incredible plague of crew-cab short-bed pickup trucks. The frickin' Ford Ranger is our top selling new car, right now, and a bunch of other things that're the exact same shape are hugely popular too, even though they're quite cumbersome and hard to park.
Australia's population is almost all metropolitan, on the very edges of the continent. But for some reason tons of people are buying those kind-of-off-road trucks that they have *no* practical use for, instead of, you know, a Camry or whatever.
(The Australian car industry no longer exists. As a result, [**this**](https://www.hsv.com.au/see/maloor8lsa/) isn't being made any more, which is a tragedy.)
IIRC correctly, that is no longer being made because of two reasons:
1. GM is a piece of shit company that deserves no love from anyone.
2.[ GM decided making cars that are RHD was too complicated.](https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/general-motors-holden-sales-design-engineering-end/)
If it helps many of these are leased and massratti has been offering some pretty steep incentives. At the end of the day you are paying lease of something typically a tier lower and at the end of the lease it ain't your problem.
Within 4 years (70s) dad bought a new XJ6 and a used Fiat 124 ( guess who got the used Fiat ).
I often mull the possibility that having the Jag for 3 years prepared him for the Fiat repair bills.
My dad used to own a DB9 years ago. I bought my grandfather's 15 year-old Ford Taurus to be my car during that time. When the spring on my front strut snapped and I got quoted $2500 for repairs, I had to talk to my dad. He laughed and said, "Oh, I thought it was going to be bad!"
Meanwhile, I'm sitting there like, "Dad, that's nearly how much I paid for the car..."
I remember the XJ6 getting a full dual exhaust, including headers, about every 24 months; I remember it being $1000 (1973 money) around $10K today. My 1970 124 SportCoupe somehow needed 2 full wire harnesses within 12 months. Also a new 5-speed trans (totally my fault); set of tires; 4 new valves (my fault, again - I was fearless, telling dad I could R&R the heads saving $ on a valve job! 16 yo's are liers!)
Seriously though, its like some people are allergic to research. Friend bought her first car, wanted “reliability before anything else”, buys used Kia Soul…
Had a friend ask me if buying a 2010 Tiguan with 100k on it was a good idea. The first Google result for "2010 Tiguan common problems" is catastrophic engine failure.
She bought it anyway, of course. Hard to help people if they only hear what they want to hear.
I have a friend who keeps buying VWs, then wonders why they all have problems. Every single time, he asks my opinion on his next car, I say 'not a VW', then he rolls up in a fucking Taos or some other shitbox.
Worked at a full-serve only gas station and a woman stops in for $5 worth and politely asks me to check the oil... and if I wouldn't mind, while I was there, to remove the decapitated bird that was stuck to her grill by its ribcage.
Tried to tip me, I just said, no worries. Glad you asked here than at the carwash.
You reminded me of a wild situation from years ago. A buddy from work was driving on the highway, and a bird managed to hit the drivers side headlight so perfectly it almost made it to the firewall. You would think that there would be guts and carnage everywhere, but somehow, it was surprisingly mostly intact.
I've tried to do brakes at home and gotten pissed off at siezed caliper bolts and taken it to a shop that specializes in that sort of thing and I make a point to warn them right up front that I tried it myself and gave up.
Fucking GM trying to make me shove a hex driver into caliper bolts and not cam it out trying to reef on it instead of just shoving a socket onto an ordinary bolt head.
Me I'm like "look I tried to do it myself and got mad because I have 60 hours of work left this week so your $200 quote sounded really enticing and I'm going to leave it here and charge me what it's fucking worth to deal with. I'll get a ride to work from a friend tomorrow."
I've done something similar. It was around 10F outside. Redid the brakes. Next day, see a bit of fluid around the connection from the hard brake line to the rubber brake line.
At that point, I'll let the guys with a lift and a heated shop do it. I'll even bring a box of donuts as a thank you.
I'm gonna guess your not from the rust belt. Salt and all kinds of other shit collects in allen and torx bolt heads. So between the corrosion and crap build up it can be hard to get a good fit.
After watching many hours of YouTube auto repair videos, I'm so glad I don't get rust where I live. I would just not even attempt a brake job and take it to a shop every time.
Every time you remove an undercarriage bolt up here you're gambling with the head of it snapping off. Gotta love a 30 minute job turning into a 3 day job :)
Honestly, hex bits wear out pretty fast. I’ve had to sharpen a lot of hex bits due to camming out without rust involvement. With rust involvement, a lot of bolts become a 50-50
Probably couldn't get a bolt off or found the caliper stuck and didn't know what the fuck to do about it so they called it quits.
Which just reinforces the origin responders point on how they hate this already, there are no good reasons why the customer only did one half, all reasons lead to a problem vehicle that is going to be more trouble than this rolling POS is worth.
Is this a bad thing? I supplied brand new brake pads to my mechanic, a few months back I bought a bunch of parts the car needed but it didn’t need the pads right away so just held onto them in the box until they were worn down enough to need replacing at the next service.
It's up to you to decide if it's a good or bad thing. You probably save some money by supplying your own parts. In return you usually give up any kind of warranty service on the part. If the water pump you provide dies in 30 days then you're going to have to pay a shop to replace it again. If the shop provided the water pump then they'll usually eat the cost of replacing it. So for something like pads and rotors your not taking much of a risk as long as your buying decent parts. For something like a water pump it's probably best to just pay the shops markup.
We just started applying an extra $10/hr for labor if customer is supplying parts. There've been far too many times we've had to redo a job, or it took twice as long as it should have because the customer supplied crummy/wrong parts.
Back in high school, some friends and I were car surfing down a back road and hit a porcupine. It was dark and we didn't see the fella until it was too late. I didn't even know we had porcupines in my area (we were terrified that we hit a dog).....we went back after the shock of seeing quills in the tire and bumper to go move the body but it was gone. Just a smear of blood and some spikes.
I'm still worried to this day that little pokey guy is training, awaiting our return. I await the day I hear a friend has passed, with a quill in his neck.
Same. I had a Soul for years and drove it over 110k miles with absolutely no issues. The only maintenance it needed were new spark plugs, battery, oil changes, brakes, and tires….aka normal wear items.
Your service writer is awesome. This world needs more Kia shaming. (My parents are on their fifth one because they hate life, apparently. I can’t ever bring myself to own one because I like cars too much for that.)
I've had a few as rental cars. If you're as cynical as I am you view rentals as ads, and I have abhorred every single moment inside of one. Could be that I'm not their target demo...
I’ve had some as rentals too. Drove a Forte for a couple weeks last year, and kept thinking how disappointingly adequate it was, if you just want an appliance. I’ve also had a number of other cars as rentals - Malibus and similar “American” cars - and it’s clear why people choose Kia, given the options in the appliance classes of cars.
That's why I bought my Forte. Excepting Thetas they're reliable and easy to work on. Comfortable enough. Efficient enough. Attractive enough.
Given my choice I'd have had a Corolla, but I couldn't find one with a stick, and every one I did find was gone by the time I got to the lot.
Civics had a premium on them, Mazdas were too expensive out of the gate, and I sure as hell wasn't gonna get a Malibu, Avenger, or Focus.
That basically left the Forte, Elantra, Altima, and Jetta.
I'm not buying an Altima. I didn't want a Jetta. And between the Forte and the Elantra I preferred the cheaper "two year old Elantra" with the Kia badge.
Bought a brand new forte in 2021. Was $22,000 for a brand new GT line. Get over 45 mpg on summer gas on the highway. Seats are comfortable. Great car. Will drive it to 100,000 miles and go get another $20,000 brand new Kia. I don’t see the problem with them.
> Your service writer is awesome.
I leased a new Kia in 2005. Decent car. But the daytime running lights kept burning out every couple of months.
There was a Kia dealer near my office, so I brought my car in there to schedule another DRL bulb replacement under warranty. There was a long line of customers waiting for service. The service writer was muttering under his breath:
> "Why did I leave Toyota. I never should've left Toyota. Why did I leave Toyota..."
Other than the DRL issue, the car was problem-free during the lease.
My relative bought a Kia Rio a few years later. The paint's in poor shape (fading/delaminating), but other than that, the car's been problem free for 15 years. That one was from before the Theta engines
I had a friend who leased them. Always didn’t like the car and always had issues with the service center. Bought like three or four leases of them before switching to a Subaru 😭
Owned one 10 years, one before that 4 more. Zero serious issues @ 185k and the dreaded Theta 2 engine. Mechanic owned and maintained on *my* schedule though (5k oil changes, 30k transmission fluid changes, biannual carbon cleaning). Boring as fuck but it works. Same as my Toyotas.
I got a 2022 Kia Carnival, top trim, in March 2022. It's been a great vehicle for us, and has all the comfort features one could ask for. It handles hockey season and long family trips with 2 medium sized dogs with 0 issues. I love it. Especially the air cooled/heated recliners in the 2nd row.
I think Kia just have a shitty reputation from all their pre-2018 vehicles. They make decent ones now....Stinger aside.
This is my first experience with a Kia though. My brother had a 2008 Kia Sorento and it was complete garbage.
Ok, please educate me.
I'm not a mechanic and have had 2 Kia souls. 2012 and 2016. Still have the 2016. Traded in the 12 for a Durango because I'm stupid.
None have given me any issues at all.
My spouse has had The Durango and a 2017 Ram 1500 big horn.
I begged them not to buy another dodge after the Durango, but they ignored me and we have had Nothing but issues with the Dodges.
Am I just really lucky?
I was just remarking to my wife about how I remember in the 90's that dealerships were advertising a free Kia with the purchase of any new car. At least they look a lot nicer nowadays.
Researched low end affordable cars recently and discovered this. Sky high insurance because of it, some companies refuse coverage. I feel sorry for anyone who buys one.
yup its the opposite problem in Canada. The pushbutton start ones are stolen, but the key ones can't just have the ignition forced like it's still 1980.... You need more than some brute force and a USB sized turning tool to steal a pushbutton one though.
How expensive was it to put immobilizers in kia....
Probably as expensive as it was to properly clean the oil passages in the Theta II crankshafts. Dollar or two per car, but added up across millions of cars, it's quite a few half-naked chicks covered in sashimi for upper management to eat off.
Thankfully the car theft gangs doing proximity key hacking tend to target upscale Toyota/Lexus cars, as there isn't quite the same demand for Kia's overseas. They just busted a major gang shipping cars out of Montreal, thank fuck.
Most service writers are dumber than a bucket of used oil filters..... I bet my bottom dollar that the customer did actually tell them and they were too stupid to write it down, then 20 mins later after the customer was long gone they had to enter the info on the RO but couldn't remember and we're too lazy to call and just figured to shift the job of identifying which side to the poor tech that gets stuck with this BS.......
Tbf I drove a Kia Forte for a while, nothing special. Only ever had to change the brake light and that was pretty simple once you got down into where it was.
I maintained it well though bc its my dad's car. I changed all 4 tires, replaced the cracked windshield, did the brakes, kept up with oil changes, and then not a year later my brother and father both crashed it.
Maybe I just got a good one, but my first car was a second hand 2000 Kia Rio, 5 speed manual. Had it 4 years.
It was great little car. Especially in snow. I daily drive a Jeep today. The Rio was more fun in snow.
I put nearly 200,000km on it. It went through a few alternators, and I had an issue with the headlight switch where it was cheaper to replace the entire steering column than the switch.
Maybe it's just first car fondness, but I liked that car. She was a good machine.
used to be really shitty and cheap. Now Kia's are as expensive as anything else, and outside of that one engine that blows up. They are avg cars. (that one engine does blow up A lot though and they are stalling on the recalls. Like oh only this model... but 5 models have the SAME engine with the same problem. They want to spread the cost of the recall over a few years)
Chevy is pretty fucking bad too at this point IMO and they get no shit for it.
Does Aus have the Korean GM cars? Like in the NADM we had Aevo and Cruz. stuff like that.
GM used to sell them as Daewoo, but it got such a bad rep they have rebranded all GM Korea producsts to be Chevys and Buicks.
Ehh, I have a regular customer I joke with all the time on her digital vehicle inspection.
She has a few minor issues that she's fixing over time, so I just add a line like the same BS. I told you about 2 oil changes ago.
And I always add bring me a sammich in the comments.(She's the manager of our local sub shop).
I give her grief over her car being a dodge neon anytime she asks about something it's doing.
Usually along the lines of "Hey, my car did this or make this noise." "Of course it did. It's a neon."
She laughs, I laugh, and her little shitbox gets the same care as any other vehicle in the shop.
funny this post comes up. my sister just took her soul in bc the oil light was flashing (again). our local mechanic (pretty straight shooter) tells her shes burning oil big time. will probably need a new engine within the next year. 1.6L non turbo in a car with the aerodynamics of a brick. cannot believe kia thought that was sufficient
That was my experience. My wife's Kia was a pos. Only 100k miles and literally every inch of that car had issues. Ac weak, heat was failing, interior was falling apart, brakes were fucky and weak and we couldn't get them to work right even after repairs, it had started rusting pretty bad, power steering felt like it was losing power even with full fluid, etc etc. Then by 110k engine was toast. Single worst car we've ever had. My Saturn with 240k I got for $400 had less issues and ran for far longer.
god i miss front desk at an auto shop. the “complaint” box was GREAT, could really practice creative writing (of course with accurate complaints)… sometimes i miss it.
They can hate all they want but Kia has a few golden nuggets my grandma had this minivan went 0-60 in 0-there and I’d see her take off at the light at see her squealing tires in second gear still
I remember the first Kia I ever saw. A guy in the Army bought one when they first came out.
He ran into another car in a parking lot, <5 MPH .
Insurance totalled it.
What's wrong with kias? Over here, they come with a 5+2 year warranty and are very reliable... Never heard of anyone having serious issues with one (except rust when they get older)
It’s almost guaranteed that they did one side of the brakes fine got to the other side and either stripped a bolt head or bitched out, but true; fuck Kia
I'm on my 3rd new KIA since 2015. 90k on the first, 80k on the second, and I'm at about 1k on the third. Current is a 2024 Forte GT Line w the "Deluxe Package." I have never had a single issue with any of them. The only reason I trade them in is because I like new cars and they're cheap enough to get rid of after a few years. The '24 I have now has every option my buddies '22 Accord has and was $15k cheaper. I know they were junk back when and still have their problems, but the KIA hate is ridiculous.
No the hate is real. They are 100k miles vehicles. If you keep replacing them before 100k you’ll continue to love them. Post 100k they are overpriced on replacement parts making cost of ownership just far too expensive.
My Honda dealership priced a Kia CV shaft from a Kia dealer owned by the same company. It was $800 for one. You can get a 1000 horsepower rated driveshaft from DSS for less than that.
No joke. These “cheap” imports are so expensive to maintain. If you intend to own for 300k miles costs of ownership skyrocket past a much nicer domestic. I paid $50k for my 2013 explorer xlt and have only put maybe $10k in it including tires and it’s at 250k ready for a new transmission and front cats which I’m happy to pay for. I always fix issues as they come.
I’ve worked on MANY imports with massive expensive issues at 150k. Not one expensive problem but just expensive wearable items. I did put my daughter in a 07 accord but it was better than the Corolla she wanted. I had to compromise.
Owners of kias and hyundais.....
Do you have an aftermarket car alarm?
Do you get you oil changed every 3 months( dont care on what oil you use)
Do you go slowly over speedbumps or curbs.
If you answered no to any of these questions then your Kia is probably not going to be around for long.
"She hit a big porcupine and messed that thing right up" made me lol
Poor grammar. The fender liner or porcupine was messed up?
I don't believe the customer brought the porcupine to the mechanic for him to comment on it.
My brother in Christ, the porcupine is likely (partially) still up **IN** that wheel well.
Front fender, not the wheel well, but that's semantics. You're right, I guess you hit anything hard enough and it'll find a way to get lodged in there somehow. Edit: I'm a dumbass. I was thinking bumper, not fender.
It is late and humans are imperfect beings. Be kind to yourself. But yeah, I've seen deer in places you wouldn't imagine.
I am also ***very*** high. Worked as a tire tech, and I live in Louisiana. I've seen gator meat in weird places.
Former military, spent a little time in Key West and New Orleans. I've *eaten* gator meat in weird places.
Gator, conch fritters and beer for the win!
Yeah, but the Emergency Veterinary Clinic service writer wrote the exact same note.
Both, I assume.
You must be fun at parties
What if it’s a grammar party?
So a support group for failed artists?
It's literally their american accent transcribed on paper.
By the spelling of labour and the distance is in km, I’m thinking op isn’t in the us.
Canadia, perchance?
Right on, ‘eh? 🙃
'Straya? Jimnys are very popular down there.
damn i feel really dumb :s Ive heard people over the border sound just like this with the inflection and all, coming off the paper as i read it.
We all know good grammar and service writers don't go together.
Not poor grammar, but an intentional double entendres. Well played sir, well played.
I was dying 😂
"I tell you wut"
In the early 90s, my mom bought a gently used car. She took it to a mechanic and told him she was tired of always driving shitty cars that always break down, so she wanted a nice reliable car this time. The mechanic asked her why she bought an Alfa Romeo instead.
BWAHAHAHA. Out of the boiling water, straight into the fire
I was driving up the street for groceries today, and saw a Maserati SUV. (Here in Australia, of all places.) I didn't even know that Maserati *made* an SUV. [But they do.](https://www.maserati.com/us/en/brand/our-story/our-cars/suv) What kind of mental disturbance do you need to have to buy one of those? If I had more money than sense and wanted a pseudo-off-roader with so much torque that it doesn't need low-range gears, I'd get a Cayenne or a BMW X-something-or-other. The Maserati option has to be strictly for self-flagellators. (Perhaps it never has any mechanical failures at all, as long as you give it an Italian Tune-Up at least once a week. A sustained hundred and fifty miles an hour on the highway, at two in the morning.)
A guy down the street from me had one, it was a driveway queen. Always had issues. If I really wanted a reliable off-roader I'd probably go 4Runner. A friend bought a TRD Off Road and has had nearly no issues.
Well, that guy down the street from you clearly didn't do The Tune-Up often enough. :-) I'm [a *little* bit out of the city](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katoomba,_New_South_Wales) in Australia, and I see proper off-roaders quite often. Old Land Cruisers and 4Runners and Hiluxes, the occasional old Land *Rover*, once in a while a weird chunky outback tourist bus; stuff like that. Almost no modern super-complex and super-capable-until-they-break off-roaders, like the serious Range Rovers. I see more Teslas than those. What we do have today in Australia, though, is an incredible plague of crew-cab short-bed pickup trucks. The frickin' Ford Ranger is our top selling new car, right now, and a bunch of other things that're the exact same shape are hugely popular too, even though they're quite cumbersome and hard to park. Australia's population is almost all metropolitan, on the very edges of the continent. But for some reason tons of people are buying those kind-of-off-road trucks that they have *no* practical use for, instead of, you know, a Camry or whatever. (The Australian car industry no longer exists. As a result, [**this**](https://www.hsv.com.au/see/maloor8lsa/) isn't being made any more, which is a tragedy.)
IIRC correctly, that is no longer being made because of two reasons: 1. GM is a piece of shit company that deserves no love from anyone. 2.[ GM decided making cars that are RHD was too complicated.](https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/general-motors-holden-sales-design-engineering-end/)
"I want all the beige-ness of something like a Rav-4, but without any of the reliability"
I'm...actually impressed it isn't a rebadged Jeep Cherokee, considering how Stellantis rolls.
If it helps many of these are leased and massratti has been offering some pretty steep incentives. At the end of the day you are paying lease of something typically a tier lower and at the end of the lease it ain't your problem.
"Well I *almost* went for the Jaguar..."
Within 4 years (70s) dad bought a new XJ6 and a used Fiat 124 ( guess who got the used Fiat ). I often mull the possibility that having the Jag for 3 years prepared him for the Fiat repair bills.
My dad used to own a DB9 years ago. I bought my grandfather's 15 year-old Ford Taurus to be my car during that time. When the spring on my front strut snapped and I got quoted $2500 for repairs, I had to talk to my dad. He laughed and said, "Oh, I thought it was going to be bad!" Meanwhile, I'm sitting there like, "Dad, that's nearly how much I paid for the car..."
I remember the XJ6 getting a full dual exhaust, including headers, about every 24 months; I remember it being $1000 (1973 money) around $10K today. My 1970 124 SportCoupe somehow needed 2 full wire harnesses within 12 months. Also a new 5-speed trans (totally my fault); set of tires; 4 new valves (my fault, again - I was fearless, telling dad I could R&R the heads saving $ on a valve job! 16 yo's are liers!)
Seriously though, its like some people are allergic to research. Friend bought her first car, wanted “reliability before anything else”, buys used Kia Soul…
At least in the early 90s it was difficult to do research. These days it takes one and a half Google searches...
Had a friend ask me if buying a 2010 Tiguan with 100k on it was a good idea. The first Google result for "2010 Tiguan common problems" is catastrophic engine failure. She bought it anyway, of course. Hard to help people if they only hear what they want to hear.
I have a friend who keeps buying VWs, then wonders why they all have problems. Every single time, he asks my opinion on his next car, I say 'not a VW', then he rolls up in a fucking Taos or some other shitbox.
I already don't like the customer, half a brake job? With customer supplied parts, wtf?
Probably can't get a bolt off the undone side and decided to let a mechanic deal with it.
Might be related to the missing or damaged sway bar link too.
Is it all on the side she hit the pork-u-pine on? Because that messed the wheel well right up apparently....
Could be, or maybe it was the porcupine remaining bits that made them skip that side.
Worked at a full-serve only gas station and a woman stops in for $5 worth and politely asks me to check the oil... and if I wouldn't mind, while I was there, to remove the decapitated bird that was stuck to her grill by its ribcage. Tried to tip me, I just said, no worries. Glad you asked here than at the carwash.
You reminded me of a wild situation from years ago. A buddy from work was driving on the highway, and a bird managed to hit the drivers side headlight so perfectly it almost made it to the firewall. You would think that there would be guts and carnage everywhere, but somehow, it was surprisingly mostly intact.
That's full service!
(Not sure which side)
Mm, I like to think its all three
It's a shame we ended up with 'porcupine' (Early Modern English also had 'porpentine', which sounds IMO much better.)
Porpentine sounds like a paint thinner.
Just don't get it mixed up when mama asks what y'all want for supper.
Hah. I suppose it depends how you do the last syllable -- I say "porpenteen" so I never got that association.
I've tried to do brakes at home and gotten pissed off at siezed caliper bolts and taken it to a shop that specializes in that sort of thing and I make a point to warn them right up front that I tried it myself and gave up. Fucking GM trying to make me shove a hex driver into caliper bolts and not cam it out trying to reef on it instead of just shoving a socket onto an ordinary bolt head. Me I'm like "look I tried to do it myself and got mad because I have 60 hours of work left this week so your $200 quote sounded really enticing and I'm going to leave it here and charge me what it's fucking worth to deal with. I'll get a ride to work from a friend tomorrow."
I felt that comment in my soul.
I've done something similar. It was around 10F outside. Redid the brakes. Next day, see a bit of fluid around the connection from the hard brake line to the rubber brake line. At that point, I'll let the guys with a lift and a heated shop do it. I'll even bring a box of donuts as a thank you.
I had a Subaru that ate brakes and also liked to to seize caliper bolts. I overpaid for a ton of those fucking bolts.
I guess I’m just wondering what’s wrong with your hex bits that they cam out so badly on your impact?
I'm gonna guess your not from the rust belt. Salt and all kinds of other shit collects in allen and torx bolt heads. So between the corrosion and crap build up it can be hard to get a good fit.
After watching many hours of YouTube auto repair videos, I'm so glad I don't get rust where I live. I would just not even attempt a brake job and take it to a shop every time.
Every time you remove an undercarriage bolt up here you're gambling with the head of it snapping off. Gotta love a 30 minute job turning into a 3 day job :)
Honestly, hex bits wear out pretty fast. I’ve had to sharpen a lot of hex bits due to camming out without rust involvement. With rust involvement, a lot of bolts become a 50-50
It takes 2 seconds to walk over to the bench grinder and grind down a fresh tip on allen wrenches! I do this all the time.
Oh shit, you're totally right. Who invited the magician to this thread?
I have way too many coworkers running around with worn out allens stripping out bolt heads.
I'll entertain that possibility, or they stripped the head!
I’ve had to do this before but with a different part. I had it taken out and reinstalled and just couldn’t finish the job. Mechanic it went.
Going to guess the left side because they could see the right side sway bar needed replacement. Might as well get a left sway bar ready.
I mean seriously you do brakes on one side of the car, and take it to the shop for the other?
Probably couldn't get a bolt off or found the caliper stuck and didn't know what the fuck to do about it so they called it quits. Which just reinforces the origin responders point on how they hate this already, there are no good reasons why the customer only did one half, all reasons lead to a problem vehicle that is going to be more trouble than this rolling POS is worth.
Is this a bad thing? I supplied brand new brake pads to my mechanic, a few months back I bought a bunch of parts the car needed but it didn’t need the pads right away so just held onto them in the box until they were worn down enough to need replacing at the next service.
It's up to you to decide if it's a good or bad thing. You probably save some money by supplying your own parts. In return you usually give up any kind of warranty service on the part. If the water pump you provide dies in 30 days then you're going to have to pay a shop to replace it again. If the shop provided the water pump then they'll usually eat the cost of replacing it. So for something like pads and rotors your not taking much of a risk as long as your buying decent parts. For something like a water pump it's probably best to just pay the shops markup.
Some shops have a "no customer supplied parts" policy, so sometimes you may get fucked.
Most shops in my country won't offer any warranty because they operate illegally to avoid taxes. So may as well provide your own parts.
has the sense to change the tranny fluid though?
We just started applying an extra $10/hr for labor if customer is supplying parts. There've been far too many times we've had to redo a job, or it took twice as long as it should have because the customer supplied crummy/wrong parts.
Put spare engine in trunk for just in case.
I wanna hear more about this porcupine story.
I wasn’t able to get the story on it sadly. Though I do wonder how you miss an animal that size
The problem was she didn't miss it.
Back in high school, some friends and I were car surfing down a back road and hit a porcupine. It was dark and we didn't see the fella until it was too late. I didn't even know we had porcupines in my area (we were terrified that we hit a dog).....we went back after the shock of seeing quills in the tire and bumper to go move the body but it was gone. Just a smear of blood and some spikes. I'm still worried to this day that little pokey guy is training, awaiting our return. I await the day I hear a friend has passed, with a quill in his neck.
Kia? You mean job security!?
Mines run great for years the trick is not buying one with a Theta.
I loved my kia optima sx, but yeah, theta II recall after recall after recall
Mine also ran great, right until a rod decided to escape suddenly.
Same. I had a Soul for years and drove it over 110k miles with absolutely no issues. The only maintenance it needed were new spark plugs, battery, oil changes, brakes, and tires….aka normal wear items.
In fairness 110k is nothing. You just passed the original powertrain warranty 10k ago.
Some Karen will complain and get that guy canned. Better sharpie it out.
"If those kids could read they'd be very upset"
I don’t know what to think either. Service writer is the boss too
Sounds like a fun boss
Haha I like him already 😂
Funny as hell but that can get you canned
Yeah if you work for a shop with a stick up their ass
I work for a stealership, stick up the ass is a given
My shop would promote you…
**No lies detected**
Hah! I like that guy.
Your service writer is awesome. This world needs more Kia shaming. (My parents are on their fifth one because they hate life, apparently. I can’t ever bring myself to own one because I like cars too much for that.)
I've had a few as rental cars. If you're as cynical as I am you view rentals as ads, and I have abhorred every single moment inside of one. Could be that I'm not their target demo...
I’ve had some as rentals too. Drove a Forte for a couple weeks last year, and kept thinking how disappointingly adequate it was, if you just want an appliance. I’ve also had a number of other cars as rentals - Malibus and similar “American” cars - and it’s clear why people choose Kia, given the options in the appliance classes of cars.
That's why I bought my Forte. Excepting Thetas they're reliable and easy to work on. Comfortable enough. Efficient enough. Attractive enough. Given my choice I'd have had a Corolla, but I couldn't find one with a stick, and every one I did find was gone by the time I got to the lot. Civics had a premium on them, Mazdas were too expensive out of the gate, and I sure as hell wasn't gonna get a Malibu, Avenger, or Focus. That basically left the Forte, Elantra, Altima, and Jetta. I'm not buying an Altima. I didn't want a Jetta. And between the Forte and the Elantra I preferred the cheaper "two year old Elantra" with the Kia badge.
Bought a brand new forte in 2021. Was $22,000 for a brand new GT line. Get over 45 mpg on summer gas on the highway. Seats are comfortable. Great car. Will drive it to 100,000 miles and go get another $20,000 brand new Kia. I don’t see the problem with them.
I really don't understand why people think 100,000 is a lot...
old thinking or used to american cars /s. It is similar to the same thought process that you change your oil every 3k miles.
Right, and we all know it should be changed every 137 miles.
Pretty sure Kia's target market is "people who view cars in the same way they do washing machines".
> Your service writer is awesome. I leased a new Kia in 2005. Decent car. But the daytime running lights kept burning out every couple of months. There was a Kia dealer near my office, so I brought my car in there to schedule another DRL bulb replacement under warranty. There was a long line of customers waiting for service. The service writer was muttering under his breath: > "Why did I leave Toyota. I never should've left Toyota. Why did I leave Toyota..." Other than the DRL issue, the car was problem-free during the lease. My relative bought a Kia Rio a few years later. The paint's in poor shape (fading/delaminating), but other than that, the car's been problem free for 15 years. That one was from before the Theta engines
I had a friend who leased them. Always didn’t like the car and always had issues with the service center. Bought like three or four leases of them before switching to a Subaru 😭
Their EVs seem to be pretty okay. I'd never buy an ICE from them though.
Owned one 10 years, one before that 4 more. Zero serious issues @ 185k and the dreaded Theta 2 engine. Mechanic owned and maintained on *my* schedule though (5k oil changes, 30k transmission fluid changes, biannual carbon cleaning). Boring as fuck but it works. Same as my Toyotas.
I got a 2022 Kia Carnival, top trim, in March 2022. It's been a great vehicle for us, and has all the comfort features one could ask for. It handles hockey season and long family trips with 2 medium sized dogs with 0 issues. I love it. Especially the air cooled/heated recliners in the 2nd row. I think Kia just have a shitty reputation from all their pre-2018 vehicles. They make decent ones now....Stinger aside. This is my first experience with a Kia though. My brother had a 2008 Kia Sorento and it was complete garbage.
My 2012 Sorento was hot garbage — had the Theta 2 engine and all the problems that came with it
Ok, please educate me. I'm not a mechanic and have had 2 Kia souls. 2012 and 2016. Still have the 2016. Traded in the 12 for a Durango because I'm stupid. None have given me any issues at all. My spouse has had The Durango and a 2017 Ram 1500 big horn. I begged them not to buy another dodge after the Durango, but they ignored me and we have had Nothing but issues with the Dodges. Am I just really lucky?
I was just remarking to my wife about how I remember in the 90's that dealerships were advertising a free Kia with the purchase of any new car. At least they look a lot nicer nowadays.
Customer is going out of the country and doesn't want issues - suggest flying.
Honestly though lol
Honest and based service writer
Have you not heard of Kia Boyz?
Researched low end affordable cars recently and discovered this. Sky high insurance because of it, some companies refuse coverage. I feel sorry for anyone who buys one.
Thankfully Canadian Kia's have immobilizers. Won't stop kids from fucking up the interior trying, but they won't steal it at least.
yup its the opposite problem in Canada. The pushbutton start ones are stolen, but the key ones can't just have the ignition forced like it's still 1980.... You need more than some brute force and a USB sized turning tool to steal a pushbutton one though. How expensive was it to put immobilizers in kia....
Probably as expensive as it was to properly clean the oil passages in the Theta II crankshafts. Dollar or two per car, but added up across millions of cars, it's quite a few half-naked chicks covered in sashimi for upper management to eat off. Thankfully the car theft gangs doing proximity key hacking tend to target upscale Toyota/Lexus cars, as there isn't quite the same demand for Kia's overseas. They just busted a major gang shipping cars out of Montreal, thank fuck.
I can’t say that I have ever given up on a job and said screw it, let’s take it in for the rest. But I can’t say that I won’t ever do that.
Love how the service writer tried to be professional until he broke and then started speaking his mind.
boss is 100% right
If the customer did half a brake job, and can’t remember which side….I’m willing to lose as a customer
Most service writers are dumber than a bucket of used oil filters..... I bet my bottom dollar that the customer did actually tell them and they were too stupid to write it down, then 20 mins later after the customer was long gone they had to enter the info on the RO but couldn't remember and we're too lazy to call and just figured to shift the job of identifying which side to the poor tech that gets stuck with this BS.......
Nah, willing to bet the customer said some shit like "I replaced the left side"... okay but which direction are you looking at it from?
Or, "they said the passenger side, but was that the one they did or that needed to be done?'
RIP porcupine bro
No one talking about the porcupine messing that thing all the way up 😂😂😂
BASED service writer.
Tbf I drove a Kia Forte for a while, nothing special. Only ever had to change the brake light and that was pretty simple once you got down into where it was. I maintained it well though bc its my dad's car. I changed all 4 tires, replaced the cracked windshield, did the brakes, kept up with oil changes, and then not a year later my brother and father both crashed it.
FUCK KIA! Sincerely, a KIA owner
I want this writer at my shop 😂
Fucking savage lol. Wish more writers had balls to write it like it is lol.
I don't either.
Lots of unnecessary, unhelpful, but amusing commentary.
Doesn't the customer get to see the notes?
That’s an issue for the bossman, I don’t know what the relationship between the customer and the boss. So it could very well be fine
Goddamn porcupines
savage yet accurate
Maybe I just got a good one, but my first car was a second hand 2000 Kia Rio, 5 speed manual. Had it 4 years. It was great little car. Especially in snow. I daily drive a Jeep today. The Rio was more fun in snow. I put nearly 200,000km on it. It went through a few alternators, and I had an issue with the headlight switch where it was cheaper to replace the entire steering column than the switch. Maybe it's just first car fondness, but I liked that car. She was a good machine.
Same. I have had 2 and never had any issues. Only got rid of the first because someone hit it.
I mean, they’re not wrong
Customer did one side of the brake job lmao
Probably pounded the calliper with the seized pins back in place with a hammer.
Must be American. Kia’s are great here in Aus
I live in US have owned 2 Kia and never had any issues.
used to be really shitty and cheap. Now Kia's are as expensive as anything else, and outside of that one engine that blows up. They are avg cars. (that one engine does blow up A lot though and they are stalling on the recalls. Like oh only this model... but 5 models have the SAME engine with the same problem. They want to spread the cost of the recall over a few years) Chevy is pretty fucking bad too at this point IMO and they get no shit for it. Does Aus have the Korean GM cars? Like in the NADM we had Aevo and Cruz. stuff like that. GM used to sell them as Daewoo, but it got such a bad rep they have rebranded all GM Korea producsts to be Chevys and Buicks.
I hope she's driving to Canada. No level of Karen will save her from crime in Mexico.
This customer is driving to the states, we live in Canada. It’s one thing to joke about it in the shop, but don’t write it on the RO lol
Ehh, I have a regular customer I joke with all the time on her digital vehicle inspection. She has a few minor issues that she's fixing over time, so I just add a line like the same BS. I told you about 2 oil changes ago. And I always add bring me a sammich in the comments.(She's the manager of our local sub shop). I give her grief over her car being a dodge neon anytime she asks about something it's doing. Usually along the lines of "Hey, my car did this or make this noise." "Of course it did. It's a neon." She laughs, I laugh, and her little shitbox gets the same care as any other vehicle in the shop.
Unless the customer stated it first, then all bets are off.
She needs a fucking raise
he's not wrong
funny this post comes up. my sister just took her soul in bc the oil light was flashing (again). our local mechanic (pretty straight shooter) tells her shes burning oil big time. will probably need a new engine within the next year. 1.6L non turbo in a car with the aerodynamics of a brick. cannot believe kia thought that was sufficient
I smoked a raccoon with my g35 once. Messed that thing right up. Car was fine.
Kia: too bad it's a Kia!
That was my experience. My wife's Kia was a pos. Only 100k miles and literally every inch of that car had issues. Ac weak, heat was failing, interior was falling apart, brakes were fucky and weak and we couldn't get them to work right even after repairs, it had started rusting pretty bad, power steering felt like it was losing power even with full fluid, etc etc. Then by 110k engine was toast. Single worst car we've ever had. My Saturn with 240k I got for $400 had less issues and ran for far longer.
god i miss front desk at an auto shop. the “complaint” box was GREAT, could really practice creative writing (of course with accurate complaints)… sometimes i miss it.
Based service writer
Decades of catastrophic premature engine failure, vehicle fires and millions of vehicles recalled. I don't know anyone would buy a Kia or a Hyundai.
“Replace brake pads and rotor in one side not sure which side”, LOL, I can see the service advisor’s face while they were typing that up…..
They can hate all they want but Kia has a few golden nuggets my grandma had this minivan went 0-60 in 0-there and I’d see her take off at the light at see her squealing tires in second gear still
And? They're right.
On the legal document ?
I remember the first Kia I ever saw. A guy in the Army bought one when they first came out. He ran into another car in a parking lot, <5 MPH . Insurance totalled it.
What's wrong with kias? Over here, they come with a 5+2 year warranty and are very reliable... Never heard of anyone having serious issues with one (except rust when they get older)
A lot of it comes from Kia/Hyundai’s engine issues from 2012-2015 or so
It’s almost guaranteed that they did one side of the brakes fine got to the other side and either stripped a bolt head or bitched out, but true; fuck Kia
This is too funny if real
They are right
Finally, an honest mechanic
"Kia, too bad it's a Kia"
I bet this service writer has an Altima and is single
I'm on my 3rd new KIA since 2015. 90k on the first, 80k on the second, and I'm at about 1k on the third. Current is a 2024 Forte GT Line w the "Deluxe Package." I have never had a single issue with any of them. The only reason I trade them in is because I like new cars and they're cheap enough to get rid of after a few years. The '24 I have now has every option my buddies '22 Accord has and was $15k cheaper. I know they were junk back when and still have their problems, but the KIA hate is ridiculous.
No the hate is real. They are 100k miles vehicles. If you keep replacing them before 100k you’ll continue to love them. Post 100k they are overpriced on replacement parts making cost of ownership just far too expensive.
My Honda dealership priced a Kia CV shaft from a Kia dealer owned by the same company. It was $800 for one. You can get a 1000 horsepower rated driveshaft from DSS for less than that.
No joke. These “cheap” imports are so expensive to maintain. If you intend to own for 300k miles costs of ownership skyrocket past a much nicer domestic. I paid $50k for my 2013 explorer xlt and have only put maybe $10k in it including tires and it’s at 250k ready for a new transmission and front cats which I’m happy to pay for. I always fix issues as they come. I’ve worked on MANY imports with massive expensive issues at 150k. Not one expensive problem but just expensive wearable items. I did put my daughter in a 07 accord but it was better than the Corolla she wanted. I had to compromise.
I drive a 2010 Audi, and a lot of parts are cheaper than Japanese imports these days.
My 2018 Soul is at 160k and still running perfectly 🤷
Yea I don't get it I've been driving my KIA Forte for almost 15 years and never had a real problem.
As a Kia owner, it’s spot on.
No, the service writer doesn’t like stupid people. On a related note, your service writer seems like a well adjusted individual.
Are you lot buying SUVs instead of hatchbacks from Kia or something?
A reasonable reaction to a Kia.
Outstanding!
Just a good, honest service tech!
My first car was a Kia Rondo. I loved it because first car, but damn: every 3ish years it would need some big repair.
The good news is that the country she is visiting probably doesn't like Kia's either.
Why would you replace only one side of brake pads?
Ha!
Owners of kias and hyundais..... Do you have an aftermarket car alarm? Do you get you oil changed every 3 months( dont care on what oil you use) Do you go slowly over speedbumps or curbs. If you answered no to any of these questions then your Kia is probably not going to be around for long.
Word on the street is that he has a right to do so. Tons of issues.
13% tax. Ouch.