In article
<1163260701.376275.291620@m73g2000cwd.googlegroups.com>,

Ya gotta go 20" at least.

Yeah, cars that come with a rear window defogger standard
equipment to keep your hands warm while you're pushing it. <G>

20" run flats...    that's the shitz!

That's actually 3 different shops I've worked for, rolled into one
minor rant.  There's a shitton more stuff I could rattle off, and the
4th one was even worse, but we don't have time for that here.

The other thing about dealer vs. indie-  clientele.  Dealerships tend
to have all the 'newer' cars- stuff in for recalls and warranty work,
and also 'better kept' older cars.  The stuff their working on tends to
be better to start with, the people driving the cars tend to have the
money to pay for the repairs and, for the most part, trust you to do
the right thing.

Most people driving jalopies are the type to 'buy cheap' anyways, and
view the dealership as being 'too expensive'.  Half the time, they're
right- it IS expensive to PROPERLY fix whatever bletcherous death trap
they rode in on.  The customer might complain about the noise from the
LF brake rotor being worn into the cooling vanes, but truth of the
matter is that it probably also needs extensive brake work all around,
AND you find it needs a new master cylinder, AND a bunch of suspension
work while you're at it, before anyone in their right mind would drive
it.  The dealership will call it like they see it, in the best interest
of both parties.

Indie shops will be more willing to do stuff 'on the cheap' according
to customer request, which might mean anything from not replacing parts
that should be replaced but are still 'useable as-is', or even
down-right half-assing or Creatively Engineering a solution.  This
becomes more true when 'indie shop' starts to mean 'Ole Farmer Vesterly
down on Country Road A with a dirt floor barn and a handshake' sort of
stuff.

One of the things that I started to notice when I was working for one
of these places, is that it was all about slapping the thing back
together in a hurry and getting it out the door.  Don't bother looking
at anything else as you button it up, just do it as quickly and as
cheaply as you can.  When the other parts fail they can come back and
we can get more money on labor from that.

Screw that.  I wanted to actually fix cars, not maintain them.

The transmission shop I worked for was also an independent shop, but it
was a very very different experience.  Those guys were top notch.  Just
a contrast.

-phaeton