Looking for good nissan garage

Gerry

Hi all,
My sunny has now passed the nct, but I notice that the brakes have scraped through the test. The ovality is listed as 67% and 69% for the front, and the brake effort on the rear brakes is very poor, 0.8Kn. Strangely, the handbrake has higher effort on the nearside rear wheel, 1.2Kn, looks like a fluke to me.
I reckon I should get the rear pads done at least, and possibly the front discs.

Also, the suspension travel has increased by about 20 - 30% , so I reckon the shocks could need replacement.
The results for the brakes and suspension are confirmation of what I reckoned anyway, I felt the brakes weren't working as well, and the body roll had increased.
I was wondering if anyone could recommend a garage in the dublin/kildare area, I think windsor could be a bit expensive, but I don't want to hand the car over to a cowboy either. Any help would be great, cheers.

causal

I personally would not recommend Windsor in Tallaght or Deansgrange.

[begin rant]
I dropped my wifes car into Windsor Deansgrange for a scheduled service - cost €220.
While the car was in there, I got a phone call from them saying that I needed new front pads, and rear cyclinders (fair enough I'd expected it) - but for an extra €260 - I laughed at her, and asked for a price breakdown, so she got a guy from the office who said:

€102 = €47 for 2 front brakepads + €55 labour
€158 = €70 for 2 rear cylinders + €88 labour

I said that seems very expensive, and he came back with baloney about 'authorised nissan dealer, prices would be very competitive, blah blah'. I said leave it for now I'll get back to you.

So off I went down to a local motor factors:
€30 = 2 front brakepads
€32 = 2 rear cylinders
Then I went to a backstreet garage: €75 to fit all of the above.
Giving a total of €137 compared to their €260.

So now I knew for certain the prices were exhorbitant - especially considering the car was already in their workshop and up on the ramp getting a Full Service. Anyway, I phoned them back to say I didn't want that work done - and I was told - in a very serious voice - Oh, well you'll have to sign a waiver that you didn't want the work done, the brakes can fail, etc. - ok, fair enough they're right to warn you - but she did seem surprised when I said - sure no problem.

Then I phoned my cousin (fully qualified mechanic, who works from home) - he supplied and fitted the lot for €90
Did the NCT the following week - flying colours.

Still on Windsor Deansgrange - the sales people are nice, as are the service CSRs. But, I had to bring the car back several times to get the drivers window fixed because the glue that holds the glass to the clamps had come away. Anyway, on the 4th time bringing it back I told them that either their parts or sub-standard and/or the quality of their workmanship is substandard - either way I was contacting Nissan about it. On that occasion they changed the window - never a problem since. But I have had problems with two other windows.


I also vowed never to return to Windsor in Tallaght after having to go back 4 times to get the rear brake light re-glued to the back window - it fell off, and their first 3 attempts to fix it failed - I didn't feel comfortable with their ability after that.
Their customer service was also attrocious - promising to have the 'part' in on serveral occasions, and when I arrive it's not there - apparently they had to order the special glue in :rolleyes: I think they were sniffing it. The final straw was when my wife brought the car up during her 30 min lunch break when they promised to fix it - but they said oh, it's not here yet, leave the car and you can collect it later - it was December, pissing rain and she was 7 months pregnant and they expected to walk out of there.
I also found some of their sales team quite ignorant - I was in asking questions about the Primera earlier this year - as I was walking out of the showroom I heard one of the sales guys pass a smart-ass comment.

I won't buy a Nissan again, and I won't bring a car to Windsor for a service.
Next time it's either Toyota or Honda for me.
[end rant]

causal

Gerry

I think I'll consider doing the brake pads myself, have replaced pads before with my dad on his car. I'll find a local garage to do the shocks, cheers for the input.

Paul (MN)

Hi,

I have had problems with Windsor before aswell.

I get my Primera serviced a MotorValue on Prussia Street. They are probably more expensive than a local mechanic but they have always been helpful and friendly.

RicardoSmith

I had problems with MotorValue myself...

fightin irish

Paul (MN) wrote:

Hi,

I have had problems with Windsor before aswell.

I get my Primera serviced a MotorValue on Prussia Street. They are probably more expensive than a local mechanic but they have always been helpful and friendly.

Motorvalue and a nice bunch(i suppose it depends on your experience there) They have a new Service Manager about a year, I know him as a former customer with us,(he was a ''fred in the shed'' garage) Very nice approachable guy, I could only assume he's still the same in his new role.

BrianD3

If it's a Nissan Sunny that means it's around 10 or more years old and not worth a whole lot. There's no need to go to a main Nissan stealer for this work, you will pay through the nose and it's debatable whether the quality of work will be any better than a back street garage or a kwik fit type place. Also, I have heard of Dublin main stealers actually refusing to do work on cars more than ten years old.

As for the actual problems you're having, a new set of rear brake shoes and adjustment of the rear brake mechanism and handbrake cable will likely sort both the rear brakes and the handbrake. The cylinders are probably OK as the NCT tester would probably have spotted any leaks and woudl have failed the car.

I wouldn't worry about the ovality of the front brakes too much, just get the pads and discs checked for scoring and wear etc. and replace if necessary. New shocks will make a difference to how the car feels however an older high mileage car is always going to feel a bit soggy unless you replace all springs, bushings etc. I wouldn't bother replacing the shocks unless I was really unhappy with how the car felt or if it was failing the NCT which you say it passed.

If you do decide to get the shocks kwik fit or advance pitstop will do them no problem. They'd also do front brakes but for rear drum brakes I'd be more inclined to get the work done by a good mechanic/backsteet garage as rear brakes can be a bit tricky to get right.

DublinWriter

I'd recommend Winsor Raheny - most of the guys there have been with them since they were Cahill's.

To be honest, if it's a Sunny, I wouldn't bother going to the expense of bringing it a Nissan dealer. Try and get the name of a local backstreet garage and bring it there - servicing a Sunny should be bread and butter to them.

Gerry

Yeah, I'm still not too sure how long I'm keeping the car for, am looking to get a saab 900, but it could take a while to sort that out. You are correct about the value of the car, I paid 400 quid for it

Paul (MN)

I had SERIOUS problems with Windsor Raheny and I would NEVER EVER use them again.

unkel

causal wrote:

The final straw was when my wife brought the car up during her 30 min lunch break when they promised to fix it - but they said oh, it's not here yet, leave the car and you can collect it later - it was December, pissing rain and she was 7 months pregnant and they expected to walk out of there

That's desperate

I've used Windsor Rialto for several cars in the mid - late '90s and they were fine. My cars were relatively new, so spending a bit extra on $tealer service was worth it. I wouldn't even consider going to the main dealer with an older car tbh...