Firestone Complete Auto Care

Customer Service: These guys are total cheats. They will hook you into the store with their mailers and do everything they can to not honor the deal when you get there. I dealt with some sleazy guy named ""Kris"" (yea, spelled with a 'k', don't get me started). He kept feeding me lines like ""Well the synthetic blend is great and all, but if you really want to 'take care' of your care and beat the pumps, the full synthetic blend is the way to go."" Come on! I drive a 15 year old Toyota and at over double the cost, full synthetic would do little to nothing for my car. If I was driving a Corvette, then maybe.

Speed: At a little over an hour and a half for an oil change, they move like molasses. My car sat in the parking lot for nearly 45 minutes before they even touched it. With over half of the work bays open on a Tuesday afternoon, you'd think they might be able to get me out a little quicker.

The Chain: I guess I can't blame this store for being so bad considering the chain is a bunch of liars. Do a search on Google. Their ""synthetic blend"" is a lie. At less than ten percent synthetic, fooling customers into believing that junk is anything better than normal is just plain false advertising (figured this out after I got home unfortunately).

Overall: I STRONGLY recommend trying somewhere else. The entire experience left me and my car in worse shape than when we walked in the place. There is a E-Z Lube on Artesia and Aviation that'll give you a free car wash with an oil change (usually under $25 depending on the deal). Or there is a Valvoline Oil Stop up PCH near MB that has always treated me well.

I recently took my car into this Firestone because of a knocking sound it made when turning. The service center saw me right away and diagnosed the problem in less than 20 minutes. The verdict: I needed a new rak (I know this is spelled wrong, but citysearch thinks the real spelling is an inappropriate word) and pinion to the cost of $1150. Surprised that something this serious would go out with only 40K miles, I took the car to the dealership for a second opinion. It turns out I need new front sway bar links, totally $276 in fees for diagnosis and repair.

My conclusion: maybe Firestone is not capable of accurately diagnosing a problem more complex than brakes and tires.

My advice: Make sure you get a second opinion, maybe even from the dealership.