Looking for Recommendations for a mechanic
 

I'm looking for a good mechanic for my RX8.

My daughter was driving it when it got hit by a truck :crying: . Fortunately, she didn't get hurt :) .

There was a lot of body damage, but the body shop did an incredible job of putting it back together again.

There was some mechnical damage which the body shop had worked on by one of the local dealers here in Houston. That part was, well, not so incredible.

The body shop guy noticed a lot of vibration in it when idling while in gear, like when sitting at a red light. He took it back to the dealer, who said that there was nothing wrong.

I noticed the same vibration when I got the car back. It went back to the dealer, who said that they couldn't find anything wrong. :icon_bs:

I suspect that something in the engine or transmission supports got moved / loosened in the accident and that's what may be causing the problem, but I can't get the dealer to do anything more about it. Fortunately, the body shop has kept the claim open with the insurance company, pending resolution of this issue.

Anyways, I'm looking for a good RX 8 mechanic in the Houston area to take a look at this.

I figure that I'll need a good RX 8 mechanic eventually anyways, given the way my daughter (who seems to idolize Danica Patrick) drives my sweet little baby...

Anyone have a recommendation?

Thanks!

i'm not in the houston area. but i can assure you, all the rx8 mechanics are probably working in the dealerships.

the rx8 vibrates more than any other piston powered car i've driven. not saying your idea of a vibration is wrong. but the technicians working in the dealerships work around these cars daily. i think they would know the vibration was abnormal.

funny tho...you said it only vibrates irregularly @ idle. does it vibrate a lot when NOT idling? could be engine firing issue. could be motor mounts. who knows...maybe something as simple as a programming issue.

i'm not in the houston area. but i can assure you, all the rx8 mechanics are probably working in the dealerships.

There are lots of dealers in the Houston area. I use Jeff Haas, and I'm happy enough with them to drive 400 miles for an oil change (of course, I visit wife and family while I'm in Houston).

My wife wrecked my 8 back in October, and when we got it back the car vibrated really bad. I took it back to the dealer and there were cracks in the engine mounts. Make sure they check them. I only noticed the vibration when the car was in neutral also.

Finally Resolved!!
 

Here's the final update (or so I hope)...

I took it to another dealer yesterday. I explained what happened to the car, and told him what the first dealer did and said. I think that he didn't want to say anything bad about the first dealer, but his eye roll was priceless!

Anyways, they put the car up on the rack, and found two messed up engine mounts pretty quickly.

The insurance company was called, the adjuster looked things over, a check was written, parts were obtained and installed, and I drove it home today.

It's definitely fixed now! :icon_tup:

I'm pretty sure I know where I WILL and where I WON'T be taking it for service in the future.

whats the name of the good dealer? Nothing wrong with giving free press.

As long as naming names is OK with the moderators...
 

The dealer that was able to find and fix the vibration problem was Gillman Mazda down in Rosenberg.

This is by far the most "non-routine maintenance" kind of thing I've had to deal with, and they passed with flying colors.

Perhaps other folks haven't had good experiences with them; I'm sure we'll find out if that's the case.

OK, I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop--who is the dealership that dropped the ball and couldn't find a problem??

There is a whole "Good Guy/Bad Guy" forum for purchase experiences in the "RX-8 Classifieds" section. There's no reluctance to name names there.

MazMax off of 290 is a good independent shop, they know rotaries

The 'other' guys...
 

Best Mazda.

I don't know all of what transpired, because a lot of the communication was between Best and the body shop directly.

But they were the ones that told the body shop that that there wasn't a vibration problem, but if I thought there was a problem, it was probably because I didn't use premium gas, yadda yadda.

And the really good guys in all this were the body shop (Tanner Collision), who did a superb job with the repairs, and, believe it or not, the insurance company (State Farm), who were really easy to deal with throughout the ordeal.

BTW, does anyone have an address or phone number for Mazmax? I tried looking at yellowpages.com and googling them, with no results. (I have no idea whether we even have a phone book in the house any more...)