Shops in Northern VA
 

I was wondering if some has a list for Cheap body shop and for work on RX8s in northern VA. Im talking abt cheap and good work who knws wat they doin ...

Cheap and good dont usually go together....

Not sure on body shops, but as far as techs, KDR in PA or PBC in Chantilly/Fairfax....

Mr Spoiler in Manassas does good work.
They installed my body kit and replaced a fender for me.
Good people

i use mr. spoiler a lot.

What about just a good general mechanic who knows RX-8s? I live in Sterling and will soon be working in Tyson's, so I'm looking for recommendations in those areas.

So far I've gone just to the dealership, which is in Fairfax (where I used to work), and the other two dealerships in the area are in Chantilly and Vienna -- none of those locations is great. Plus I'd like to break my dependence on the dealership for stuff like oil changes and routine maintenance, but I also want someone who knows these cars. Impossible dream?

IS Mr.Spoiler expensive ?? I mean i call this guy up at a local body shop for a 2 tone paint and takin out some small dents n imperfections he quoted $2500 ...

It's a dealer, but have you tried Rosenthal Tyson's Mazda/Nissan? On Rte. 7 among the other car dealers. You pass right by it on your commute. I've been very happy with them. Enough so that I'm not doing my own oil changes. They always get it done in the promised 45 minutes.

Customer lounge is kind of low rent, but it has a TV and wi-fi.

Ken

If I don't get any good non-dealer recommendations, I'll definitely give them a try when I start working out there! Thanks! :)

I stopped into Rosenthal Arlington this evening, just to pick up some rubber floor mats (damn winter!). Staff seemed nice, knowledgeable about the car and its recalls. Hopefully I'll get in there this weekend to get it looked at, as I just purchased it. Want to make sure all the recalls got done!

Bumping this thread in case anyone has some new recs...

I took my car there on the 12th, and won't be going back.

They did the oil change and safety inspection with no problem, but when they guy called to tell me my car was ready he started lecturing me about the fact that I obviously never rotate my tires because there's a lot of cupping and chopping (which I had to Google). When I said that the tires were brand new, he said, "No, they aren't, and you haven't been rotating them." That annoyed me right away -- who blatantly calls their customer a liar? -- and when I told him that the tires were two weeks old (I checked my records afterwards and it turned out they were a month old, but close enough) he said, "You replaced all four?" I said yes, and he said, "Why would you do that?" So I explained that the '8 comes with summer tires and that it snows here and that the new tires are all-seasons, and by that point I'm even more annoyed because it doesn't matter why I got new tires and the guy obviously hasn't bothered to look at them himself. Then he says "Well, the place that put the tires on didn't do an alignment, right?" And I said, "No, they did. They certainly charged me for one." (Plus I do little alignment "tests" on straight stretches of road from time to time, and everything has seemed just fine.) He kind of catches himself and says that it's very unusual to see that kind of cupping on new tires, and tells me that when I pick the car up he'll show me what he's talking about.

A couple of hours later I go to pick the car up and he says, "Go pay the cashier and when they bring your car up I'll show you what I mean about the tires." It takes 10-15 minutes to finish with the cashier because there are people ahead of me, but finally I'm done and they bring my car up . . . and there's no guy. I ask one of the other service reps if he knows where the guy went, and he says, "Oh, he went to lunch."

So at the very least their customer service sucks balls, and at the most the guy was totally lying to me about my tires -- which I looked at before I drove off, btw, and I saw nothing unusual about the wear pattern (to my untrained eye, anyway). The alignment still seems fine, and I've noticed none of the cupping "symptoms" that the websites I looked at mentioned. Not to mention I trust the place that did the tires, and I also doubt there would be serious problems with 1-month-old tires on a 10-month-old car.

(I do keep meaning to ask another place to look at the tires independently, just to be on the safe side, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.)

Misnomer,

Which all-seasons did you go with? How bad have they affected the handling (if at all)?

I need to replace my original summers and really want to avoid two sets of tires (winter/summer) since I don't have the money or storage space.

Thanks!

Stormyblu8

I have Goodyear Eagle F1s. Without the alignment, the set cost about $1000. I haven't noticed any difference in handling, but I may not be the best judge of that. :) I'll be interested to see how they do on the track this summer -- I, too, have neither the storage space nor the desire to maintain two sets of tires.

man, i've had nothing but good things to say about rosenthal arlington. but i can see why you wouldnt want to go back. personally, i would have said, "hey wait a minute fucktard, let me speak to your manager."

i've even gone there with a stripped out interior and race numbers on my car. the service advisor gave me a slightly peeved look and, "have you been having fun with your car?" i said, "no, of course not." and that was that. lol.

there are a few of us in this area, im not out that way too much, but im sure someone could check out your tires to see if the guy was full of shit. if you are ever going to be in the hyattsville/college park area, send me a pm and i'll check the tires out.

Unfortunately I'm never in Hyattsville/College Park, but thanks for the offer!

Just to clarify, I went to Rosenthal Tysons -- not Arlington. I'm really bummed that my first experience there was so bad, because they are very convenient to my office and they have a courtesy shuttle (which that day was driven way too aggressively by a man who didn't understand much English; another negative, but I made it to work so a minor one).

I'd love to get a rec for a local garage or something in Sterling/Herndon or Tysons, but for now I'm thinking that for simple oil changes I might use the Goodyear where I bought my tires (a bonus is that I get free balance and rotation at any Goodyear for the life of the tires). And for scheduled maintenance I may just go back to the dealership where I bought my car (Brown's Fairfax), even though it's no longer convenient to either work or home.

Misnomer,

Thanks for the reply. I was looking at the Bridgestone Potenza RE960AS, Michelin Pilot Sport A/S + or the Yokohama Advan W4S. Just need to get the extra cash.

Stormyblu8