MooseMan3000

VIP is a New England parts and service chain, for anyone who doesn't know.

Here's the story:

I was driving on the interstate on my way to work, and I blew a tire. I pulled over quickly and put on the spare and continued on my way. I work near a VIP, so I decided to drop it off on the way and have them replace the tire. I looked at the others while I was there, decided I didn't want to go through this again, so I had them do all 4 at once.

I also needed some brake work, so I asked them about that as well. They quoted me a fair price (essentially the price of the parts plus minimal labor costs), so I said go ahead and do that as well. This all went fine, and I picked the car up at 5:45, 15 minutes before they closed.

As soon as I drove off, however, I noticed a subtle clicking noise coming from my passenger-side rear wheel. As soon as I could pull over, I got out and visibly inspected it. I didn't see anything immediately wrong, but I wanted to have it checked out. Unfortunately, by this time they were closed. I decided to bring it back first thing in the morning.

I got it in the next day before work, explained the problem, and they agreed that the noise shouldn't have been there. They brought it in, inspected it quickly, and didn't see anything wrong. I was told by the mechanic that it was "probably a piece of rust stuck in the brakes." Plausible, since the old rotors were pretty rusty before they were replaced. He told me to drive it a few more days, and if it got worse to bring it it. So I drove it for a few more days. It got worse. Now the clicking is more audible during regular driving, and extremely loud during heavy braking. I hear it during normal braking at times, too.

I brought it in this morning to have them look at it again and left it with them before coming to work. The mechanic just called me back and told me that the strut was worn out and needed to be replaced. He quoted me $575 for that. He also doesn't know why I'm hearing the clicking noise. (Huh. So if that's not causing the clicking, and it was there before, why didn't they tell me when they were inspecting the car before?)

My question, therefore, is this. What did they do to my car? While mounting the wheels, could they have put too much stress on the strut and broken it? Or while trying to clean the rust to service the brakes, could they have damaged it then?

Is it, as the mechanic tells me, a coincidence? Keep in mind, the clicking NEVER happened before I brought it to them, and it started immediately after I picked it up. There was no other driving time between then.

And if it did "just happen," why didn't they tell me anything about it before, when they were working on the brakes? Or when I brought it in the following day to ask about the clicking?

The manager is off today, and the mechanic that I talked to seems like an idiot, so I'm going to talk to them again tomorrow. What do I need to know before I go in again?

Thanks