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Eric was/is a technician. Eric was a dealership technician, which means he has factory training on how to do it, then the experience of actually doing it. Kilmer was never a technician. He grew up with his father being a mechanic (way long ago) and after college, he managed the business. So basically he’s one of those shop owner types. Sure he’s seen it done a lot, and I’m sure has gotten his hands dirty, but it wasn’t how he made his living. I’ll just say he would not be a lead tech or foreman where I work, probably at best a used car tech at 14/hr flat rate.
No I do not like his personality, because he reminds me of many guys I worked with, who were more talk than action, but that’s besides the point. Watching his videos I see huge holes in his process. I see him do things that could cause problems. (such as you don’t spray starting fluid randomly into the air box). He often says “It’s EEEEEAAAASSSYYY, anyone could do it”. No Scotty, it’s not that easy that anyone can do it. Yeah,might be able to do some simple repairs from what you’ve learned, and as a professonal technician, I’m not threatened by people doing it themselves. In fact, I’m more likely to make money off DIY’ers. So preach on Scotty, make me some money.
There was one video where he was talking about EVAP leaks, or maybe it was a vaccuum leak,said to get a cigar and blow the smoke into the intake. If you have a leak that big you should have heard it or tested otherwise. I just couldn’t take him even comically after that.
This is where I borderlline decided to hate him. He is one of those who uses the word “rip off” when describing services I do for money because someone could just do it themselves, sometimes throws in if they have the right information. Well…. doesn’t that just about descibe 90% of businesses.
Wow 9 pages of responses!
Ok well heres my 2 cents.
Speaking strictly for all newbie DIYers, we should all really thankfully appreciate any info we are being offered FREE OF CHARGE!
If you really don’t like someone’s style of presentation well that’s just a minor difference of personal opinion.
Surely one could simply choose not to view that persons offerings ever again rather than malign him or her in any way!
This the view from the North.[quote=”northerndean” post=163018]Wow 9 pages of responses!
Ok well heres my 2 cents.
Speaking strictly for all newbie DIYers, we should all really thankfully appreciate any info we are being offered FREE OF CHARGE!
If you really don’t like someone’s style of presentation well that’s just a minor difference of personal opinion.
Surely one could simply choose not to view that persons offerings ever again rather than malign him or her in any way!
This the view from the North.[/quote]Yes I agree we should be grateful for the advice people like eric give out.
But scotty did say sees no need to buy a full set of tires, In this youtube chat I asked why de doesnt rotate back to front and front to back this was his response
ah, but that doesn’t do much, they are still on the same side with the forces on that side which wear differently from the other side. that’s why older style tires are cross rotated.
When your giving out advise which IMO seems wrong(he seems to be saying no use to rotate back to front and front to back as the one side still has more wear), I got told you should always rotate the tires.
And if you are doing DIY auto maintenance videos you should avoid giving the wrong advise.Friend this is still just Scotty’s opinion.
I do not swap my snow tires back to front each winter for a specific reason.
They are two different brands with different tread patterns
They are on a 2004 HONDA CR-V with the REAL TIME 4WHEEL DRIVE…. meaning if one or both of the front wheels break traction then the rear differential engages the rear wheels which is where I have placed the winter tires with the most aggressive (knobby) treads.
The front wheels are less aggressive (quieter) but have great sipping for the best side grip on wet surfaces.
However this is just my opinion concerning my decisions for my car in my climate.
The northerner.In my opinion most if not all of the carfix youtubers have had their moments in the plausibility department. I can see this happening for multiple reasons. One as Eric pointed out is the extra effort it takes to produce a video amidst the challenge of the repair itself. Another thing I’ve noticed is that when somebody works at a job for a long time they keep their skills polished as a function of making a living at doing only repairs. Once you’ve been away for awhile it’s just human nature to run shall we say a slightly looser ship where one might cut corners that they would never do on the job. I’ve seen it here and elsewhere. The difference with Eric, and this is one of the reasons why I can appreciate his work is that when he cuts corners he most always points it out and follows up with an explanation of what the best way is. I hope he continues to do that.
Kilmer would not last 2 days in a legitimate auto repair facility before being fired for gross incompetence. That’s a fact.
My problem with Scotty Kilmer is this. He is good for News bite style of videos. That is it. He glosses over the work required to do a job. He cannot take criticism even if its constructive. He loves to make broad generalizations about brands of cars.
Frankly the guy is nothing more then a guy who should of retired 20 years ago and can’t adapt to how the industry has changed and wants to whine and complain about everything.
I used to subscribe to the Scotty Kilmer channel, but honestly I grew very tired of the simple advice “Buy a Toyota, you won’t have that problem!”. UGH!
I agree with his rants that cars have become too complex and over-engineered (example – typical Mercedes or BMW rant video). However aren’t all cars these days? You have to change with the times and accept that, gee, engines do not have distributors with points anymore.
Scotty comes across as that retired person who has a wealth of knowledge, has time on his hands, and enjoys both ranting and bragging. None get the car fixed, and I’ll take the bus before I buy a Toyota because I have a flat tire.
I am wondering why he is wearing those sunglasses all the time, even when doing his live talks inside the house.
Does he think they make him look cool?
His he hiding his bloodshot eyes due to lack of sleep, drugs.ect?Naaa – pretty sure he has a light sensitivity issue. I recall a video in particular where he had damaged his glasses and was having a heck of a time. Part of getting older, possibly having had cataracts removed or laser eye surgery.
I used to subscribe to him but however over the time I kinda realized he has some main themes.
1. He hates modern cars. Yes yes I get it but modern electronics have done a lot of good things in helping diagnosing problems and taking some the voodoo magic out of it when trying to find that broken vacuum line that is more complex than the human ciriculatory system.
2. He hates European ( Namely German) makes
3. He cannot take constructive criticism
4. He glosses over some the more important things about doing certain repairs.I personally think he should retire. He just too bitter and salty and kinda in a way berates techs/mechanics in showing how a repair is done by making it “easy” which kinda berates the effort put in by techs.
Kilmer is strictly a backyard hack. The sad part is he seems to have a lot of what I would call “groupie” followers who will likely go about a repair the wrong way which could then lead to a botched repair or even personal injury.
These are apparently people whose mechanical knowledge is not very deep and who are simply starstruck. As an ex-boss of mine at a dealership used to say all of the time when a potential car buyer entered the lot; “Well, time to go dazzle them with some BS”.
I think the different YouTubers have different but intersecting audiences. Eric seems to have more thorough and detailed videos that are great for professionals and more advanced home mechanics.
ChrisFix has videos targeted mostly for novice home mechanics.
The problem I see with Scotty Kilmer’s videos is that he speeds through a ‘repair’ that some times are just a quick fix. His videos are not very good for those of us that don’t really know what we’re doing. I grasp the mechanical theory but don’t have much experience applying that theory. A bit problem with some of his videos is that he provides just enough info that makes it to where “you know just enough to be dangerous” as my uncle said a lot. Failing to point out risks and potential complications of a certain repair makes it too easy foe someone to get in to trouble.
I also can’t get over some of the ‘half ass’ repairs. If you’re going to teach someone to so something; teach them the proper way to do it, not the half ass temp fix way.
I may be completely wrong and off base with this, and if I am someone correct me, but I lost respect for Mr. Kilmer tonight when I saw a video he did where he did a ‘complete brake job from eBay’. He bought 100% of the parts and tools for that job on eBay.
I am in no way a mechanic/technician but I just cannot accept the fact that he put brakes from eBay on a car. When I was in high school and my uncle bought me my first car he told me something that I still believe in 100% today. He said when you have work done on your car you can always find a ‘cheap’ repair job and that you get what you pay for but NEVER have cheap work done on the brakes, steering or airbags and to always go to a reputable shop with people that specialize in those areas. Your life, and the lives of your family and friends, literally depend on that.
I just don’t see buying brakes from China or wherever on eBay as being a safe, quality repair by a professional.
From my POV and this is just my opinion.
Scotty is great for high level overviews, and usually oversimplifies a job.
ETCG gives you more of an experience as a video, he’s hands on with good experienced advice along the way.
And Chrisfix gives you the basic step-by-steps in doing a job.
But as ETC stated, doing video work while also trying to fix cars in a timely manner is pretty difficult and time consuming.
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