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A little bit of high temperature lubricant on the contact points (Those three/four pads where the sides of the shoes sit, as well as the anchor point) can help greatly. Be sure to use the right lubricant. Regular chassis lube won’t do, as the friction heat of brakes can quickly break down the grease. You need something like Lubriplate or dedicated brake lubricant.
New hardware is always a good idea.
If the rear drums weren’t machined it’s possible that the shoe linings have become glazed, or the drum inside surface is glazed. You should resurface the drums and rotors whenever replacing the pads or shoes, as they both wear to each other, and one new part against an old worn part is often a recipe for problems.
My name’s Matt, I work at a Dodge dealer in Orange County, CA. Specialize in body electrical, HVAC, and double as a back-up brake guy when those two techs are swamped. Went to Saddleback College for years before finally jumping into the industry, and continued to go for the odd class here and there. I have all four automotive certificates from the school, as well as a Master ASE Auto Technician cert and a Chrysler Electrical Master certification. Only a couple training courses away from a Chassis Master as well. I intend on getting my L1 in the next couple years, but seeing as I do virtually no driveability work, it’s on a back-burner.
Sometimes I entertain the idea of becoming a heavy duty diesel tech, but then I think about how heavy that stuff is, and that it’s usually very dirty (Moreso than I like to deal with), and the desire passes.
My name’s Matt, I work at a Dodge dealer in Orange County, CA. Specialize in body electrical, HVAC, and double as a back-up brake guy when those two techs are swamped. Went to Saddleback College for years before finally jumping into the industry, and continued to go for the odd class here and there. I have all four automotive certificates from the school, as well as a Master ASE Auto Technician cert and a Chrysler Electrical Master certification. Only a couple training courses away from a Chassis Master as well. I intend on getting my L1 in the next couple years, but seeing as I do virtually no driveability work, it’s on a back-burner.
Sometimes I entertain the idea of becoming a heavy duty diesel tech, but then I think about how heavy that stuff is, and that it’s usually very dirty (Moreso than I like to deal with), and the desire passes.
Flat rate in and of itself is not bad, as it can be a huge motivator to get that extra couple hours or find a quicker way of doing something with the same quality result. However, with the warranty times being cut and cut and cut and all the service work drying up (Especially in the dealership), straight flat rate is anachronistic and draconian for the technicians.
Straight salary would be far better, considering the level of diagnostic ability required for modern driveability and electrical concerns, but it also has its disadvantages. For both the tech and management, the motivation to produce billable hours can drop, as the tech is getting paid no matter how long it takes. Meanwhile the customer is without their car. It also puts more pressure on the technician to adhere to company policies, some of which can be and are solely to be able to fire employees with cause so they can save on personnel costs. Clock in one minute late? That’s a write-up. Forgot to put a 3057 bulb on an RO, or just put one in for a fresh-off-the-road waiter? Termination for theft of company property. Don’t worry about that big engine job, we’ll have the new, lower paid technician we just hired finish it up.
No, the problem is systemic to management’s current view of technicians. Despite some shops and managers knowing what techs go through in order to make a living wage, most see us as a drain on profits. That’s why labor is the first to get cut in order to sell a job, shop equipment is not maintained, benefits are minimal, and raises are virtually unheard of. The current relationship of management to technician is adversarial, and unfortunately techs don’t have the resources to stand up against management, at least for the long term, unless they organize. And considering the personalities and comradeship of the techs I know, that has a snowball’s chance in hell. From my experience, most techs are fiercely individualistic and independent, and very competitive, and auto repair offers us a chance to work by ourselves.
In addition to adversarial management, there’s also the parts department, vehicle engineering, the manufacturing process, and manufacturer support to contend with. My mentor often told me that the technician is the last link of a very long chain of people, all of which have to do their jobs perfectly in order for us to get paid. If one of those people screw up, it’s our paychecks that suffer, because the vast majority of those above us are on a salary and don’t have to deal with flat rate. Sometimes we get vehicles from the factory where one of the guys on the assembly line either screwed up inadvertently, or purposely damaged something as a joke, and we have to fix it for a warranty pittance. Sometimes we know exactly what’s wrong right when the vehicle comes up the service drive, but parts are back ordered until the next apocalypse and we can’t charge the customer. Sometimes the parts guy continually orders the wrong part, either due to incompetence or an incorrect parts catalog. All these things work against us.
To me, the best solution is a hybrid pay system, with a weekly guarantee of hours. Maybe thirty-two or thirty-six hours at your full rate plus whatever else you flag, or maybe forty hours at a slightly reduced rate but if you flag higher you get your full rate, but the reduced would still be enough to live on, or at least float you until your hours got back up. Here in California we are guaranteed by law to double the prevailing minimum wage because we supply our own tools, and that’s if our flagged hours equal less than what we’d make at $16 an hour for however long we were clocked in. In my case, I have to flag 67.4 hours per fifteen day pay period in order to get my full rate of $19 per hour.
However, I don’t think getting a weekly guarantee has much of a chance, simply because the employment environment is so toxic, and most technicians aren’t willing to organize, union or otherwise. Most techs I know have too much to lose, as they have twenty or thirty years in the business and have the house payment, boat payment, alimony payment, and normal living expenses to match, and don’t want to do anything to jeopardize that. On the other hand, the young techs, who are just getting in and don’t have much to lose, don’t understand they’re being taken advantage of until it’s too late. I’m not promoting unionizing, but without a concerted effort by technicians to force not just dealer owners and management, but the manufacturers as well, to take us seriously as extremely skilled intelligent people and valuable assets to their bottom line, techs are going to continue being taken advantage of.
So that’s why, after being in this business for only four and a half years, and being filled with optimism and hope and excitement for my new job back when I was hired as an apprentice, I now loathe going into work, and actively tell our new round of apprentices to get the hell out now while they can.
Flat rate in and of itself is not bad, as it can be a huge motivator to get that extra couple hours or find a quicker way of doing something with the same quality result. However, with the warranty times being cut and cut and cut and all the service work drying up (Especially in the dealership), straight flat rate is anachronistic and draconian for the technicians.
Straight salary would be far better, considering the level of diagnostic ability required for modern driveability and electrical concerns, but it also has its disadvantages. For both the tech and management, the motivation to produce billable hours can drop, as the tech is getting paid no matter how long it takes. Meanwhile the customer is without their car. It also puts more pressure on the technician to adhere to company policies, some of which can be and are solely to be able to fire employees with cause so they can save on personnel costs. Clock in one minute late? That’s a write-up. Forgot to put a 3057 bulb on an RO, or just put one in for a fresh-off-the-road waiter? Termination for theft of company property. Don’t worry about that big engine job, we’ll have the new, lower paid technician we just hired finish it up.
No, the problem is systemic to management’s current view of technicians. Despite some shops and managers knowing what techs go through in order to make a living wage, most see us as a drain on profits. That’s why labor is the first to get cut in order to sell a job, shop equipment is not maintained, benefits are minimal, and raises are virtually unheard of. The current relationship of management to technician is adversarial, and unfortunately techs don’t have the resources to stand up against management, at least for the long term, unless they organize. And considering the personalities and comradeship of the techs I know, that has a snowball’s chance in hell. From my experience, most techs are fiercely individualistic and independent, and very competitive, and auto repair offers us a chance to work by ourselves.
In addition to adversarial management, there’s also the parts department, vehicle engineering, the manufacturing process, and manufacturer support to contend with. My mentor often told me that the technician is the last link of a very long chain of people, all of which have to do their jobs perfectly in order for us to get paid. If one of those people screw up, it’s our paychecks that suffer, because the vast majority of those above us are on a salary and don’t have to deal with flat rate. Sometimes we get vehicles from the factory where one of the guys on the assembly line either screwed up inadvertently, or purposely damaged something as a joke, and we have to fix it for a warranty pittance. Sometimes we know exactly what’s wrong right when the vehicle comes up the service drive, but parts are back ordered until the next apocalypse and we can’t charge the customer. Sometimes the parts guy continually orders the wrong part, either due to incompetence or an incorrect parts catalog. All these things work against us.
To me, the best solution is a hybrid pay system, with a weekly guarantee of hours. Maybe thirty-two or thirty-six hours at your full rate plus whatever else you flag, or maybe forty hours at a slightly reduced rate but if you flag higher you get your full rate, but the reduced would still be enough to live on, or at least float you until your hours got back up. Here in California we are guaranteed by law to double the prevailing minimum wage because we supply our own tools, and that’s if our flagged hours equal less than what we’d make at $16 an hour for however long we were clocked in. In my case, I have to flag 67.4 hours per fifteen day pay period in order to get my full rate of $19 per hour.
However, I don’t think getting a weekly guarantee has much of a chance, simply because the employment environment is so toxic, and most technicians aren’t willing to organize, union or otherwise. Most techs I know have too much to lose, as they have twenty or thirty years in the business and have the house payment, boat payment, alimony payment, and normal living expenses to match, and don’t want to do anything to jeopardize that. On the other hand, the young techs, who are just getting in and don’t have much to lose, don’t understand they’re being taken advantage of until it’s too late. I’m not promoting unionizing, but without a concerted effort by technicians to force not just dealer owners and management, but the manufacturers as well, to take us seriously as extremely skilled intelligent people and valuable assets to their bottom line, techs are going to continue being taken advantage of.
So that’s why, after being in this business for only four and a half years, and being filled with optimism and hope and excitement for my new job back when I was hired as an apprentice, I now loathe going into work, and actively tell our new round of apprentices to get the hell out now while they can.
I do body electrical at my shop, so I’m okay with a lot of stuff, but I hate Hate HATE seat adjusters, headliners, and sun roofs. Especially if the car is old, dirty, stinky, or all three. Sadly, Chrysler’s seat adjusters on the new cars are absolute junk, and the customers are complaining left and right. The new part is often just as bad or worse than the old.
Not a big fan of drum brakes. I can do them, but since I do them so rarely I get rusty and forget some procedures, or I get paranoid about pedal feel even when it’s fine.
Getting real tired of doing trim work, especially exterior trim. Just send it to the damn body shop, where those guys are trained in that sort of thing and have the right tools.
I do body electrical at my shop, so I’m okay with a lot of stuff, but I hate Hate HATE seat adjusters, headliners, and sun roofs. Especially if the car is old, dirty, stinky, or all three. Sadly, Chrysler’s seat adjusters on the new cars are absolute junk, and the customers are complaining left and right. The new part is often just as bad or worse than the old.
Not a big fan of drum brakes. I can do them, but since I do them so rarely I get rusty and forget some procedures, or I get paranoid about pedal feel even when it’s fine.
Getting real tired of doing trim work, especially exterior trim. Just send it to the damn body shop, where those guys are trained in that sort of thing and have the right tools.
6PM in Hollywood? I’d love to hit up Barney’s (Never been but have heard good things), but I think the drive up from Tustin straight from work would be a bit hairy.
I’ll see what happens, maybe it’ll be dead at the shop, like it’s been for weeks, and I can cut out early.