My 2004 Chevy Impala is out of warranty and needs some minor servicing (brakes and exhaust). I've never taken my car to Canadian Tire but there'* one close to my home with a service bay and I'm considering it. Have any of you had any experience with Canadian Tire'* auto service or heard anything about it? Should I give them a try?

If you don't mind getting dirty replacing your own brakes is a job a owner can do on his/her own. Exhaust is another thing but brakes are very doable.

no experience with Canadian tire but i have done a bunch of brakes on your type of car, and i have to agree the brakes are very easy to change and the shops seem to over charge. figure for your car replacing all four rotors and pads if you haven't already because they wear at the same rate. usually cost me about 200 for decent stuff.

and let me guess your exhaust resonator is leaking? done that too but that will require welding to the muffler.

I worked in a Canadian Tire when in university, and I buy a lot of my parts there. They are replacement artists. When you go in with a problem, they start replacing parts (at your cost) until the problem goes away, rather than doing proper diagnosis. The only time I use CTC is for E-tests.

A brake job is not difficult, but if you don't have the tools or the inclination to do it, you might be OK going to CTC since you are going in for specific work, rather than asking them to diagnose an issue. Make sure you use their premium pads and rotors, and before you commit to anything ask if there are any sales coming up on brake parts in the near future.

The exhaust is a different matter. If you go into CTC and ask them to see what is wrong with your exhaust, you will end up paying for a whole new system.

In other words, the only time you should use CTC is when you can tell them exactly what parts you want replaced, not when any diagnosis is required.

moved to it'* proper Mechanical Section. General Chat is for items that affect all platforms and "General Chat". It really helps the GearHeads, others with ownership of same/similar Models, the Forum regarding search bots, and our own internal search engine when we keep things in order. Thanx.
car has a home here in chevrolet section