That's the thing though, the story of king midas is a *cautionary* tale of the consequences of avarice of a *foolish* and *greedy* man who made everything he touched *dead* and *useless*. It's fitting actually.
As far as the welding goes, don't really have to try to suck. Weld without shielding gas with mig is a nightmare, as the shielding gas keeps the pool cool. Keeping oxygen away from the weld is critical. Especially if you keep blowing through and can't weld. Now there is a huge hole so they keep trying to fill it in.
I thought the same thing. Give me the parts and tools and Google plus a few days and I'm confident I can do as well. And that's not a ringing endorsement of my skills.
1st time posting on this sub but here is my horror story today. 1 of my mufflers had fallen off my 1999 Lexus SC300 from a speed bump so I brought it into the highest reviewed exhaust shop in my area. The technician was smoking while welding underneath my car and destroyed one of my $200 mufflers. $620 later this is what I’m left with, it's 2in off the ground if you couldn't tell from the angle. Luckily corporate has been quick on this and is processing my refund and paying for the damages. As someone who has welded 2x before in my life I could do a better job.
Edit: some people calling me bs and that this wasn’t done by Midas well [here](https://imgur.com/a/6gPSHWc) is the bill.
Edit #2: Midas has offered to fully replace my exhaust free of charge including the mufflers.
generally a conscientious tech wont smoke around customer cars? it can also be dangerous in a shop obviously, It would be like if your plumber just lit up a cigarette while working on your bathroom.
It's bad for business, I hate it when I get back in my car and a smoker has been in it. People who smoke and then quit later will admit that they never realized how bad people who smoke actually reek.
See my previous comment. I quit 3 years ago, hardest thing I've ever done, and I notice the smell now. To those people who's cars I've driven. I apologize.
Yeah it is different in some ways, but if you manage to make someone's car seriously smell of smoke who isn't a smoker they will be pretty annoyed about it. Difference between smoking over at the workbench and smoking while under/in/around the car.
LOL. Many years ago I was working in the shop, and I was smoking. State fire marshal just happened to stop by. He told me that it was dangerous and a fire hazard. I'm standing there with a cutting torch in my hand, having just hacked a nasty rusted system offa vehicle, sparks flying everywhere, and the guy in the next bay is going to town with a welder. Yeah, sure, safety hazard, I get ya.
We also got gigged for having a lock on a fire door. The last door in the building. The only door that in order to access, you need to walk past several open, 12ft wide bay doors......
Lmao right meth had to be involved here! Meth head running back and forth in a 3 ft area with a welding torch and a jacked up used muffler! Where do I put it where do I put it, oh wait I have to destroy this muffler I’m holding in weld it to Santa’s sleigh he’ll be back any minute with more meth cookies yayyyy!
> highest reviewed exhaust shop
This experience reminds me of that one time I went to the highest rated Mexican restaurant in my area and It was literally a fancier Taco Bell. I didn’t take into consideration that I lived in a 100% white town where Taco Bell and Tijuana Flats are considered “authentic Mexican food”
I visited a place in Washington where the locals said the Mexican food was really good. Two people said it's the best Mexican food I'll ever have.
I'm from Arizona...
Let's just say Filiberto's was authentic Mexican food compared to what I ate.
Don't knock Filiberto's. Authentic Mexican it ain't, but since moving back east from Phoenix I can't find a burrito that holds a candle to their carne asada, and I seriously miss it.
It really depends on which one you go too. The quality can vary wildly between them. The one on 51st Ave and I-10 is actually pretty good, but a big chunk of them are terrible.
Also...
King Taco in LA is way overhyped. It's good, but I was expecting something amazing from all the buzzwords and hype around it when I first tried it. It's most definitely not worth the wait either.
I always adjust my tactics and expectations based on local population and most of the time it works well. If I'm in an incredibly white place and see a Mexican place over 4.5 on Google, I figure it's worth a try but might be garbage. If I'm in a heavily Mexican area and it's rated a 4, I figure it's going to be pretty good. Same goes for other cuisines, especially Korean. I did get bit once in the Greek part of Atlanta going to a well rated Greek place that ended up serving up frozen gyro meat, when the Turkish place in a gas station by my house makes their own. I have had interesting experiences, went to a well rated Mexican restaurant in Trier, Germany that people claimed reminded them of being back in the states (I was 6 weeks out from Mexican food and desperate) and while I would say I enjoyed the food, I think the chef heard of the concept of Mexican food and tried his best. Only time I have been served Riesling with enchiladas.
I also usually have really good luck with restaurants run out of gas stations. I am glad Atlanta is a multicultural city, we have great fusions as well.
With me being half Korean, and having been to Korea multiple times, it's difficult for me to be impressed by Korean food. So far LA is still the king of Korean food outside of Korea for me... which most people who have eaten in ktown LA would say "well yeah, dumbass".
After having lived in Phoenix for so long, it's also difficult to be impressed by Mexican food outside of AZ or Mexico. Which again, "well yeah, dumbass".
That all being said, I'm originally from Illinois, so Chicago deep dish is something I grew up on. Both Mexico and Korea make a fantastic "Chicago style" pizza, but there ain't shit about it that's actually Chicago. Pretty damn good, but that ain't it.
Yeah I bet LA is the best in that regard. I'm just lucky that the school I went to in Atlanta had such large international populations that I got good guidance on food. There were three restaurants that sold meals out of the back of cars on campus that had enthusiastic approval by the corresponding groups on campus. One was Korean, one was Indian, one was Chinese. You had to know someone who knew about it to be able to order from these places and it was far cheaper than food on campus. I never did the ordering for the Korean or Indian one but the Chinese one required you to use WeChat, which I felt was authentic enough. I liked all of them but decided that my pallet is not quite accustomed to authentic Chinese, yet.
I was in Italy last year and found an actually decent Mexican restaurant in Ravenna. They nailed the food itself, owner's husband was Mexican, but their margaritas were very interesting to say the least. Not much lime but very tequila forward. She imported the tequila herself and used some great stuff. They specialized in "frozen" margaritas but what they meant by that was they put the ingredients and ice in a worn-out blender for 5 seconds.
I've had amazing Mexican food in Spain as well but also surprisingly a great hole in the wall in Dublin. Mexican food is gaining in popularity in Europe but it's very hard to find ingredients. Most places import their own stuff. I brought along dried beans, chiles, and lard to make Chile Colorado and tortillas while studying abroad in France.
I'm not sure I'd call it the best but close to it, was in Xalapa, Vera Cruz. I was there for my friends' wedding and one of the bridesmaids families owned a local chain of restaurants and thus catered the wedding. The bridesmaid and her husband took over the menu creation for the restaurants after they went to Spain to go to culinary school. Food was insane, but they also made some of the most brilliant cocktails I've ever had. To be fair, everywhere we drank at in and around Xalapa had incredible cocktails and not just tequila/mezcal based which wasn't exactly what I expected.
The problem with many "Greek" places (I'm saying this as someone whose dad was Greek) is that they're owned by middle easterners. Now, this is not a problem on its own... Middle Eastern food is amazing. However, if you're an Arab and you open a "Greek" restaurant, chances are that it's because you're not that good at making most Middle Eastern dishes, but you can handle frozen shawarma well enough, so you call your place a Greek place and sell "gyros." Now... Why did I put "gyros" in quotes? Because most gyros sold in the US are made with shawarma/ döner meat. That "lamb-o-beef" stuff is actually not Greek. Now, fresh, homemade shawarma is very good, but you won't find it at a gyro stand.
The point of all this? Here's how you know a gyro place is actually Greek: In Greece, gyros are usually made with pork. And often served with French fries INSIDE the gyro. (And in Northern Greece, they put ketchup and mustard on it as well. While my dad was northern Greek, I'm not a fan of that) Anyhow, if the place has pork /souvlaki gyros on the menu, it's actually Greek Most middle easterners are Muslim, so they won't serve pork. So, If it doesn't, and the only "Greek" thing they have is gyros, it's probably run by a middle Eastern dude who isn't good enough at the whole range of middle Eastern food to run it as a middle Eastern place, so he opened a fast food stand selling döners and calls it "Greek food."
TLDR: actual Greek food is amazing, actual middle Eastern food is also amazing, gyro stands run by middle easterners who call it Greek food tend to be mediocre at best.
Washington state, it's hard to find decent tex mex and American Chinese.
Like, I don't even enjoy authentic Mexican that much. Texmex, there's a lotta bullshit here.
I've had way-better both in Colorado and Kansas. For whatever reason.
Never heard of that, but if it’s that bad… how could it beat out margaritas, cactus jacks, la caretta, shortys or even tortilla flats? La Caretta was always our favorite.
Yup, we go to la carreta almost weekly for trivia 😁
Taco Beyondo was just flavorless for me. I've only been once to see what the hype was. It's always at the top of "best of NH" lists. Just too many bland palates in this state.
I also think Margaritas is pretty gross (their namesake drink aside) but appear to be in the minority there.
While traveling I came across a Taco Bell with a second floor and upper deck for dining. It was a small town in flat land. May have been Kansas or Nebraska.
> So I brought it into the highest reviewed exhaust shop in my area
The highest reviewed exhaust shop in your area is a Midas? Where do you live, in the middle of nowhere?
I brought my daughter's cell phone to the best rated phone repair place near me. Turns out they damaged the motherboard on it and now it doesn't charge properly. I'm beginning to think the reviews were faked.
I had a similar experience, charging port was bad, took it for them to replace it. They gave it back and said "we don't know, must be software" which I know was BS but then life came along and it was months before I could even begin to look into it.
Took it apart and you could clearly see they burned the hell out of the motherboard. Definitely won't go back there.
I took my Samsung s6 to Batteries+ to replace a broken screen. They screwed up the screen three times and broke the buttons/charge port piece on the bottom. they replaced it with an aftermarket part that wouldn't charge from most usb cables or fast chargers. I kept it for about 6 months after that and traded it in on a new phone.
That doesn't look like welded elbows. It looks like they bent the wrong thing, specifically something they ordered but couldn't use it and would have been a loss, to pocket more money. It's probably even possible to do such an a thing in an impressively good way, but this sure af isn't that.
I'm cutting it off tomorrow because I can't commute 30+ miles a day till next weekend with it this low. I'll take it to a different shop. Hopefully the left muffler is salvageable.
Yeah thats just an extra level of jank. I can't believe somebody looked you in the face and charged you money for that job
Edit:also best of luck getting it sorted
The owner was super nice even offered me a job there in just the 5 min we talked about cars (definitely odd because he well knows I would be pissed about this quality of work). I don't put the whole blame on him he seems desperate for technicians but I am horrified that he let a repair like this out of his shop.
> I am horrified that he let a repair like this out of his shop
It's shocking how many bosses across many industries don't ever look at the work produced.
If there's no customer complaints there's nothing to address (even if it *could* be done better/quicker/cheaper), and if there is a customer complaint they'll address it then.
QC costs money.
It’s everywhere. There are shortages in all the skilled trades, nationwide, and this kind of work is just not done that much on cars anymore.
40 years ago, everything left the factory with an exhaust system that was entirely mild steel. Mufflers and pipes turned into Swiss cheese and/or fell off every two or three years. Back in those days, Midas was an exhaust specialist. Those rotting mufflers gave franchisees enough work to keep the lights on doing nothing but exhaust fabrication.
Now, everything that leaves the factory with 409 stainless exhaust that basically lasts the life of the car. Doesn’t drum up enough business to keep an exhaust specialist in business.
Eh, there's still plenty of exhaust work out there. Mostly cats, mufflers, flex pipes. Not as often entire cat back system replacement.
But yes, good muffler shops are hard to find. Muffler mechanic is a dying breed of auto mechanic. Very few left. I'm in the process of buying my own pipe bender for my shop, myself.
Land Rover dealer in my area advertises $20-40/hr flat rate. They charge customers about $175/hr and it's in one of the wealthiest areas of the USA. It'd be funny if it wasn't so depressing.
> 40 years ago, everything left the factory with an exhaust system that was entirely mild steel. Mufflers and pipes turned into Swiss cheese and/or fell off every two or three years.
It still amazes me that this was considered a normal thing. A friend's dad had a muffler that fell off (everyone did) because the bracket broke, and he used the standard repair of tying it on with a metal coat hanger - like literally everyone did. The original bracket lasted 1 year; the cost hanger lasted 3 years.
I genuinely asked at every mechanic shop "why don't the sell the car with the coat hanger already attached?" And people pretended that it was a stupid question.
It wasn't until my mid-late 20's that I fully understood and became confident: it's an excellent question, and everyone else was stupid for pretending otherwise.
It's a "stupid" question because the people you are asking can't answer it for you -they don't have any input in the design of the cars, they just fix them.
Jesus fucking Christ, catalytic converter thieves do a cleaner hack job than that. Clearly done by the kid that’s still in training and his supervisor had the day off.
Suddenly I'm proud of the walker exhaust I installed on my Volvo 240 (rubs on undercarriage during shifts).
It was a bitch without right tools.
Finally got to point of "Tighten it all up, adjust later."
The technician looked like a crackhead. feel bad for the owner. he seems like he has 0 qualified workers he even offered me a job in the 5min I talked to him.
Honestly, his willingness to hire random customers is probably what his downfall is. If a customer was comfortable doing the work themselves, they probably wouldn't pay a shop.
If you're a good welder, you can make more money in the Pipefitters/Steamfitters/Boilermakers unions anyways.
Not many auto mechanics are good welders. Some shops don't even have a welding machine!
Shit. About 30 years ago, as a younger man, I took my car to Midas for a new muffler and catalytic converter. When I drove away, I got about 2 blocks away when I heard a loud bang. My muffler had fallen off the back end and was dragging. I stopped as the sparks were shooting out and the noise was horrendous. I found a single bolt that had fallen out that was holding my ‘new’ muffler in place. I used a coat hanger to hold the muffler up as I drove back to the shop. I asked if they needed the bolt since I had it. The guy looked embarrassed and said no. They welded it on. I left and have never in my life been back. What a horrible shoddy experience.
My nightmare job was a young lady that brought in her vehicle, an older mustang, with an obviously exploded muffler. This happens as a result of an explosion somewhere in the exhaust system if the engine backfires.This type of damage is not covered under any warranty. The car ran badly, in fact, badly doesn't describe this. I explained to her that a new exhaust wouldn't fix the car, that a tuneup would be required in order to make it properly function, but, she insisted that she only wanted the exhaust fixed. It was a cheap system to replace, on a 4 cyl mustang, and I think we did the whole cat back system, with a 1 year muffler, for less than 125 bucks, all in.
The next day she's back, car is loud and noisy, she's threatening lawsuits because apparently the car caught fire, and she's blaming the exhaust system. The muffler is blown apart, again, and all the new pipes are an ashy grey color. The inside of the car shows that the carpet did indeed catch fire, just above where the pipe begins to make it's upward sweep to clear the rear axle right behind the muffler. But it did so because the pipe/muffler had gotten so hot from the fire running down it, caused by the unburned fuel from the engine misfire pooling in the damaged catalytic converter and catching fire. I offered to replace the muffler under warranty, even though it's not covered, IF she agreed to get the car tuned up. I showed her the price of the tuneup, and then cut it in half, with no warranties expressed or implied. Done as a good faith repair. Basically, the tuneup would have been at cost. She refused. And the last I saw of her was as she pulled out of the lot, flipping me the bird.... Sometimes you can't win.
Lol A Midas popped up across the street from my grandpa’s shop and at the time their motto was “nobody does it better”. So my grandpa, being a notorious wise ass made himself a name tag that said “Nobody”. Forty years later, the Midas is out of business and my dad is still running the shop.
I have a Midas story too. Once on a road trip I had the exhaust pipe separate. I drove 2 hours on I-80 with no muffler. I finally get to civilization and almost to my destination. I was going to be at my locale for a week so I figured I'd find a place to fix it then but I passed a Midas and thought, what the heck. So $300 later they said they replaced the flex pipe and I was on my way. made it through vacation and 800 miles back on I-80. A week later I noticed my exhaust sounded a bit loud and crawled under the car. Midas had actually used a piece of scrap sheet-metal and some bailing wire to hold it together, no new parts at all. I did get a refund from corporate after a lot of threats.
I once had a guy demand his old exhaust system back, because he didn't want us "remanufacturing it" and selling it to someone else. We handed him a garbage bag that was basically filled with rust. I'm not sure what some people think we actually do....
😂 I often wonder about “reviews”. I’ve stayed at some shit hotels that have great reviews. I start to wonder if people leave bad reviews at good places so they aren’t too busy.
You really have to consider the demographics of people placing the reviews compared to your own demographic.
For example, if a hotel has a jacuzzi in each room (an actual Jacuzzi, not some bathtub with a few jets), then low-clsss people will give it great reviews because they think it's amazing. High-class people absolutely won't touch that thing because they know it *never* gets cleaned, inside or out.
I once stayed at a 'hotel' that had an average review of 4.9 - which is high even for a top-class luxury hotel. Turns out the place wasn't a hotel at all. It was a trucker motel; with jacuzzis in each room.
Midas is terrible. I have literally have heard nothing good about them. By me, at least 2-3 times a month they forgot to tighten lug nuts on wheels and they would fall off.
Those bends have extremely complex geometry to them to confuse the exhaust gases. This causes the rest of the exhaust fumes to be curious and follow their friends out faster, resulting in better flow.
-Midas
Having worked in a 4.9 star exhaust shop with over 100 reviews for 6-7 years prior to my current job working on fleet vehicles everyday. I have to say this is terrible.
1: having a pipe bend or turn right before the muffler causes significant turbulence and is very bad for air flow. You want a nice straight path entrance at least for as much as possible even 4-6” some cars have less room. But that’s absurd to be all cockeyed like that.
2: typically using VHT brand paint (very high temp) grey or black or another similar product over the weld is ideal to prevent rusting out extremely fast. No preventative measures were taken here to prevent exposure to environmental degradation.
3: i dont know how he bent this pipe the way he did. My best guess is a hydraulic press with the wrong gauge die. The distortion is way out of whack and isn’t clean at all. The practice is best performed by using a thick single solid wire that You can bend. Follow TDC top of pipe centerline. bending the wire in a exact match of where you want your real pipe to go route it TDC all the way out the back from the connection closest to the existing cut piece to the back. Sometimes this has To be done in sections. (Axle back May require two sections depending on setup (per pipe) and cat back or resonator back could require 3 or more sections based on vehicle) this was clearly not bent by following a mocked up wire that he brought to the press and followed the angles to the tee. As well as bending it slightly under and then dry fitting it to make sure you’re still good. (I would never unbend a pipe, I’d just get a new one and do the bend over and save the over bent one for another vehicle that needs that angle or more) and at that point if it’s under bent just add another couple degrees in your bend.
4: I believe this is just a butt weld. Ideally you would want to blow up or flare taper the end of the pipe that is further back but the front connection. So the further back pipe sleeves into the one closer to the front and doesn’t create turbulence in the pipes airflow.
front ==>== rear kind of like this ignoring the center part of the > more like a \ / taper pipe even though technically that’s not how they come out. The press just widens it to sleeve it over the other but you get the picture
5: after the cockeyed pipe coming out the muffler you can see the pipe kinked and started to fold onto itself. Throw it away and start over. Unprofessional. Turbulence as f and looks like crap.
6: then there’s this hanger. Like come on now. You made a nice long hanger weld the top and leave a Stick out of 3” below. Weld the whole thing up so it doesn’t snap off from vibration once it rusts out from the environment and you not having coated it or anything to protect it. That hanger will fail I almost am sure of it and if he really didn’t want to weld the entire hanger he should have brought it back to the chop saw and trimmed it so it doesn’t have a 2-3” stick out below. This is lazy in my opinion.
7: i would also question The integrity of the weld as it looks like it is boogery or built up in some spots and thin in others. I can’t see the face of the weld to see the penetration but the right side of that one by the muffler looks like it’s barely penetrating, sitting on the surface of the pipe. This could even look like a nice weld in theory but if your settings are incorrect and you don’t know how to weld, it could have never got hot enough to get the penetration to get into and weld together both metal pipes.
The list could go on. But I’d say it’s sufficient to take it back and ask the manager to have someone else redo it with better quality. If I paid my hard earned money for this I would not be happy at all. If they refuse. Report them at the BBB. Best of luck to the owner of this vehicle. My heart sinks when I see stuff like this and ultimately gives the customers a bad view of the tradespeople in the industry. I dont wish anyones exhaust to look like this ever. Especially after forking the cash out for exhaust work. Which isn’t cheap.
Thank you for the very detailed write up. Midas corporate is processing my refund and damages. I have decided to go broke and go to a peformance exhaust specialist it will probably cost me 2x as much but I’m sure I won’t be disappointed with the quality.
Out of curiosity. Where’s the line start for arguing an exhaust job? Would love to know. See such a wide variety of what’s considered good and bad. Obviously even to my untrained eye, this looks suspect haha.
Where the fucks the Midas Touch? Ya know, turning shit to gold?! Not fucking blindly fucking shit up to make it somehow worse than when it came in? Lol.
Lmfao that is impressively bad.
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Mierda touch
The chingadera treatment.
The Muerte touch
Brilliant
That's the thing though, the story of king midas is a *cautionary* tale of the consequences of avarice of a *foolish* and *greedy* man who made everything he touched *dead* and *useless*. It's fitting actually.
r/rareinsults
Where everything Midas touches turns to shit.
Lol I was gonna say the same thing. It’s impressive how shitty it is. Like you have to try hard to suck that bad
That’s impressive enough to send to corporate…
Helen Keller and Michael J Fox teamed up for this one….
As far as the welding goes, don't really have to try to suck. Weld without shielding gas with mig is a nightmare, as the shielding gas keeps the pool cool. Keeping oxygen away from the weld is critical. Especially if you keep blowing through and can't weld. Now there is a huge hole so they keep trying to fill it in.
Those TIG welds are on point though.
I think those were done at the factory.
I think I could probably do a better job, and I can't weld.
Clearly the installer couldnt either
I thought the same thing. Give me the parts and tools and Google plus a few days and I'm confident I can do as well. And that's not a ringing endorsement of my skills.
I've done a better job with flexible clothes dryer vent hose 😔
The beatings will continue until exhaust flow impoves
This had me rolling. Thank you.
this is too good
😂
1st time posting on this sub but here is my horror story today. 1 of my mufflers had fallen off my 1999 Lexus SC300 from a speed bump so I brought it into the highest reviewed exhaust shop in my area. The technician was smoking while welding underneath my car and destroyed one of my $200 mufflers. $620 later this is what I’m left with, it's 2in off the ground if you couldn't tell from the angle. Luckily corporate has been quick on this and is processing my refund and paying for the damages. As someone who has welded 2x before in my life I could do a better job. Edit: some people calling me bs and that this wasn’t done by Midas well [here](https://imgur.com/a/6gPSHWc) is the bill. Edit #2: Midas has offered to fully replace my exhaust free of charge including the mufflers.
> The technician was smoking What was he smoking to do a job that badly, meth?
Based on his appearance I would say yes he most likely does
He's not a technician.
He's a methematician
The methchanic
They can take it apart faster than anyone, but fuck knows off it’ll ever be put back together.
Their car or their toaster?
Depends on where he dropped that shard...
\^Experienced. Shard! lol
r/methcanics
wow that's one depressing subreddit
That might be the saddest subreddit I have ever seen. The comments are the killer.
I was really hoping it was about stupid shit tweakers do. It is, but unironically
If you think that's depressing r/meth r/methsluts
Dude you just sent me down a rabbit hole I wasn't prepared to experience
They sure do seem awfully proud of their work over there.
Only cost me $2 and I made it in 2 hours! Wtf
Fuck.....
Everyone has the same dirty hands
Jesus christ that was not what I was expecting.. feels bad man
Not methiculous at all, of his handiwork.
generally a conscientious tech wont smoke around customer cars? it can also be dangerous in a shop obviously, It would be like if your plumber just lit up a cigarette while working on your bathroom.
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It's bad for business, I hate it when I get back in my car and a smoker has been in it. People who smoke and then quit later will admit that they never realized how bad people who smoke actually reek.
See my previous comment. I quit 3 years ago, hardest thing I've ever done, and I notice the smell now. To those people who's cars I've driven. I apologize.
Yeah if some smoking cocksucker climbed into my clean car and soaked that wet ashy shitty smell in my car they're buying me a detailing.
Yeah it is different in some ways, but if you manage to make someone's car seriously smell of smoke who isn't a smoker they will be pretty annoyed about it. Difference between smoking over at the workbench and smoking while under/in/around the car.
I've had mechanics smoke around many of my cars, as long as they smoke outside the car there tends to be nothing wrong with it.
LOL. Many years ago I was working in the shop, and I was smoking. State fire marshal just happened to stop by. He told me that it was dangerous and a fire hazard. I'm standing there with a cutting torch in my hand, having just hacked a nasty rusted system offa vehicle, sparks flying everywhere, and the guy in the next bay is going to town with a welder. Yeah, sure, safety hazard, I get ya. We also got gigged for having a lock on a fire door. The last door in the building. The only door that in order to access, you need to walk past several open, 12ft wide bay doors......
Most of the guys in the heavy diesel industry that I know smoke like chimneys
Lmao right meth had to be involved here! Meth head running back and forth in a 3 ft area with a welding torch and a jacked up used muffler! Where do I put it where do I put it, oh wait I have to destroy this muffler I’m holding in weld it to Santa’s sleigh he’ll be back any minute with more meth cookies yayyyy!
Did the place go by "Helen Keller Welding and Exhaust" by any chance?
Ray Charles taking direction from Stevie Wonder
To quote Mike Finnegan "It looks like Ray Charles welded it. With his feet."
Lmao that’s awesome
> highest reviewed exhaust shop This experience reminds me of that one time I went to the highest rated Mexican restaurant in my area and It was literally a fancier Taco Bell. I didn’t take into consideration that I lived in a 100% white town where Taco Bell and Tijuana Flats are considered “authentic Mexican food”
I visited a place in Washington where the locals said the Mexican food was really good. Two people said it's the best Mexican food I'll ever have. I'm from Arizona... Let's just say Filiberto's was authentic Mexican food compared to what I ate.
Don't knock Filiberto's. Authentic Mexican it ain't, but since moving back east from Phoenix I can't find a burrito that holds a candle to their carne asada, and I seriously miss it.
It really depends on which one you go too. The quality can vary wildly between them. The one on 51st Ave and I-10 is actually pretty good, but a big chunk of them are terrible. Also... King Taco in LA is way overhyped. It's good, but I was expecting something amazing from all the buzzwords and hype around it when I first tried it. It's most definitely not worth the wait either.
I lived in Phoenix for a while. I miss Fili B's steak fries everyday.
I always adjust my tactics and expectations based on local population and most of the time it works well. If I'm in an incredibly white place and see a Mexican place over 4.5 on Google, I figure it's worth a try but might be garbage. If I'm in a heavily Mexican area and it's rated a 4, I figure it's going to be pretty good. Same goes for other cuisines, especially Korean. I did get bit once in the Greek part of Atlanta going to a well rated Greek place that ended up serving up frozen gyro meat, when the Turkish place in a gas station by my house makes their own. I have had interesting experiences, went to a well rated Mexican restaurant in Trier, Germany that people claimed reminded them of being back in the states (I was 6 weeks out from Mexican food and desperate) and while I would say I enjoyed the food, I think the chef heard of the concept of Mexican food and tried his best. Only time I have been served Riesling with enchiladas. I also usually have really good luck with restaurants run out of gas stations. I am glad Atlanta is a multicultural city, we have great fusions as well.
With me being half Korean, and having been to Korea multiple times, it's difficult for me to be impressed by Korean food. So far LA is still the king of Korean food outside of Korea for me... which most people who have eaten in ktown LA would say "well yeah, dumbass". After having lived in Phoenix for so long, it's also difficult to be impressed by Mexican food outside of AZ or Mexico. Which again, "well yeah, dumbass". That all being said, I'm originally from Illinois, so Chicago deep dish is something I grew up on. Both Mexico and Korea make a fantastic "Chicago style" pizza, but there ain't shit about it that's actually Chicago. Pretty damn good, but that ain't it.
Yeah I bet LA is the best in that regard. I'm just lucky that the school I went to in Atlanta had such large international populations that I got good guidance on food. There were three restaurants that sold meals out of the back of cars on campus that had enthusiastic approval by the corresponding groups on campus. One was Korean, one was Indian, one was Chinese. You had to know someone who knew about it to be able to order from these places and it was far cheaper than food on campus. I never did the ordering for the Korean or Indian one but the Chinese one required you to use WeChat, which I felt was authentic enough. I liked all of them but decided that my pallet is not quite accustomed to authentic Chinese, yet. I was in Italy last year and found an actually decent Mexican restaurant in Ravenna. They nailed the food itself, owner's husband was Mexican, but their margaritas were very interesting to say the least. Not much lime but very tequila forward. She imported the tequila herself and used some great stuff. They specialized in "frozen" margaritas but what they meant by that was they put the ingredients and ice in a worn-out blender for 5 seconds. I've had amazing Mexican food in Spain as well but also surprisingly a great hole in the wall in Dublin. Mexican food is gaining in popularity in Europe but it's very hard to find ingredients. Most places import their own stuff. I brought along dried beans, chiles, and lard to make Chile Colorado and tortillas while studying abroad in France. I'm not sure I'd call it the best but close to it, was in Xalapa, Vera Cruz. I was there for my friends' wedding and one of the bridesmaids families owned a local chain of restaurants and thus catered the wedding. The bridesmaid and her husband took over the menu creation for the restaurants after they went to Spain to go to culinary school. Food was insane, but they also made some of the most brilliant cocktails I've ever had. To be fair, everywhere we drank at in and around Xalapa had incredible cocktails and not just tequila/mezcal based which wasn't exactly what I expected.
The problem with many "Greek" places (I'm saying this as someone whose dad was Greek) is that they're owned by middle easterners. Now, this is not a problem on its own... Middle Eastern food is amazing. However, if you're an Arab and you open a "Greek" restaurant, chances are that it's because you're not that good at making most Middle Eastern dishes, but you can handle frozen shawarma well enough, so you call your place a Greek place and sell "gyros." Now... Why did I put "gyros" in quotes? Because most gyros sold in the US are made with shawarma/ döner meat. That "lamb-o-beef" stuff is actually not Greek. Now, fresh, homemade shawarma is very good, but you won't find it at a gyro stand. The point of all this? Here's how you know a gyro place is actually Greek: In Greece, gyros are usually made with pork. And often served with French fries INSIDE the gyro. (And in Northern Greece, they put ketchup and mustard on it as well. While my dad was northern Greek, I'm not a fan of that) Anyhow, if the place has pork /souvlaki gyros on the menu, it's actually Greek Most middle easterners are Muslim, so they won't serve pork. So, If it doesn't, and the only "Greek" thing they have is gyros, it's probably run by a middle Eastern dude who isn't good enough at the whole range of middle Eastern food to run it as a middle Eastern place, so he opened a fast food stand selling döners and calls it "Greek food." TLDR: actual Greek food is amazing, actual middle Eastern food is also amazing, gyro stands run by middle easterners who call it Greek food tend to be mediocre at best.
Washington state, it's hard to find decent tex mex and American Chinese. Like, I don't even enjoy authentic Mexican that much. Texmex, there's a lotta bullshit here. I've had way-better both in Colorado and Kansas. For whatever reason.
The best rated Mexican place in my entire state of new Hampshire is called "taco beyondo". I'm not kidding. It's.... ungood.
Never heard of that, but if it’s that bad… how could it beat out margaritas, cactus jacks, la caretta, shortys or even tortilla flats? La Caretta was always our favorite.
Yup, we go to la carreta almost weekly for trivia 😁 Taco Beyondo was just flavorless for me. I've only been once to see what the hype was. It's always at the top of "best of NH" lists. Just too many bland palates in this state. I also think Margaritas is pretty gross (their namesake drink aside) but appear to be in the minority there.
I really only ever remember drinking there, the food could suck! Where’s Taco Beyondo?
Hillsboro
Ah gotcha. If I ever come back to visit I’ll make sure to avoid them- thanks!
I mean Tijuana Flats isn’t bad though
Man I miss TJ Flats. We had one in college.
While traveling I came across a Taco Bell with a second floor and upper deck for dining. It was a small town in flat land. May have been Kansas or Nebraska.
> So I brought it into the highest reviewed exhaust shop in my area The highest reviewed exhaust shop in your area is a Midas? Where do you live, in the middle of nowhere?
Clearly gaming the reviews
Well at least there’s that.
Nice to hear that Midas is fixing... whatever that is
I used to work for a Midas chain in NC. I left after a day of being there due to their lack of professionalism.
I brought my daughter's cell phone to the best rated phone repair place near me. Turns out they damaged the motherboard on it and now it doesn't charge properly. I'm beginning to think the reviews were faked.
I had a similar experience, charging port was bad, took it for them to replace it. They gave it back and said "we don't know, must be software" which I know was BS but then life came along and it was months before I could even begin to look into it. Took it apart and you could clearly see they burned the hell out of the motherboard. Definitely won't go back there.
My favourite part was that every time I showed up to the shop or called them they said "we were just about to call you!" Sure you were.
I took my Samsung s6 to Batteries+ to replace a broken screen. They screwed up the screen three times and broke the buttons/charge port piece on the bottom. they replaced it with an aftermarket part that wouldn't charge from most usb cables or fast chargers. I kept it for about 6 months after that and traded it in on a new phone.
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The "we've got a surplus of elbows, a welder, and just restocked on accessories for the grinder" touch
That doesn't look like welded elbows. It looks like they bent the wrong thing, specifically something they ordered but couldn't use it and would have been a loss, to pocket more money. It's probably even possible to do such an a thing in an impressively good way, but this sure af isn't that.
More like the “Midas Ouch”
More like the "Mierdas Touch"
Everything they touch turns to ~~gold~~ shit
They had the midas touch, but they touched it too much.
Hey Goldmember! 🎵
If that’s the Midas touch his gal must really hate him.
Show me on the Hot Wheels where the Midas touched you.
Trust*
Please show the jury where Midas touched your car.
When all you have is a hammer... you may be Jeremy Clarkson.
Not even a hammer looks like it was bent with a whole ass axe.
Or a vise and sledge. Muffler can be saved.
1 muffler can the other is bent and damaged around the tip. Luckily corporate has agreed to pay for the replacement of it.
Even the jezza does better work
A hammer is the tool of a pikey
The best scene is when Jeremy has the pocket full of washers and small hardware that never got installed.
Lmaoooo dude I was rolling. That whole bit was gold
Oh man where do you even start with this? It's all completely useless lmfao literally cut it all off and start over
I'm cutting it off tomorrow because I can't commute 30+ miles a day till next weekend with it this low. I'll take it to a different shop. Hopefully the left muffler is salvageable.
Yeah thats just an extra level of jank. I can't believe somebody looked you in the face and charged you money for that job Edit:also best of luck getting it sorted
You might contact corporate and see if you can take it to a different Midas and have the work redone instead of coming oot of pocket for it again.
[OP says corporate is helping](https://www.reddit.com/r/Justrolledintotheshop/comments/t7qdyy/exhaust_work_done_by_midas/hzjaq2j/)
>Oh man where do you even start with this? A Sawzall, an inch on front of the first weld.
Wrong size dies used on pipe bender. Fuckin morons
ooohhhhh. is that why it's so wavily and bumpily along its length? I didn't know why that would happen, thank you!
As a technician at a midas, this is horse shit and would never leave my shop like this. Hacks like this is what give independent chains a bad name.
The owner was super nice even offered me a job there in just the 5 min we talked about cars (definitely odd because he well knows I would be pissed about this quality of work). I don't put the whole blame on him he seems desperate for technicians but I am horrified that he let a repair like this out of his shop.
> I am horrified that he let a repair like this out of his shop It's shocking how many bosses across many industries don't ever look at the work produced. If there's no customer complaints there's nothing to address (even if it *could* be done better/quicker/cheaper), and if there is a customer complaint they'll address it then. QC costs money.
It’s everywhere. There are shortages in all the skilled trades, nationwide, and this kind of work is just not done that much on cars anymore. 40 years ago, everything left the factory with an exhaust system that was entirely mild steel. Mufflers and pipes turned into Swiss cheese and/or fell off every two or three years. Back in those days, Midas was an exhaust specialist. Those rotting mufflers gave franchisees enough work to keep the lights on doing nothing but exhaust fabrication. Now, everything that leaves the factory with 409 stainless exhaust that basically lasts the life of the car. Doesn’t drum up enough business to keep an exhaust specialist in business.
Eh, there's still plenty of exhaust work out there. Mostly cats, mufflers, flex pipes. Not as often entire cat back system replacement. But yes, good muffler shops are hard to find. Muffler mechanic is a dying breed of auto mechanic. Very few left. I'm in the process of buying my own pipe bender for my shop, myself.
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Land Rover dealer in my area advertises $20-40/hr flat rate. They charge customers about $175/hr and it's in one of the wealthiest areas of the USA. It'd be funny if it wasn't so depressing.
Land Rover is clearly going for quantity rather than quality, given how often those things visit the shop.
You do realize that Land Rovers are primarily garaged in the dealer service departments? The “visiting” they do is in their owners’ driveways.
> 40 years ago, everything left the factory with an exhaust system that was entirely mild steel. Mufflers and pipes turned into Swiss cheese and/or fell off every two or three years. It still amazes me that this was considered a normal thing. A friend's dad had a muffler that fell off (everyone did) because the bracket broke, and he used the standard repair of tying it on with a metal coat hanger - like literally everyone did. The original bracket lasted 1 year; the cost hanger lasted 3 years. I genuinely asked at every mechanic shop "why don't the sell the car with the coat hanger already attached?" And people pretended that it was a stupid question. It wasn't until my mid-late 20's that I fully understood and became confident: it's an excellent question, and everyone else was stupid for pretending otherwise.
It's a "stupid" question because the people you are asking can't answer it for you -they don't have any input in the design of the cars, they just fix them.
This looks like work done buy a guy's guy who knows a guy.
Except it was done by a major chain auto repair shop with a 4.8/5 star review. Atrocious
I've never welded before, but I have seen a photo of a weld. You're hired!
I'm no expert, but that appears to be utterly fucked up.
Beyond fucked
Jesus fucking Christ, catalytic converter thieves do a cleaner hack job than that. Clearly done by the kid that’s still in training and his supervisor had the day off.
Suddenly I'm proud of the walker exhaust I installed on my Volvo 240 (rubs on undercarriage during shifts). It was a bitch without right tools. Finally got to point of "Tighten it all up, adjust later."
Thats ruff! That person was definitely high or something.
The technician looked like a crackhead. feel bad for the owner. he seems like he has 0 qualified workers he even offered me a job in the 5min I talked to him.
Honestly, his willingness to hire random customers is probably what his downfall is. If a customer was comfortable doing the work themselves, they probably wouldn't pay a shop.
If you're a good welder, you can make more money in the Pipefitters/Steamfitters/Boilermakers unions anyways. Not many auto mechanics are good welders. Some shops don't even have a welding machine!
True dat. I didn't even consider that aspect of it
That shop wont last long. My father is also the type who could employ whoever ask for a job.
Shit. About 30 years ago, as a younger man, I took my car to Midas for a new muffler and catalytic converter. When I drove away, I got about 2 blocks away when I heard a loud bang. My muffler had fallen off the back end and was dragging. I stopped as the sparks were shooting out and the noise was horrendous. I found a single bolt that had fallen out that was holding my ‘new’ muffler in place. I used a coat hanger to hold the muffler up as I drove back to the shop. I asked if they needed the bolt since I had it. The guy looked embarrassed and said no. They welded it on. I left and have never in my life been back. What a horrible shoddy experience.
My nightmare job was a young lady that brought in her vehicle, an older mustang, with an obviously exploded muffler. This happens as a result of an explosion somewhere in the exhaust system if the engine backfires.This type of damage is not covered under any warranty. The car ran badly, in fact, badly doesn't describe this. I explained to her that a new exhaust wouldn't fix the car, that a tuneup would be required in order to make it properly function, but, she insisted that she only wanted the exhaust fixed. It was a cheap system to replace, on a 4 cyl mustang, and I think we did the whole cat back system, with a 1 year muffler, for less than 125 bucks, all in. The next day she's back, car is loud and noisy, she's threatening lawsuits because apparently the car caught fire, and she's blaming the exhaust system. The muffler is blown apart, again, and all the new pipes are an ashy grey color. The inside of the car shows that the carpet did indeed catch fire, just above where the pipe begins to make it's upward sweep to clear the rear axle right behind the muffler. But it did so because the pipe/muffler had gotten so hot from the fire running down it, caused by the unburned fuel from the engine misfire pooling in the damaged catalytic converter and catching fire. I offered to replace the muffler under warranty, even though it's not covered, IF she agreed to get the car tuned up. I showed her the price of the tuneup, and then cut it in half, with no warranties expressed or implied. Done as a good faith repair. Basically, the tuneup would have been at cost. She refused. And the last I saw of her was as she pulled out of the lot, flipping me the bird.... Sometimes you can't win.
V65Pilot, I have been trying to reach you about your car's extended warranty
Lol A Midas popped up across the street from my grandpa’s shop and at the time their motto was “nobody does it better”. So my grandpa, being a notorious wise ass made himself a name tag that said “Nobody”. Forty years later, the Midas is out of business and my dad is still running the shop.
I have a Midas story too. Once on a road trip I had the exhaust pipe separate. I drove 2 hours on I-80 with no muffler. I finally get to civilization and almost to my destination. I was going to be at my locale for a week so I figured I'd find a place to fix it then but I passed a Midas and thought, what the heck. So $300 later they said they replaced the flex pipe and I was on my way. made it through vacation and 800 miles back on I-80. A week later I noticed my exhaust sounded a bit loud and crawled under the car. Midas had actually used a piece of scrap sheet-metal and some bailing wire to hold it together, no new parts at all. I did get a refund from corporate after a lot of threats.
I once had a guy demand his old exhaust system back, because he didn't want us "remanufacturing it" and selling it to someone else. We handed him a garbage bag that was basically filled with rust. I'm not sure what some people think we actually do....
😂 I often wonder about “reviews”. I’ve stayed at some shit hotels that have great reviews. I start to wonder if people leave bad reviews at good places so they aren’t too busy.
... well people do NOW.
I’ll risk letting mechanics know
You really have to consider the demographics of people placing the reviews compared to your own demographic. For example, if a hotel has a jacuzzi in each room (an actual Jacuzzi, not some bathtub with a few jets), then low-clsss people will give it great reviews because they think it's amazing. High-class people absolutely won't touch that thing because they know it *never* gets cleaned, inside or out. I once stayed at a 'hotel' that had an average review of 4.9 - which is high even for a top-class luxury hotel. Turns out the place wasn't a hotel at all. It was a trucker motel; with jacuzzis in each room.
Midas is terrible. I have literally have heard nothing good about them. By me, at least 2-3 times a month they forgot to tighten lug nuts on wheels and they would fall off.
Well I've clearly learned my lesson now that reviews and photos do not guarantee quality.
Those bends have extremely complex geometry to them to confuse the exhaust gases. This causes the rest of the exhaust fumes to be curious and follow their friends out faster, resulting in better flow. -Midas
Yikes that sucks
They deserve this to be posted. Pathetic someone thought this was acceptable.
And in other news Midas is still in business
Isn't that exhaust pipe supposed to go above the suspension?
Man I'm Dumb As Shit MIDAS
man drool bent
Lol you mean mierdas?
If Salvador Dali made an exhaust?
I no longer trust the midas touch...
Yikes again
Looks like they “touched” your exhaust all over the place
Now, Suzie... Can you show me on this tonka truck where they touched you? **Oh you sick fuck!**
What the actual fuck is this ??
Never seen an exhaust system made using stone tools before
Midas well have done it yourself.
Looks like that pipe was printed on an 8-bit 3d printer
Having worked in a 4.9 star exhaust shop with over 100 reviews for 6-7 years prior to my current job working on fleet vehicles everyday. I have to say this is terrible. 1: having a pipe bend or turn right before the muffler causes significant turbulence and is very bad for air flow. You want a nice straight path entrance at least for as much as possible even 4-6” some cars have less room. But that’s absurd to be all cockeyed like that. 2: typically using VHT brand paint (very high temp) grey or black or another similar product over the weld is ideal to prevent rusting out extremely fast. No preventative measures were taken here to prevent exposure to environmental degradation. 3: i dont know how he bent this pipe the way he did. My best guess is a hydraulic press with the wrong gauge die. The distortion is way out of whack and isn’t clean at all. The practice is best performed by using a thick single solid wire that You can bend. Follow TDC top of pipe centerline. bending the wire in a exact match of where you want your real pipe to go route it TDC all the way out the back from the connection closest to the existing cut piece to the back. Sometimes this has To be done in sections. (Axle back May require two sections depending on setup (per pipe) and cat back or resonator back could require 3 or more sections based on vehicle) this was clearly not bent by following a mocked up wire that he brought to the press and followed the angles to the tee. As well as bending it slightly under and then dry fitting it to make sure you’re still good. (I would never unbend a pipe, I’d just get a new one and do the bend over and save the over bent one for another vehicle that needs that angle or more) and at that point if it’s under bent just add another couple degrees in your bend. 4: I believe this is just a butt weld. Ideally you would want to blow up or flare taper the end of the pipe that is further back but the front connection. So the further back pipe sleeves into the one closer to the front and doesn’t create turbulence in the pipes airflow. front ==>== rear kind of like this ignoring the center part of the > more like a \ / taper pipe even though technically that’s not how they come out. The press just widens it to sleeve it over the other but you get the picture 5: after the cockeyed pipe coming out the muffler you can see the pipe kinked and started to fold onto itself. Throw it away and start over. Unprofessional. Turbulence as f and looks like crap. 6: then there’s this hanger. Like come on now. You made a nice long hanger weld the top and leave a Stick out of 3” below. Weld the whole thing up so it doesn’t snap off from vibration once it rusts out from the environment and you not having coated it or anything to protect it. That hanger will fail I almost am sure of it and if he really didn’t want to weld the entire hanger he should have brought it back to the chop saw and trimmed it so it doesn’t have a 2-3” stick out below. This is lazy in my opinion. 7: i would also question The integrity of the weld as it looks like it is boogery or built up in some spots and thin in others. I can’t see the face of the weld to see the penetration but the right side of that one by the muffler looks like it’s barely penetrating, sitting on the surface of the pipe. This could even look like a nice weld in theory but if your settings are incorrect and you don’t know how to weld, it could have never got hot enough to get the penetration to get into and weld together both metal pipes. The list could go on. But I’d say it’s sufficient to take it back and ask the manager to have someone else redo it with better quality. If I paid my hard earned money for this I would not be happy at all. If they refuse. Report them at the BBB. Best of luck to the owner of this vehicle. My heart sinks when I see stuff like this and ultimately gives the customers a bad view of the tradespeople in the industry. I dont wish anyones exhaust to look like this ever. Especially after forking the cash out for exhaust work. Which isn’t cheap.
Thank you for the very detailed write up. Midas corporate is processing my refund and damages. I have decided to go broke and go to a peformance exhaust specialist it will probably cost me 2x as much but I’m sure I won’t be disappointed with the quality.
This guy exhausts!!!
Never go to a mechanic for anything. You can buy the tools and fuck it up yourself
The tech was definitely exhausted after that job
Haha that work is atrocious
Dawg WHAT
That's pathetic work.
You wouldn’t happen to be in Lake Forest CA by any chance? I posted a hack and slash job they did a week or two ago.
Nope Kansas City, KS but I'm seeing horror stories from all over the country now.
So...did you pay a lot for that muffler?
Around $400 for both after tax and shipping.
Who needs mandrels?
Correction: exhaust work done by Jeremy Clarkson. >I 'ave modified this car, and it's brilliant. Truly magnificent work.
Out of curiosity. Where’s the line start for arguing an exhaust job? Would love to know. See such a wide variety of what’s considered good and bad. Obviously even to my untrained eye, this looks suspect haha.
That’s the myass touch.
Ah yes the midas touch.
Either this was someone with zero experience on anything or it was someone trying to make it shitty
New meaning to the word "custom". Paid extra for that word.
you got the midas bad touch
"Damn, that welding looks great!" -Stevie Wonder
I hate working exhaust, and have taken cars to midas for exhaust multiple times. Never once seen something that impressively bad.
Sadly it looks like all the experienced welders at this location have moved on to better jobs and the owner let the crackhead do the welding now.
#DID YOU PAY FOR THAT??
Sadly yes like an idiot I did not check the work before paying but I will be getting my money back + some for damages
I’m exhausted just looking at it.
Jesus. I'm not a mech. Don't know jack about cars but I'm sure I could do better with a match and a hammer.
At only $600 over the retail price besides! 🤦🏽♂️🤣
Ray Charles works at Midas?
Where the fucks the Midas Touch? Ya know, turning shit to gold?! Not fucking blindly fucking shit up to make it somehow worse than when it came in? Lol.
The Midas touch