K C Auto Repair

I've used Khalil's services for at least 15-yrs. on probably 12 or more cars my family has owned. Khalil and I, have become friends, though I listed my relationship as "biased customer". He makes accurate diagnoses [most of the time]; is honest; charges reasonable prices, and bends over backwards to be fair. Recently, my wife took her '93 Town & Country to the dealership for a diagnosis because we weren't satisfied with the "tires" diagnosis she got from Khalil after he road tested the van at no charge. The symptom: increasing front-end "shimmy" or wobble at speeds over 25 mph. She had to make an appointment with Chrysler a week in advance. so I drove the car for a week and was able to add to the symptom: "that it only happened on acceleration--not while the car was coasting." The Chrysler service advisor called me later during the day, and proceeded to tell me a thousand things the car needed that I hadn't asked to be looked at. When I asked "what about the shimmy?", he said it was the tires. I told him the tires were only 6-mos. old! Something must have caused it; and why does it only happen on acceleration? The next morning the service technician put the car on the lift, showed me four turning wheels, and said" "See". He offered to road test the car again, with me driving. The shimmy was still there, and he insisted it had to be the tires. I thanked the tech [he wouldn't accept a gratuity, but the service advisor did]. I told them, "It didn't make sense to repair the other problems 'they found', until after the wobble was fixed. I'm going back to the place where the tires were purchased." With the dealership's repair invoice in hand [they charged me $47.50] I returned to my not-so-local Wal-Mart Tire/Lube/Express and insisted that they honor my tire warranty. They replaced all four tires at no charge, but the wobble remained [glad I wasn't abusive with these guys; Wal-Mart's okay in my book, and their guys don't accept gratuities either]. Anyway, I called Khalil and began to tell him the saga. He interrupted, with the query "didn't I tell you it was the tires?" I told him I had all the tires replaced, and added the symptom: that it only happened on acceleration. Khalil had a Eureka Moment. I could see the light bulb over the telephone, and hear the excitement in his voice when he figured it out.. It was kind of like listening to Car Talk.