General maintenance service near Foster City, CA

Car shaking while driving at speed. Seemed obvious alignment problem. Had alignment done. Received car back WITH NO COMMENT. I drove car and shaking still there. Took car back to tire/alignment shop. Now they tell me it’s the shocks. Something they probably should have noticed and told me already. But I know a little something about cars and it didn’t seem right to me; the car clearly passed the bounce up-and-down test. So I took the car to Expert Auto Care (EAC) being reviewed here. They put the car up on the rack, and within minutes came back to me to show me rattling tie-rod and bad ball joint…OBVIOUS, they were so bad. On the opposite side they showed me an adjustment nut was rust-locked into place and rounded-off. It obviously didn’t happen within the last week, when I had the alignment done, because of the corrosion. You would think the alignment shop would have noticed and told me that too. And how the heck could they do an alignment with either of those problems??? Also, they showed the tire shop we got the tires from (not aligned so), used a single 6oz weight for balancing. EAC said maximum single weight to use, according to state regulations, was 2oz. This is something else you’d think would be noticed by the alignment shop. All in all, EAC ball parked a couple of thousand dollars to service a $2000 car, and suggested it might be better to buy a new/newer car, and we should go home and think about this. Which was very good of them. (Not that I wasn’t going to do that anyway). On the shop wall there is cost of service, and the 20-25min diagnosis should have run between $60-$95, but EAC charged me nothing $0. Which was very very kind of them. I can highly recommend EAC for, at least, diagnosis service honesty. And, based on EAC’s diagnosis (which they showed me) I cannot recommend “Wheel Works of Mt. View” for suspension work.

Dean's Automotive has been serving Mountain View auto repair needs since 1963. Our multiple award-winning shop goes the extra mile for you and your vehicle. Service excellence is our top priority.

I own a 2000 Porsche Boxster with 61,000 miles, so I came for the 60,000 mile service. I had an extremely positive experience at Zentrum. Three words come to mind with regard to Zentrum Motors…CUSTOMER SERVICE, HONESTY and WOKMANSHIP. Joe greeted me, sat me down and assessed my needs. I told him that I was concerned about the rib belt. I had purchased the car recently and was unsure if the rib belt had been changed. As it turned out the rib belt was good and it did not need changing They could have told me different and I would not known the difference. They replaced the spark plug coils as they were cracked. And repaired/replaced leaking sparkplug tubes among other things. The car is now running soooo good. And a gain of 3 miles per gallon is the tangible proof. From here on out only Zentrum will touch my Porsche. Robert Reed

OMG SO GLAD WE FOUND THIS PLACE!! My Porsche needed the "dreaded" IMS bearing and I didn't know where to take it that wouldn't "bend me over" and this place was GREAT!! They were priced right and provided us with SUPERIOR service that made us comfortable with leaving our car while it was being repaired. The owner/manager explained EVERYTHING that my 911 needed and would need in the near future and had an exceptional knowledge and working history with 911 Porsche's. I also noticed while there that they work on BMW and Mercedes so I will also be bringing my other cars here as well! My Porsche RUNS GREAT and we can't thank Joe, Annie and their staff enough for making this such an easy,fast and educated experience!! We can't say ENOUGH good things about this shop! Nice to find such an honest and personable place to take our European cars!

One of the last honest auto services shops around. The don't overcharge or find things you don't need. Fast in and out repairs. I take my bimmer there for engine service and windshield repairs. Have even taken my motorcycle fiberglass fairing there for repair sanding , and sprayed with primer. My friends take their cars here for collision repairs and painting .I'm restoring a 1968 car so taking our car to this shop for painting and rusty floor pan replacement. Bruce is the best for detailing. Talk to Nam or Tony . The best team around.