i hate AUTO ZONE

What's messed up is Autozone isn't even the cheapest! O'Reilly is about the same generally on most things. Hoses and belts are a notable exception but that's because they sell Gates and Goodyear. Everything else is priced competitively with Autozone. Autozone's got Goodyear too for some rubber but mostly it's Duralast which ranges between acceptable and crap, and Valucraft which falls somewhere between crap and downright hazardous.

I go to O'Reilly when I can, but find myself at Autozone a lot because I tend to work on things at random times and they're the only 24 hour store in town. Long as I stay away from the lowest end store brand stuff (Valucraft) and I know which parts are ok when it comes to Duralast, I make out alright. (Brake pads, for instance. Duralast Gold are good ceramic pads) And I don't buy Cardone parts from anybody unless it's an emergency and there are no alternatives.

Advance... I don't have enough experience with them to make a fair comparison. Napa's always been good to me when they're open. Rockauto... Good ol' Rockauto They're cheaper than anybody and have the best parts, if you have time to wait.

 

so u dont like cardone ether i no y

 

I usually go to Napa first. Then O'reillys and Auto Zone last. They are all within 5 minutes of each other, so at least that is good when one place doesn't have the part I am looking for.

 

that kinda sounds like what i did

 

Dude I have bought better parts at the damn junkyard than some of the garbage Cardone sells as "remanufactured." I can cite multiple examples. Water pumps, distributors, master cylinders... I have given them every possible chance to not suck and they have disappointed me as consistently as the Wendy's drive-though down the street where their intercom automatically translates everything I say into "just sling whatever you've got in the bag, overcharge me a little bit and drown it in mayonnaise."

I got a Cardone water pump, opened it up on the counter at the store, looked at it, looked back up at the parts guy and said, "would you put something that looked like this in your car?" "Nope." And he went and got me another one. It failed in less than a year. That was almost my last Cardone part. The final straw was the reman distributor I got last year for my previous 351w in the Maverick. It just came apart and tore itself up inside after a couple of weeks. I spent days trying to figure out why it ran so awful, never suspecting the distributor. I was so mad when I took that cap off... Last Cardone part, never again.

 

yea ill agree with u on the cardont junk i dont no about wendys iv put 8 distributors in my maverick the ba thing is they are the only reman for a inline 6 with out shelling out $400

 

I buy my oil change stuff at autozone because every 6 oil changes I get a pretty much free one from their rewards program. I'll take that deal every day.

 

Not every Wendy's... Just the one down the street where they speak Orcish.

Yeah they were the only local source for a 351w distributor too. If I am faced with a similar situation again, Cardone or nothing, I will seriously just take my chances at the junkyard. I won't even put that junk on someone else's car.

 

Yeah now that rewards program is pretty sweet, especially when you constantly buy parts for other people like I do! Just buy your belts and hoses somewhere else, avoid Valucraft, be selective about Duralast, and the rest is fine.

 

yea i no what u mean yet im still running the junky distributor because there is one of the guy that work at autozone that told me he couldnt order me no more distributor because iv done been through so many and he couldnt give me my money back so yea im waiting on this one to go and then back to auto zone to give them a hard time

 

yea but i the dollar store and walmart sell oil a lot cheaper i went into day any auto zone a got some and it was $5.95 for a Qt smh

 

That sounds like my Wal-Mart battery. I already knew better than to buy batteries at Wal-Mart. I would never do that after seeing brand new ones leak, swell, eat clothes, give my friends acid burns... But my Maverick had a brand-new one already installed when I bought it, and when it failed I got it replaced under warranty rather than buying another. Then it happened again, and again. So far it's been almost five years I've had the car, and it's had four Wal-Mart batteries. Long as they continue being free I'll continue using them, but they are pure crap.

Years ago Autozone cut me off on warranty replacements for a Chevy 350 starter after I brought it back like six times. That was my fault though. It wasn't exactly a stock application (crammed into an Olds Bravada) and it did kinda have a header practically wrapped around it. That was a long time ago before I knew better. When they finally told me "dude, you've had enough" I covered the starter in header wrap and never had another problem.

 

Yes, oil's cheaper at Wal-Mart, but the down side is they only sell Fram filters so you've still got to go to the parts store later unless you want to gamble on having bits of cardboard pumped through your engine.

 

thats what im saying and thats also what the guy at auto said to me but im not doing anything wrong to it o and the guy wanted to fuse because my motor was a 76 and i was put a 72 part in i and yea my knowledge overpowered his mouth

 

notice i said oil