Excellent Major Service by T&R Automotive

Several weeks ago Tony did a PPI on a 2007 F430 spider I purchased from a dealer in San Francisco. Both Ferrari of San Francisco and Tony were very helpful in getting this car inspected and reviewed.

Car arrived in better condition than I could ever imagine and the few minor cosmetic issues that Tony was able to uncover were taken care of by the dealership prior to delivery. This being my first Ferrari purchase obviously I was a little apprehensive buying it sight unseen but the honesty and integrity of Tony during the inspection alleviated any concerns I had regarding the condition of the vehicle.

First week logged 350 miles and counting with no issues so far. Would highly recommend Tony to anybody looking to purchase a Ferrari and needing an honest objective opinion on the condition of the car.

 

I read through this thread last night and I'm not surprised at the accolades. I met Tony yesterday and spent considerable time with him at T&R Automotive. My car is in Memphis, but after meeting Tony and watching him and Ed in action, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend him. Tony is a class act and was very generous with his time. He patiently listened to and answered a lot of questions from me, a new 308 owner, and offered expert advice to make my ownership more enjoyable and affordable.

I look forward to spending time with Tony and Ed again in the future. Great folks!

God bless,

Mark
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Thank you Chris. You purchased one of the cleanest pre-owned 430s. Glad you are enjoying it.
Don't hesitate to give me a call if you have any questions .
Tony.

 

Brought the Scuderia in for a once over earlier today because I was hearing some unfamiliar noises while going above 1xx mph. Not sure what Tony did when he was sitting in the passenger seat during our test drive today, but the noise would not announce itself the 3 times we went over 1xx mph =)

Midas touch...no joke. I always feel reassured that I can always bring in the car on short notice for whatever hiccup be it big or small!

There are almost always interesting projects happening on premises to look at too!

 

Dropped by T&R for oil change and major service, and I saw this beautiful piece of art that TAForza is working on.
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OMG!!! Is that a...DINO?

 

Wish I lived closer so I could bring my car by, but FL is a bit far. Thanks to TAFORZA for helping me by diagnosing my front suspension issue correctly from just a description of the creaking sound, and then helping me with a quick and easy fix!! Sincerely appreciate this kind of help!! The folks in Northern CA are lucky to have you!

 

Got my CS back from Tony for a 2 year annual service. One day, in-and-out, very thorough! Thanks Tony!

Vic thanks you for the free bulb on his Porsche!

 

You are both welcome.
Tony

 

Just wanted to add to the pile of great kudos to Tony and the team at T&R. I originally brought my 360 in for a multitude of problems - CEL was on, Slow Down light flashing and clutch slipping.

First the easy stuff - Tony diagnosed the Slow Down light to be a couple of bad Cat ECUs and swapped those out; for the slipping clutch, we figured it was time to do a clutch replacement as the car has 17k miles on it and likely was on the original clutch...after disassembly, turns out the last owner actually had clutch work done, but it was done incorrectly and the whole flywheel and clutch plate was completely glazed over! Not to mention a bolt was missing and transmission lines mis-routed! Double yikes!!! Tony did right to the car and replaced all the faulty parts, and more importantly, reset the tranny ECU correctly. And, while it was there, he also replaced my front vapor shield and alarm siren gratis (I had the parts in my trunk and was going to do it as one of those weekend projects but he just went and had it done while the car was with him - awesome service!). Did I also mention he refinished my right front wheel? And the car was completely detailed and cleaner than when I brought it in? Man, he's thorough...

Now, the hard stuff - just always seems to happen that when it rains, it pours! In this case, just a few days after driving off to enjoy my newly installed clutch, I had pending CELs for mis-fires P0300, P0307 and P0302s stored in the ECU memory come forward to trigger a steady CEL. Just to make sure things weren't caused by some errant resident codes in memory, did a reset on the car (disconnected the battery over night) but didn't solve the problem so brought her back to Tony for some diagnostics. After checking everything thoroughly (fuel pressure, spark, MAF, etc. etc. - they turned over every rock), the intake gaskets on the drivers side was discovered to be leaky via smoke and propane test (and thanks for the FChat community for their help on this one too). New gaskets in and we thought we were home free - but boy, she was temperamental and the codes wouldn't delete out. Another round of diagnostics just to be sure, and even ground points resurfaced...but finally, reflashing the ECUs cleared them and extensive road tests and diagnostic monitoring confirmed the intakes were the only problem. This was indeed an iterative problem solving process over a few weeks - and Tony was there every step of the way - even trading SMSes and phone calls with me on weekends and odd hours of the nite when I had the car out and the CEL would trigger...heck, even my wife was impressed at the level of service (she would ask who was SMS'ing at those odd hours)! And of course, no T&R service experience is complete without some pleasant surprises - when the car was in the second time for the mis-fires, Tony tightened up my tranny PIS point knowing that the clutch was now broken in - all done gratis without asking. Stupendous service.

Special thanks to you and your crew Tony, she runs like a champ now!!!

 

Tony is the best! I turn over my 599 HGTE to him for service....no conversation necessary.He knows my car,trust him with my V12 completely!

 

Supporting Tony is a necessity, and a win win for all, because without him you'd be driving to Marin to get your car checked. Does Tony have an apprentice?

It's funny that so many tech people, who are invariably disrupting traditional retail outlets and distribution, are so loyal to a local brick and mortar service provider. Some things can't be replaced by an app, offshore, or virtual.

 

That...is amazing. But "normal" for Tony!

 

After a nice weekend in SF and a great drive along Highway One to Bodega Bay in March, I was ready to drive back to the mountains and the CEL came on. What to do. I remembered that Tony had his shop on California Street. I found him. He checked out the 550 Maranello
and reset the system and told me to come back if it comes on again. Which it has not.
It was a big relief to start the 200 mile drive and not to worry about what could be wrong.
Tony stopped what he was doing and got us on our way.

 

Magnificent symphony brought to you by the one and only Tony, enjoy:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lh6A2qjfix4[/ame]

Installation:
ScudXX X-pipe
Kreissieg titanium tips
Ear-to-ear grin
Schoolgirl giggles

After 2 years of searching (since ownership) for that F1 shrill & months of r&d and waiting sleepless nights, the ScudXX metamorphosis is finally complete. I guess fate saved the best for last.

Edit: I still can't stop grinning

 

Just picked up my 360 from Tony. I had dropped it off for a CEL and the "Stop" switch on the AC unit being stuck in the off position. Tony took the central A/C unit apart and was able to repair the switch instead of having to replace the entire controller. How many other technicians would have done that? The CEL turned out to be a bad coolant temperature sensor and that was replaced.
As always the car and engine compartment were detailed when I picked it up at no additional charge. Every service done by Tony is as if he is working on his own car.....in painstaking detail and with all costs being analyzed as if it was his own money.
I highly recommend Tony and we are truly lucky to have him to bring our cars to.

 

Tony, what are you working on these days? Hope to get out and visit with you and Ed again soon.

Mark

 

Hi Mark
Nice to hear from you. Several projects in the works, always exiting stuff. Check your pm for more details. Let me know when you are in SF.

 

I've been driving Italian cars for over 2 decades and understand the importance of having a mechanic who I can trust my Italian cars with. When the F430 entered my ownership, I started looking for a reputable mechanic in the bay area.

There were a few shops being mentioned, but Tony gets a thread of attentions. His shop is deep in San Francisco, a place loved by many, but it's also a place I stay away because of traffic and rough street surface. Given all the positive responses I decided to give Tony a try.

Fast forward a few years later, Tony had done a few annual services, F1 hydraulic, diagnosed cracked header, and recently throwout bearing (and clutch of course). This one started with last annual service and as he inspected thru the car he noticed that throwout bearing area was slightly wet and informed me to have it serviced soon.

Since I needed the car for an event, i took the car home and kept driving it. Few month later, I noticed a very very faint noise coming from behind me. I remembered about the throwout bearing and decided it's time to bring it in. Tony had it apart and sent me few pics of the throwout bearing area. It wasn't dumping fluid yet but it sure wasn't pretty.

In the past services, I've had Tony to install his version of front chin guard which covered a much larger area than just the corners. It looks great and saved me a few times. He also had fixed cracked exhaust mount, installed missing screws possibly from previous services before him, which eliminated some rattle noise from behind too.

When I pick up my car, I know it's clean and shiny that's not just inside and out, but engine bay gets dressed as well. Yes you get that from dealers too but it's a nice touch from an independent shop. The cleaness also extends to his shop, and you can see how he keep
things organized even in a tight place, and that's the way he operates.

It's the little things that says someone who cares, and Tony has consistently shown looking up my car with care. Yes I hate driving in SF, there are reasons I kept going back to Tony for service..

As for those whos visiting Tony's shop for the first time, don't be intimidated by a gas station auto shop stereotype. Look closer and you will find clean shop with many customers cars return for service.

So yes, here's one more happy customer

Thanks Tony!!

 

I also dislike driving to SF from Napa when my 360 needs to be serviced. However I concur that it worth the drive to bring my car to Tony. Every time I am there, not only am I blown away by the care and attention he has shown me, but also all the cars that are at his station.
I must admit that I was also skeptical when I saw the "gas station" appearance at his shop, but I was immediately at ease after talking with Tony the first time. This feeling was confirmed when Tony diagnosed the issues with my car and sent photos of the failed parts that needed to be replaced.
Recently one of the EVAP values on my spider went out triggering the CEL. Tony had to remove the convertible top to get to the valve. Tony was able to repair the valve saving me the price of a replacement one.
Tony is a class act and does all his work as if he was working on his own vehicle. I cannot recommend him enough for ANY automotive repair.

 

I also dislike driving to SF from Napa when my 360 needs to be serviced. However I concur that it worth the drive to bring my car to Tony. Every time I am there, not only am I blown away by the care and attention he has shown me, but also all the cars that are at his station.
I must admit that I was also skeptical when I saw the "gas station" appearance at his shop, but I was immediately at ease after talking with Tony the first time. This feeling was confirmed when Tony diagnosed the issues with my car and sent photos of the failed parts that needed to be replaced.
Recently one of the EVAP values on my spider went out triggering the CEL. Tony had to remove the convertible top to get to the valve. Tony was able to repair the valve saving me the price of a replacement one.
Tony is a class act and does all his work as if he was working on his own vehicle. I cannot recommend him enough for ANY automotive repair.

 

I can't say enough about Tony. Always a great exchange of stories and chats to be had whenever I visit. I recently brought in the Scuderia to rectify the chronic hazing carbon headlights that plague all Scuderias, and while it was in I decided to get a full service and fluids change. There was also a rattle in my driver's side view mirror and Tony took care of it without a hitch.

As always, great attention was paid to detail! I didn't have to come back to a dinged car or mysterious/unexplainable 30+ mile bump to my mileage nor a 3 week hiatus like I have in the past for my service at a dealership that shall remain unnamed.

I got my car back better than when I left it (like it should always be!). Hazing headlamps no more, fresh fluids and spark plugs definitely gave a nice low end bump...experiencing more than normal wheel spin from 1st through 3rd! I almost shiat my pants thank goodness for the firmer brakes from the fresh brake fluid

Thanks again Tony! See you at sema in a couple of days!

 

I agree Tony is amazing. I had a question about my car and he was in Canada but he returned my call the next day.

Who does that?? Nobody that I know.

Than I asked him about putting in a race seat into my 430. As always he responded within hours with his very honest answer.

Thank you Tony. Too bad you don't have your shop in the East Bay.