Delership or Independent Mechanic

[bdjones72]

So my 2000 Xterra is in nned of some TLC.  I get a pretty bad vibration through the whole truck when driving between 65 and 75 MPH.  I'm pretty sure it's just a suspension issue as my shocks, control arm ball joints and bushings, TREs are all pretty worn.  I'm sure that I'm in need of an alignment also.  However before I go and spend a ton of money on replacement parts I would like to get a "professional"pinion as to what is causing the vibration.  So my question is if you were in my shoes would you take your truck to the dealership or to an independent mechanic?  If a dealership is your flavor which would you recommend (I'm leaning toward ABC Nissan), or if you prefer independent shops where would you take it, i.e. Brakes Plus, Firestone, etc.?

Thanks for the advise?  I'm hopefully going to get this taken care of soon as it's not much fun driving on the I-10 when the truck feels like a washing machine out of balance on the spin cycle!!

brian

[Conundrum]

Having been down the road of chasing a vibration, I found I had bent wheels (previous owner).

I paid for new tires w/balance at firestone, rebalance at dealer, rebalance at firestone when getting an alignment and that's when they decided to tell me.

Found wheels on craigslist and paid again to have the tires swapped to the new rims. No more vibration.

I'd recommend coming over and we'll swap out the wheels with mine to see if the vibration goes away. We can also do a visual on the parts to see if anything is in immediate need of replacement.

If the front end is shaking and you feel it in the wheel under braking it is probably warped rotors, if the front end shakes at speed that can be the TRE's or centerlink.

PM me your number and we can see if there will be a good time to work on it.