Sims Radiator Service

This is one of those places that does old school service like you only read about in old car magazines. Nice guys. Independent. Great service. Quick turnaround. They boiled out my rusted gas tank on my Datsun that looked like a titanic artifact, lined it with redcoat, and painted the outside for cheaper than anyone else would offer to just boil it. I thought it couldn’t even be saved, but heck of it ain’t just like brand new now. These guys are artists. If you’re an old hot rodder, and you need some help saving that rare, old radiator or gas tank, call these dudes first.

After finding this place on Unilocal,I took my car here to find out why the AC was not working. It was Saturday morning. I’m surprised that there are no other customers waiting. The place looks like it has been there for a long time.
Stanley is the only guy there. He gives me a price to diagnose the problem. He get to it right away. It take just a few minutes to determine that I have a busted AC condenser. Before checking online, he says that no one will have that part. Sure enough, when he checks the part is not available. He gives me a price to replace the AC condenser. I find the part on eBay for $ 70 using my phone. He has no problem with me getting my own part.
I called to have the work done the following Saturday. Stanley says that he will not be there and that the guy that will be there cant do that work. He asks me to bring my car on Friday or Monday. I get there on Monday around 10:15. Again, there are no other customers. Stanley asks if I remember the price that he quoted me. His price was unchanged. He got started right away. The waiting room was shabby; no water, no magazines, a few chairs with a TV that had an antenna (no cable). He was done in about an hour. By the way, I called to get a labor cost from the shop that I usually go to. Their price was $ 112 more that what I paid here.
I agree with the other reviews here. I got great service here. It is at the end of a dead end street.

Wow, Wow, WOW. Take your car here. Don’t be misled by the name (Radiator) — they actually do much more. My suggestion would be to call and ask Stanley if he can fix your issue. A key bonus to me was that the shop is a 5 minute walk from the Avondale Station so I could drop my car off and still take the train into work. I drove across town to this place on a recommendation — and considering they fixed what another shop couldn’t fix in 2 visits, it was worth it. Honest, Good Work. Would recommend everyone remotely close to the east side of town to go here. To Meriam S’s point — doesn’t look like much but seriously — who cares? They work hard and with integrity and to me that’s more important that sitting in a nice lobby wondering if I’m being taken advantage of as a woman who doesn’t know tons about cars. I also didn’t get a courtesy call — until Stanley found the issue. I called to do a check in and they had yet to find the problem so presumably that’s why they didn’t call. They called when they found the problem. That’s my experience that I can speak to.

I actually had a crack in my radiator and needed to replace it. Calling around for an over the phone quote, I found their website. I got the cheapest quote from them, so I had my car towed there for the service. After walking in to the place I was unsure about my decision to bring my car there. With chipped paint walls and a barely stable AC window unit, the place looked pretty run down and crusty. I had called ahead and asked how long it would take, and they said half a day, so after dropping the car off early in the morning, I assumed I’d get a call at least in the afternoon. No call from them; I had to do all the calling to check up on my car. But when I finally got my car back on the second day, I was pleased with how thorough the job was for the extremely decent price they charged. I guess the crusty lobby and unenthusiastic customer service is what keeps their prices down.
Not only that, but their product has a lifetime guarantee. I’d trust these guys to do further work on my car. They don’t try to take advantage of you by claiming more labor hours were used than actually needed, and their products seem pretty solid. I’d give them a full 5 stars if they actually gave me a courtesy call and told me my car was ready.

I can’t say anything about their radiator service, but the service in general was a good experience for me. I dropped off a gas tank to be acid dipped and lined and was very pleased with the results and the price. I will definitely bring my cars here in the future if needed.