Tires Plus Buffalo Minnesota - Doesn't Care!
Tires Plus Buffalo Minnesota - Spray and Pray Auto Repair – October 15th, 2025
The good folks at Tires Plus in Buffalo Minnesota told me they do not care.
Called Tires Plus and requested repair of my 2003 Ford Ranger emergency brakes. They said they could fix the problem, so I had my assistant follow me to Tires Plus so I could leave the truck there. I requested they fix it same day as I brought it in because I’ve had gasoline stolen from my car leaving it overnight at Tires Plus Buffalo location. The emergency brakes were completely non-functional, with the cable so loose the pedal didn’t stop until the physical limit. These brake components (minus drums and shoes) were 20 plus years old, rusty and in a couple places worn through the outer covering into the cable itself.
Got a call from Tires Plus, Buffalo Minnesota October 10th, 2025 at 11:15AM. I was told “it’s going to be expensive” to fix my emergency brakes! (it was around $900.00) I said – Go ahead and fix it.
Got a call around 4:30PM I was told “We thought replacing the rear components would fix the emergency brakes, but, it didn’t. It will cost another $600.00 to fix the emergency brakes." Since it was closing time anyway, and I wasn’t going to leave my truck there, I said to button it up and I will finish the job myself (I’ve rebuilt engines and transmissions and repaired everything on cars from the 70’s to today with many brake jobs – I’m not an expert mechanic, but experienced. When I got home and took off one of the rear wheels and went to remove the brake drum, it was so tight that I bent my gear puller 5/8” steel bolt trying to get it loose. The hub center where the drum lands wasn’t cleaned – it was rusty and rough and tight. I went to the other side, where I found the brake drum had a large chunk of steel out of it. It could have been dropped, breaking it, or it could have been broken when they tried to remove it after realizing that their “spray and pray” approach to auto repairs didn’t fix the Emergency brake. I couldn’t remove the broken drum with my puller either. At this point I called the manager and requested they get those drums back off so I could finish the repair job, since it appeared that only with massive force would these come loose, and they’d probably be damaged by all that pounding. I wasn’t going to do it. The manager agreed to replace the broken drum and do the work so I could remove the drums myself with reasonable effort. We agreed I would bring the truck in at 8AM on a Wednesday morning.
On Wednesday morning I scheduled my assistant to once again bring me Tires Plus Buffalo Minnesota so I could leave the truck to get repaired. Upon arrival I spoke to (morning manager). I asked how he felt about what happened with the misdiagnosis, broken drum sent home and my own time involved. I was searching for any kind of “ahh sorry….”, but was met with complete indifference to my problem. I asked three times – “do you care that this got messed up?” and each time the response was clearly given in body language. He didn’t care one bit. He responded “What do you want me to say?”
I said may Russ Peterson the owner will care – morning manager still couldn’t muster up any kind of apology or any accountability for a misdiagnosis that cost me time and money – “ I didn’t do the work.” was his response! When I asked the original manager the same question, it was clear to me he didn't care either! We'll replace the broken drum was the best he could do.
The manager seems like a nice guy, which is why I apologized when I walked out the door an unhappy, unsatisfied customer who not only didn’t get his Emergency brake fixed, but now will need to find a new mechanic that I can recommend to my family and friends. And I hope plenty of people avoid the painful mistake of choosing Tires Plus Buffalo Minnesota to work on their car, because they’ve shown me and outright told me they don’t care.