Autozone, O'Reilly's, NAPA and all other chain stores are the same.. it highly depends who is helping you and what you know. We frequent the local location of all three and when we walk in several of their employees walk out, they know they are out of their league and we don't want them to "help" us. The few people there that know their stuff, or are flexible enough to shut down the computer and just get us what we ask for are great, usually one or two people at each location. As for the quality of the parts, you get what you pay for at all of these places, the average customer (most of the time) is someone looking for the cheapest part to keep their car running and the only reason they are there is because they can't (or don't want to) afford to take the car to a professional to get it fixed.. they have to offer the low priced part to stay in business. We, people on the HAMB, are a little different, we work on our cars because we want to, we mix and match pieces because we like to and we know what we are talking about. We are not their "normal" customer, so their standard service and process don't work for us. Good example; was at the local O'Reilly's yesterday a family of 4 came in driving an early '90s Korean (or similar) economy car. The guy asks for a price on a set of plug wires and spark plugs, they exchange car info, brand, year, model, engine and so on.. they get a price, WOW that much (it was not much) and the customers go outside to discuss, the guy comes back in and says, do you have any lower cost parts? no, this is the cheapest we have. OK I'll take them. He pays for them and asks, how do I install these? what do I do? can I borrow the tools? The employee at O'Reilly's tells him (he got the one good one that works the counter there) the guy walks outside, open the hood, looks at the engine, scratches his head, calls over his wife, the look at the engine together, guy walks back into the store and asks the clerk "can you help me do this, this is so confusing" I think that describes a pretty "normal" customer for one of those places, not someone I expect to be on the HAMB.
autozone goes back to 1930 and can get you a engine gasket set for a model A if you wanted it http://www.autozone.com/R,607515/ve...partType,00533/shopping/partProductDetail.htm
Autozone is a terrible store that has never been able to provide me with a single part any time I have tried. The people there are always confused when the car is over 10 years old and then don't a clue about what the parts do or which would be the best to get. The only thing they are good for is the tool borrowing service. A spring compressor was a great thing to borrow from them a few weeks ago. For all of my parts that I can wait a day or so I go to one of the local independents. The folks know what they are doing and they do paint and machine work, I couldn't be happier with them.
Seems like it may depend on the location and more importantly the guy behind the counter. I have an AutoZone I prefer over the other local shops.
Then there was the fellow who asked about the lifetime warranty, and they asked him, "How much longer do you plan on living?"
My local NAPA (corporate owned store) used to be THE place to go for this kind of stuff. Now, apparently, the new ownership of the company doesn't want them to have any stock in the store. I can't even get current 2005 vehicle normal service parts, let alone some of the oddball stuff I want without waiting at least 2-3 days. Walk literally across the street to O'reilley's, and boom. They have it in stock, in quan***y. My local NAPA is starting to bring the ****...
I built my '27 Track T within the last couple of years, and here are the parts that I was able to get for my "T" at Autozone either the same day or the next day. -Brake shoes, wheel cylinders and brake hardware for a '55 F-100. -Seals for F-100 hubs. -Brake self adjusting kit for a '66 F-100. -Brake shoes,wheel cylinders and hardware for '75 Maverick 8" rearend. -Axle seals, axle bearings, pinion seal and diff gasket for same 8" rearend. -'67 Mustang drum/drum master cylinder. -Flywheel, Luc clutch and pressure plate kit for '69 Mustang 302. - Rebuild kit for '64 Galaxie generator. -Rebuild kit for Autolite 2100 2 barrel carb. -'63 Fairlane 260 V-8 Fuel pump with integral fuel filter. -Water pump for '69 Mustang 302. -Sector shaft seal for Mopar aluminum steering box. .......the list goes on and on, if you know what you need, you can get what you are looking for.
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