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Golden Auto Muffler & Brake Center
Rating Details »
Category: Auto Repair [Edit]
Neighborhood: SOMA998 Folsom Street
(between 6th St & Falmouth St)
San Francisco, CA 94107
(415) 543-8899
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25 reviews for Golden Auto Muffler & Brake Center
They can replace and repair exhaust systems and also do brakes. When I am in a need of something unique, they are always accommodating. You can basically tell them what and how you want the repair done and they will do it for it if possible (or correct...). Just make sure its confirmed with the manager so the employees know your scope of the work involved.
The manager and the owner are easy going and very honest. I would recommend going to this location if you are local as other locations in the city can be a bit difficult to deal with.
5 STAR for good customer service, prices and being enthusiast in field of their business (Cars)!
My GF drove my old truck around with the ebrake on on the freeway. She said smoke was was going everywhere and I noticed that they smelled pretty bad. I had Mike inspect them and he said that they were fine. A lot of places could of just lubed you up when you came to them with that story.
Since I was there I had Mike install some braided brake lines and a new catalytic converter for a fair price and all within 3 hours.
The wait room isn't that bad. They had magazines, a TV, and a pringles machine. What more could you ask for?
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Friends wouldn't necessarily call me a risk taker, but when it comes to getting any kind of car work done, I tend to put it off to the last minute because I fear getting taken advantage of since I'm a female. So you can imagine my dread at having to call different shops to get quotes for brake replacement.
Golden Auto provided the lowest quote at $280 for parts & labor over the phone, though the person bumped it up slightly when I brought the car in. Perhaps it was a tax on time; After all, I did wait 2 weeks from the phone quote to the actual service. After taxes, I rolled out of their shop with brand spanking new front and rear brake pads and refinished rotos for $310.
It's been over 2 weeks and everything is just fine with the car! Lowest quote for the service needed and quickly done work; I'm a happy customer!
In and out in 20 minutes! Out with the OEM heavy BMW muffler, then welded a new Magnaflow 14815 muffler that I had purchased online. $60 for install and I was rumbling out. Thanks, Joe and Golden Auto Muffler!
My exhaust got misaligned after hitting a curb and it started making weird noises. I initially went to a random repair shop and they told me i had to replace the whole thing which quoted me $300 for parts and labor. I was not too thrilled to hear the quoted price so I went searching on yelp and found this place. I drove there in the morning before they got too busy and they looked at my car immediately. It turned out that all they had to do was shift the "hooks" back into place and my exhaust was perfectly aligned again without the weird noises. Afterwards, when i was ready to pay, Mike said "don't worry about it". I couldn't believe what I just heard. From $300 to free. I felt bad and wanted to tip him. He rejected it and i basically had to force him to take my tip.
We need more honest and not money driven auto shops like this one. I would recommend this shop to anyone.
mike does it again.
secondary cat on our messican truck *a full sized pickup with a flat bed with side crates* was making a funny noise. i was pretty sure what it was but i got a second opinion from our commerical truck repair shop a few doors down. yep. burnt catalytic converter. our commerical truck guy tells me, oem replacement part will be about 800-900 bucks.
of course, im not going to pay for oem replacement parts on an exhaust on a work truck. hell i didnt pay for that on my 99 e430 when i burnt out 3 out of 4 cats. no need. no one sees your exhaust system right? save yourself a few bucks.
sidenote... people come to me for advice on a range of things. heres some more free adivce. do you only have one store you buy shoes from? why would you only have one mechanic? i have a high end european shop, a mid european place and a dirt cheap euro shop, a mid japanese place, a commerical truck place and a muffler shop.... why?
30 minutes after i arrived, i drove off with my truck with a chopped new cat, for about 500 less then an oem replacement part. its not because my commerical truck guy is bad. hell no, hes great at what he does. fix commerical trucks.
mike confirmed it was a cat issue. the secondary was out. he mentioned there seems to be some pieces stuck in the muffler, but that i should see it i can deal with the noise. he suggested to swap the secondary cat.... smog is due next month... i drove off pretty satisfied.
exhaust issues... you come here.
guys cool. easy to work with. honest. the work is done fast. what the fuck could you ask for more?
ok mandrel bends, but thats different story.
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1 Previous Review: Show all »
-
9/13/2006 First to Review
had a cat issue. my old w210 had four cats. the *money pit* limped home one day. the 02 sensor was… Read more »
"Damn, speed bumps! Damn, you to hell"
...Same go to steep driveways, for that matter
...Endless creeping diagonally down steep driveways and crawling over speed bumps
...Then came the realization that there are only so much things you can do to minimize physical contact then off I went to see Mike at Golden Auto Muffler
The shop techs are competent and Mike actually gives a damn about his customers.
...Many thanks to Euge for the initial recommendation!!!
Now, off I go to order some new header springs and seals from Supersprint.
..."Damn, speed bumps and steep driveways! Damn, you to hell"
=)
good fast service and at a great price.
mike had me in and out in about 20 minutes or so
Have had persistent muffler issues on my VW for a long while now, as all riders of my back seat are well aware. Went in, got the estimate, and not even 45 minutes / 1 buck later problem was solved. Fantastic.
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My exhaust dislodged at one of the joints. I've had a similar problem in the past and several mechanics tried to convince me to swap out the whole exhaust for more than $500 w/oem parts when I was fully aware only a part of the exhaust needed to be replaced.
Mike offers to replace just the joint. He finds an used joint -still in good condition - and doesn't charge me for any parts since it's used. He ends up charging me only for labor ~$70 and takes care of it in only a few hours.
They were honest, fast and cheap. I'll definitely be back if I have any muffler and/or brake problems.
This is a good muffler shop and the rates are fair. I brought in my old 2002 Audi A4 Avant to get my OEM exhaust put back on. They did a great job slavaging my after market custom exhaust. Welds were clean.
I also took a loko at a custom exhaust they did on a black Escalade. This was a dual tip angled setup dumping out the passanger rear. This looked just like the DeCorsa setup I wanted on my 02' Yukon.
I also brougt in a pipe from a two stroke that I needed repaired and they did that for free. This was before I had any work done on any of my cars and I think this is the reason I trusted them in the first place.
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I went to this place a few times when I had my old Acura a few years back.
I've been there a numerous times.They did a nice job. Good prices. They put on a clean muffler and did my brakes, rotors on for me as well ( of course within a year timeframe). It's not a clean environment. I suggest you to drop off your car or truck and leave it with them until they call you. You're paying for the service not the location.
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I needed some very custom work done for my car (street/track car), and I had an exhaust leak on a custom turbo setup. Mike was incredibly helpful and thorough in his work. He called with updates throughout the day as they tried to source the busted gasket, they re-threaded/replaced a missing bolt, and the prices were all very reasonable for this type of job.
Talk to Mike...he'll take care of you.
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I was referred to Mike by a friend of mine. I had piping and a muffler that I need to install. Mike is a cool guy and easy to deal with. The guy I got worked on the car pretty fast and did a excellent job of positioning the exhaust tips well. Mike is cheap too for Bay Area prices.
They were very affordable and were able to do the job within an hour. Golden Auto was 1/3 of the price of Midas.
Went here based on other good Yelp reviews because my brakes had been making a squealing sound. They do offer a free estimate, which is nice, and it truns out I needs to have my front brake pads replaced. However, my only complaint is that they did try and offer me a service that turned out to be unnecessary. I would not have know this if I hadn't had them call my brother in law, which they did happily, and explain their assement. This saved me $30 in the end. Overall, I was satisfied with the service and prices and will return.
First, let me say that I'm VERY skeptical when it comes to car repair shops. I'm not from SF and, therefore, I don't have a local shop that I frequent. I recently started hearing noise from the brakes on my girlfriend's Honda Accord so I did my Yelp research and because I found good reviews of Golden Auto, I decided to take my business there.
I have nothing but good things to say about this place. I was happy to find that its a family-owned business and I received nothing but great customer service from Mike. No work was required on the car and so they didn't charge me a dime to inspect the car. I will definitely be spreading the good word about this place and coming back when the car does in fact need work.
Great prices, great service...my brakes have never felt so smooth.
Mike was very helpful and straightforward - rare in this industry.
My car was ready within the 2 hour time frame he gave me - including having the parts delivered from off site.
I'll definitely be going back for my next brake job.
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I looked on Yelp because the guys at this other shop I just didn't trust and things were making terrible noises and I had to come back and they did something to fix it and told me they didn't know what noise I was talking about and then the noise came back, for example Wheel Works, who doesn't disappoint in finding things and not doing a thorough job.
Mike at Golden Auto was talking to me like a normal person, not someone who wanted me to spend more and I didn't feel like they will find something else that will cost me $200 plus each time I come to them about something else.
Being the kind of person I am, I schedule the appointment at the same time I would spend with my yoga teacher, friend (who I totally swoon for). Enjoying my time and getting my brakes fix was me so in character.
The day before, I schedule to have my car in at 8:30am but there where two cars ahead of me when I showed up,so they didn't really look at my car until 10:30 and didn't get it fix until 1:30, that's where the one star deficiency comes in. I'm only telling this so other customers won't be surprise if their first experience is like this. I knew coming that if they were truly this valued on yelp, they were going to be a busy business and I made plans already to have free parking in the city while I spend it with my beautiful friend.
When it came time to pick up my car, I notice the mechanic guy was also tightening my back wheels while my two front brakes was all I wanted done. When asked, Mike explained that they want to make sure that everything brake wise was OK for me to drive out. He also showed me my old parts and what was wrong with them and not to brake too hard for the first 300 miles because I already explain to him that I do drive too fast.
Overall, I would come back to this business because my car is sounding and feeling great again and I trust the way Mike treated me.
And for that one friend that I spent my beautiful day with: Five out of five stars for coming into my life. Will you spend the rest of your life with me? :)
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These people rock. They saw me quickly, efficiently, and most importantly, not too expensively.
I take my car to T&H Auto for most things, but for any exhaust stuff, Golden is where it's at. Oh, plus this is where I found out about T&H in the first place. Great recommendation from the staff.
Go have a bite at One Taste down the street while you wait.
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When I was moving to SF, my brakes started making horrible noises somewhere in eastern Nevada. Being new to the city, I went with Golden Auto based purely on their Yelp reviews and couldn't have been happier. I dropped my car off in the morning, and had it back better than ever in the early afternoon. The bill was a lot lower than I was expecting, and the guys there were really friendly to this obviously new-to-the-city hayseed.
if you want quick, painless and relatively inexpensive for the quality...definitely go here! don't expect plush waiting room, but then you will be paying for that through your repair bill.
this did such a good job last time (for a separate repair) i didn't trust anyone else...had to have my catalytic converter replaced for a smog repair and i got some estimates around $600 but this place fixed it in a few hours for $350. ask for joe/mike...super cool and friendly and won't BS you. tell them yelp sent you! passed smog check easily...
Did my exhaust just the way I wanted. I left it there too while I went to work(when I used to work in the SOMA). Very convenient. Thumbs up!!!
Fantastic work. Im not back big fan of aftermarket parts but the brakes he installed are ninja silent. Everything was done within an hour. I was in by 9 and out by 1030 (had to walk back). They also quoted me at a price 75% lower than midas. Great quality work and qwuality service and convenient location. Will be going there again for other brake or pipe work. CHeers Mike!!
Fast ~ Honest ~ Cheap -- who could ask for more.
