parts stores

[hotrodpc]

I agree with this on the dumb things too, but as stated, its the computer program tha asks the dumb questions. Do keep in mind though, some things do matter when you think they don't. Example, if getting brake shoes. They may ask if you standard or manual trans? It does matter, because the mfr may have put wider or bigger shoes on the rear of a vehicle that had auto trans or manual trans. And it may not matter on the brake shoes, but it might matter engine size for rear brake cylinders. The bore could be a 1/8 in bigger for a V8 engine car than a V6 engine car. Rare, but sometimes, the dumb questions do matter.

[bradrhale]

i have my people at the parts houses that i speak to. they enter in junk before they ask me what each indivdual thing that computer asks. by the time they get to the parts, it might be a totally different truck but they know that none of that other really matters.

[BernieB]

And, they don't actually have to go through the whole routine if they already know, from experience, what the part# is you need. They can simply grab it off the shelf, scan it in and sell it, and that's what a good parts guy does. He doesn't need to put everything into the computer to know you need a PH47 oil filter, or that a PH1 is the same as a PH49 (I think - been too many years) , just with a longer case and slightly increased capacity. Or that two different alternator numbers are really the exact same part, just with different pulleys. Handy things to know in the parts business when you're out of stock on one but have six of the other. That's one of the things that separates a great parts guy from some schmuck who wouldn't know how to change his own air filter, or where it was located, but took the job because it paid a little more than McDonald's.

[hotrodpc]

And you are right, Auto Zone, O'Reily's, Advanced Auto, and any of those discount auto parts stores do not pay much more than McDonalds.