I thought I'd share my thoughts about Don. I've had Don do quite a bit of work on my car. He has done a 60K maintenance, timing belt, replaced a starter, installed Bilsteins, performed two alignments, one valve adjustment and performed a number of oil changes.
In general, I think Don does a great job. Don does strike me as a very honest mechanic. When my Bilsteins failed to ship a part with one of my shocks, he allowed my car to take up a space in his garage with only three shocks on the car for about 5 days!
He tends to be very busy on the weekends and as a result, it may be difficult to explain to him what you want done. I've stood around for an hour before with my NSX parked in his lot just trying to get his attention. We've also had a number of miscommunications because English is not his native language.
Without a doubt, my car is in much better shape than when I bought it nearly 30K miles ago. I can thank Don for this.
That said, I would tend to agree with number9. While Don does do excellent engine work, I am not sure if Don is a good choice to mount and balance tires or perform alignments. While I have not had him mount tires for me, he has done two alignments. Both alignments had severe issues. My last alignment which was performed after I had the Bilsteins installed, resulted in my tires rubbing at full lock. Don also managed to lose my wheel locks while my car was serviced at his facility. I later had to have them professionally removed when I had to mount new tires.
I've since had my car aligned at Custom Alignment (a recommendation I received from Number9 in an earlier post) and those guys fixed my alignment problems. I can't say enough about Custom Alignment. They treat car alignments like a science (they even simulated my body weight by placing weight on the driver's side of the car).
Custom Alignment is not cheap. They charge 30 dollars a tire for mounting and $85 dollars per axle ($170 for a 4-wheel alignment). In contrast, Don charges about half that for a wheel alignment!
Having said all of this, I will continue to have my vehicle serviced at Don's for engine work. However, I will no longer have him touch my tires or alignment. Custom alignment is a better choice under those circumstances despite the premium.
