Salem Brake & Wheel Inc

Great customer service, very friendly and patient staff, thorough service.

Highly recommend taking your vehicle here! I’m fairly new to the area and was relying heavily on other Unilocal reviews to choose the right place to take my Jeep to get the brakes serviced. This one had amazing reviews and really talked up the great service, so I thought I’d give them a try.
I called them yesterday (10÷27÷14) afternoon and told them my brakes were desperately needing some attention… squeaking, scraping, everything they shouldn’t be doing. The woman on the phone, Lisa, told me I could bring my car in the next day. Next day! Awesome!
This morning I took my car in at 7:30am. Lisa checked me in and asked some questions about what’s going on with my car and if I understood how brakes worked. Of course I don’t, otherwise I probably wouldn’t have this problem. So she took me back into the shop and showed me some worn out brakes and explained to me what happens when brakes wear out and how they get replaced and what new brakes look like. Very cool! And now I know.
By 9am I had already received a call from Lisa telling me what they learned about my car. Turns out it was my parking brake that was scraping… who knew. And no, I wasn’t driving with it on the whole time! She took the time to explain to me in very plain English what they discovered, what they recommend I fix now, how they will fix it, and gave me a price estimate, which was very reasonable. I had also wanted to do a tune up and oil change and she priced me on that and told me some other places that might be cheaper if I didn’t want to spend too much money. I said I would stay with them all the way through; if you’re going to take the time to explain this much to someone as car stupid as I am, you really deserve my business.

2012 Toyota 4Runner
30,000 mile check-​up.
Dealer quote: $ 321.00
Salem Brake and Wheel Invoice: $ 208.17
Didn’t suggest changing my air filter (my sign of an honest mechanic).
Laid back but prompt.
Now, if only I didn’t have to drop $ 100 on synthetic oil every 10k miles, I would be set…

My father is a mechanic, so between his work and my own I’ve been very fortunate to have never needed to go to any establishment for car repairs. Having moved far from home I needed some axel work (and some additional work) done on my car. When I reported the price to my father he was shocked at how reasonable it was and said «you found a great shop!» Whenever I bring my car in they offer to take me into the shop to show me what the old parts looked like, and what they changed out.
Very kind and honest folks at SB&WI. The mechanic rides with me in my car to listen for problems before taking the car in, and they have consistently given me a «critical» estimate, and a «can wait» estimate. The «can wait» item recently was a shaking during braking because I need new calipers, which completely checks out. It doesn’t effect the braking, but they could have easily talked this up as needing to be changed immediately. They offer me a ride home when I drop my car off, and are thorough and timely. When I’m ready to change my calipers I’ll definitely do so at SB&WI. It’s also a great sign that when they can’t fix something they recommend another local establishment.
This place is a gem!

Thanks to Chuck’s review I took my van to Salem Brake and Wheel after it had been making strange noises and trying to accelerate when my foot wasn’t on the gas. I feared a major problem so I called up Salem Brake & Wheel. They told me to bring my car in for a test drive and observed the car while I anxiously drove around fearing the worst.
He said it sounded like it wasn’t the transmission and that a tune up might be needed. I made an appointment for the following week and this morning took the car in to run a diagnostic.
When I picked up the car they had fixed the issue, which turned out to be minor compared to all the many things it could have been and my car was greatly improved — the annoying rev my engine had been doing at stoplights was gone.
They also fixed my constantly flashing ‘break on’ light and then gave me the best price ever. Terrific service by everyone at this repair shop on both of my two separate visits. These guys are both honest and extremely knowledgeable. They patiently explained what the problem was and how they had fixed it. I really love this shop and I’ve never said that about any auto repair place.

So first off, thank you fellow Unilocalers Maria and Chuck for turning me on to this place!
You know how when you move to a new town, there are certain things that you put off as long as you can? I lived in the same town in Washington for 7 years and never found a mechanic that I really liked and trusted.
I’ve been in Salem less than six months, and I doubt I’ll ever take my truck anywhere but Salem Brake & Wheel.
My check engine light had been coming on randomly for a few hours at a time maybe once or twice a month since January. I travel a lot in the summer, so I wanted to get it checked out before I ended up stranded on some godforsaken forest service road with no cell service.
I got an appointment here on the next business day after I called. Dropped the truck off at 8 a.m. and it was done by 1:30 p.m. Everyone there was super friendly and helpful.
I think the best part was that they took the time to explain everything to me, and they didn’t make me feel like a dumb girl who knows nothing about cars (even though I totally am). They also were really honest about the cost/​benefit of fixing the problem. They only did as much as was necessary to get me safely back on the road, and they didn’t try to pressure me into buying a new part.
It’s a new feeling to be happy and confident when I leave a repair place. I gotta say, it feels really great!

The people at Salem Brake & Wheel are always friendly and accommodating. If you have an urgent need they do their best to fit you in. Their repairs are consistently good and they keep their prices fair. Never have I had them try to hoodwink me on anything, and as a woman I can’t say that about too many auto repair services. I trust them to make any repair they say they can make, and to refer me to competent others for the things they don’t do. I am moving to Portland but I will keep coming down here for repairs whenever I can, because they just can’t be matched.
Karen Phillips