Top Notch Auto & More

IF YOU HAVE ANY CAR PLZ COME HERE! THEY Actually work with you. Not cutting around corners. Couldnt ask for anything better!!!

The not so heated review.
Around October 2014, I had an optispark go bad on my built 383 1995 Camaro Z28 & took it in to Owens for a repair. About a month after getting this repair I was driving to work, my power steering cut off & I heard something steel bouncing under my car & actually its my crankshaft pulley/​harmonic balancer sliding down the street. A bolt holding the crankshaft pulley onto the crankshaft backed out & the loose pulley damaged the crankshaft over time.
I bring it back to Top Notch & they tell me there’s no way they could’ve been responsible. The operation for a couple things I actually had done by them includes messing with this crankshaft pulley. What Top Notch thinks is the shop that built my motor back in 2011 was actually responsible so it took 3 years for this bolt to come loose. So anyways they basically tell me my motor is destroyed & then offered to buy it from me oddly.
I had a certified GM mechanic look it over & he said it wouldn’t have taken 3 years for that bolt to back out more actually he thinks it was messed with either when someone did that optispark repair wrong & actually loosened that bolt holding the pulley on & didn’t torque it back down or when I had a throwout baring go bad & replaced just a week after getting this optispark replaced.
The clutch kit was installed back in May by Top Notch & failed due to a throwout baring in that kit going bad & this is around 1,650 miles after it was installed. I asked a transmission expert about this & never has he heard of a throwout baring going out that quick on its own without it being installed wrong. Top Notch paid for this part oddly under «shop warranty» not to be confused with a manufacturer warranty but not the labor. I also asked to see the throwout baring that was bad & they never let me see it.
I called the shop that built my motor back in 2011 about ($ 15k into the motor alone) & they specialize in motors specifically racecar motors that’s basically all they do never have they had a problem like this in their 45 years of business. Had other things done by these guys like an exhaust, had some subframe connectors welded in, & some exhaust manifold gaskets replaced, nothing really to do with the motor.
After this incident I wouldn’t trust them with my cars ever again. When I have 5 different mechanics 2 of them certified GM mechanics telling me Top Notch had to be responsible what can I think? Owen seems like a cool guy but I question if these guys really know what they’re doing I asked & none of them went to any schools for this stuff its all self taught, this was probably that one time, second time including that clutch kit, they messed up maybe more who knows there’s only a few reviews on here. Didn’t really like how they joked around about doing donuts in the parking lot with my car (tire marks everywhere so they’re not trying to hide that) & oddly enough telling me my car is fast really how would you know that unless you took it out & went crazy with it.
If you’re looking for a mechanic for repairs or modifying I say look somewhere else there’s better more reliable options out there all I know is as soon as Top Notch started touching this car there’s been nothing but problems.

Took my car in and told them to put new brakes on and replace a couple of bad tie rods. Turns out it only needed rear brakes and ball joints, no tie rods or front brakes. They could have easily done it all and I wouldn’t have known the difference. Honesty and quality workmanship got them a new customer.

Owen and team know cars & engines (and from what I saw, trucks as well).
I was quoted by a facility in Algonquin (Algonquin Auto Clinic) that my air conditioner (’97 Cadillac STS) was leaking at the compressor and would require $ 648 to repair. They had run a leak test (they said) and subsequently wanted to replace the compressor, clutch, orifice tube, and drier/​accumulator.
A friend recommended I get a competitive quote at Top Notch Auto, which is where I met Owen. He was surprised after running his own tests that showed I was simply low on coolant. While I waited, he recharged the system and ran his own leak test with indicative dye. NO LEAKS! That was back in May, and my air conditioner has been running great for six months. Total cost $ 63, less than one tenth of my original quote.
I will take my car nowhere else.

Unbelievable and knowledgeable service!
We had been having an ongoing problem with my mother’s Chevy, Impala for well over a year. The car would die without rhyme or reason. We took the car to several repair shops, Midas, Firestone and finally the Chevy Dealer, all of whom would replace the battery, check the alternator, say there was nothing wrong with the car and yet the car would run for about a month after the repairs and new batteries and then die again. The car was towed twice to the Chevy Dealer while it was dead (per their request), and yet they still couldn’t figure out the problem. Frustrated and several batteries and hundreds of dollars later, my brother looked up repair shops in our area and came across Owen at Top Notch Auto. He was so nice and told us to bring the car by and he’d check it out for us and see if he could figure it out. Well, it took him a couple of days and he called us and told us what was wrong with the car. It was the Body Control Module. So for a year and a half neither Midas, Firestone of The actual Chevy Dealer (who should know everything about Chevys) could figure out what it took Owen 2 days to figure out. Unfortunately Owen did not have the equipment he needed to fix the car himself, but he spoke with a different dealer and told them we would be coming and told them what was wrong with the car and we were able to get the car fixed. It is going on one year now and the car is working as it once did. It is a great car. The most awesome detail, Owen did not charge us a dime for his diagnosis (who does that now a days)? He said, he just wished he would have been able to fix it for us. Since then my brother goes to Top Notch, I go to Top Notch and my mom will never go anywhere else, neither will my brother nor I. This place and Owen are amazing. He believes in honesty (how refreshing)! We will never go anywhere else. Give this place a try, you won’t be sorry you did!
Mayda F.
Algonquin, IL